Help with oil lamps and natural wicks

[BOD]

I tried to make an oil lamp for my daughter but it did not work.

I didn’t use lamp wick or similar stuff but rolled a 2 ply wick from natural cordage.

It lit up fine but was soon consumed by the fire.

What should I have done? Made it thicker or found a more fibrous/dense material? Is insufficient capillary action the problem? or was it the natural cordage? How did one make wicks before old T shirts?

The fuel was olive oil in an egg cup and the floater a part of an old wine cork.

Has anyone tried with natural cordage?

 

[sam_acw]

I've used a bit of rotten wood - it absorbed all the oil and lasted as long as the oil did. It was only an oyster shell though.

 

[anthonyyy]

You can make a nice little lamp running on olive oil from an orange or mandarin - keep the skin and central pith intact and use the pith as the wick.

I too would like to know how to make wicks for candles and lamps.

 

[BOD]

Interesting. Must try the rotten wood and orange method.

I know that bergamot oil was combustible but oranges and mandarins are new to me. Any preparation needed for the orange other than careful peeling?

 

[Singeblister]

Orange lamp sounds good I will give that a try , and it will get me eating fruit win win

 

[rich59]

It lit up fine but was soon consumed by the fire.

Do you mean the fire went out or that all the oil caught light?

Your cordage might not have drawn the oil up well if it was tightly twisted, or if it wasn't very fibrous.

 

[BOD]

Do you mean the fire went out or that all the oil caught light?

Your cordage might not have drawn the oil up well if it was tightly twisted, or if it wasn't very fibrous.

The fire went out when the wick burned out The oil did not cathc fire

It was fibrous. A dried inner layer bark used for pack straps but roughed up and twisted into a two strand cord.

It wasn't too tightly twisted in fact I thought it probably wasn't twisted enough for good capillary action.

How were wicks made in the old days if not by cordage or should I be asking Wayland?

 

[British Red]

Bod,

try googling "rush lamps" or "rush lights" for an old idea that worked well

Red

 

[Toddy]

Your wick needs to be something absorbant so that it can *pull* in more oil/ wax/ melted fat and burn that rather than itself. Cotton is very good as are some timbers. Fibres such as nettle, flax and ramie aren't so good. I believe some mineral fibres, like asbestos, can also be successfully used. Dried fungi works quite well and even nuts such as brazils are surprisingly effective. There are always rushes too

cheers,
Toddy

 

[BOD]

okay will try

rushes may be hard to find but thanks for that. Will try and find equivalents

 

[Toddy]

If you tease out some cotton parcel string, and soak it in wax or oil before you light it, that will work very well as a wick.
Cheers,
Toddy

 

[BOD]

Trying to be as primitive and avoid manufactured materials.

That's why my spoons look terrible

Just carved with a knife

 

[Toddy]

Fair enough
Anything pithy seems to work, & thoughI haven't tried coconut fibre it is used for doormats so worth a try I suspect. Slivers of resinous timber works as do fibrous seed heads and there's always the bit of really fatty meat.
Interesting thread anyone else got goodies and ideas?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[WhichDoctor]

I've had very good success with varying types of mosses in my Stone Age fat lamp. I'm shore you could find a nice moss with long stringy bits similar to sphagnum moss that you could twist a wick out of. Although I have found the kinds of moss that grow in more solid lumps most effective, just immersed in the oil with the top teased above the surface.

Just remember to make shore the moss is totally dry before trying it, if you don’t you can get quite a spectacular display .

P.S. I have herd that Alder pith can be used as a wick, some people seem to have grate success with it but I could never get so much as a sputter out of one (don’t know why ), maybe you could find something similar that would work.

 

[Tantalus]

I think there is a trick to this one of enclosing your wick in something which will keep the air out , like a bit of pipe or tubing.

Have a look at these and you will get the idea

Tant

 

[BOD]

Success!

I used a type of stringy moss that occures near streams and which I also use for tinder / extender for the fire by friction coals.

Rolled it into a short length (much like hand rolled cigarettes)and then tied it with some of that pack strap fibre (one strand) which I spiralled arond the rolled length.

Put it into a peeled orange half with 3 tbs of olive oil to soak and after a while lit it.

It lasted for 2 hours.

Is that a reasonable time?

The orange pith did not hold a flame (sorry anthonyy - wrong type of orange??) but as I had placed the wick over the rim of the orange after some time part of the rim took and held the flame as well.

I think the tube suggestion is good but what sort of natural material would do the trick other than clay? Should I put clay around a twig mold and place it by the fire to make a pottery tube?

Never tried any form of pottery making before.

 

[TheGreenMan]

...I think the tube suggestion is good but what sort of natural material would do the trick other than clay?...

How about small diameter green bamboo? Or small diameter dried bamboo soaked in water to prevent igniting the tube (though that might spit)?

Or, if you can source clay in your locale, why not go the 'whole hog' and make the lamp from clay, thus avoiding the need to find a non-flammable material to sheath the wick?

Many years ago I bought a reproduction Roman oil lamp made of unglazed, fired clay, from the British Museum shop (something like those nice ones in Tantalus’s post), and it works beautifully, and there’s little risk of a fire hazard.

Blinding flash! - Can you make a small disk of wood with a hole in the middle, poke the fibre wick through it, and float it on the olive oil so that the burning wick doesn't touch the dried orange peal lamp?

Best regards,
Paul.

 

[Tantalus]

Not sure about "natural" alternatives but an idea would be a short piece of copper pipe that could be reused over and over with all sorts of replacement wicks and oil containers.

All you need to take on your travels is the little pipe.

Copper because it will conduct the heat nicely back into fat or oil and heat it making it runnier and helping it flow.

Shouldnt rust or wear out ever

The idea came from burning tea light candles, the wick is often held in a little piece of tin and towards the end of the candle the wick is almost entirely gone , and only really protected by the tin. If the tin wasnt there the wick would simply drop into the melted wax and go out.

Tant

 

[TheGreenMan]

Nice ideas and sound thinking, Tant.

Or, returning to the ‘natural’ route, how about a pipe made from the leg bone of a fowl?

Or, instead of making the floating disk of wood to hold the wick, what about a disk made of boar/hog/pig/sow bone?

Or, make a hole in a mollusc shell, to take the wick, and float that on the oil?

Bests regards,
Paul.

 

[Ketchup]

Bod, have you tried making a sheath (or the whole wick) from Pandanus /screw pine?

I remember the locals (Solomons) used it for cigarette paper.