What did you buy today?

[Keith_Beef]

Just received in the post today: a vintage French Pigeon Lamp. A lovely brass lamp that’s about 9” tall and has, I think, its original glass shade. It has a handle on the back, you can use that to fasten it to a nail or hook on the wall. I think they’re meant to burn the equivalent of white spirit. On the front it says “inexplosible a l’essence minerale”. The only thing it hasn’t got, is a little cap on a chain, to stop the fuel from evaporating when not in use. Hopefully,I can find a suitable replacement cap and some chain. It cost me £20 or so on eBay- I was the only bidder.

I found a couple of these last year at something like €4 or €6 each but without the glass.

Nothing to do with pigeons, but invented by Charles Pigeon.

Charles Pigeon - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

You're supposed to use "essence type F" as fuel.
See reply n°4 in this thread:

Lampe Pigeon / essence minérale

Lampe Pigeon / essence minérale

forum.davidmanise.com

French Wikipedia has an article on this stuff:

Essence F — Wikipédia

fr.m.wikipedia.org

There's no equivalent English article, but the composition is given as:

C7, C8, and C9 alkanes: 69 to 85%;
C7, C8, and C9 alicyclics (probably cycloalkanes): 20 to 25%
Originally, it would have contained smaller proportions of toluene, xylene, benzene, etc., but nowadays only traces of these might be present (<1% each).

Still looking at French Wikipedia for white spirit, the composition is given as:
C8 to C12 paraffinic hydrocarbons (content between 40 and 60%), C9 to C12 cycloparaffinic hydrocarbons (content between 30 and 70%) and aromatic hydrocarbons (content between 1 and 20%, does not contain benzene), or isooctane.

I'll leave it up to you to compare what you can buy locally with the composition of "essence type F".

 

[Stew]

Yup, Coleman's and Aspen are both just about the same thing, a highly refined petroleum distallate.

So is brake and clutch fluid which I use in my Coleman 425E, Svea 123 and other stoves , pigeon lamps and miners lamps without any issue and the bonus is it's a lot cheaper than either

What sort of price per litre are you paying for the brake cleaner? I really should look to try it for my Coleman when my next batch of 4T is used up.

 

[Broch]

I was under the impression that "Essence Type F" was pretty close to lamp oil which has very similar 'ingredients' to refined kerosene.

In my experience 'some' brake cleaners are considerably more volatile than kerosene.

 

[Mesquite]

What sort of price per litre are you paying for the brake cleaner? I really should look to try it for my Coleman when my next batch of 4T is used up.

Roughly £2.28 a litre.

I buy it in bulk from Ebay and decant it into smaller containers when I go camping.

 

[matarius777]

I found a couple of these last year at something like €4 or €6 each but without the glass.

Nothing to do with pigeons, but invented by Charles Pigeon.

Charles Pigeon - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

You're supposed to use "essence type F" as fuel.
See reply n°4 in this thread:

Lampe Pigeon / essence minérale

Lampe Pigeon / essence minérale

forum.davidmanise.com

French Wikipedia head an article on this stuff:

Essence F — Wikipédia

fr.m.wikipedia.org

There's no equivalent English article, but the composition is given as:

C7, C8, and C9 alkanes: 69 to 85%;
C7, C8, and C9 alicyclics (probably cycloalkanes): 20 to 25%
Originally, it would have contained smaller proportions of toluene, xylene, benzene, etc., but nowadays only traces of these might be present (<1% each).

Still looking at French Wikipedia for white spirit, the composition is given as:
C8 to C12 paraffinic hydrocarbons (content between 40 and 60%), C9 to C12 cycloparaffinic hydrocarbons (content between 30 and 70%) and aromatic hydrocarbons (content between 1 and 20%, does not contain benzene), or isooctane.

I'll leave it up to you to compare what you can buy locally with the composition of "essence type F".

Hmmm…a bit beyond the 45 year old remnants of my O-level chemistry I’m afraid, although I do remember fragments of fractional distillation.
As regards your lamps, there is someone selling the glass shades, but with postage within the UK, they’re nearly £19!

 

[Broch]

Roughly £2.28 a litre.

I buy it in bulk from Ebay and decant it into smaller containers when I go camping.

Now that is a bargain; lamps aside, I have a 100 + 1 uses for that at that price (cleaning brakes and clutches for one!)

 

[Watch-keeper]

I bought a Tilley T3, I already have a blue one that I've had for maaaaany years. I would thoroughly recommend the Tilley T3 as a good 3 season hat, very versatile and robust.

 

[grainweevil]

Why are they called pigeon lamps?

Judging by Broch's example, I was going to suggest it's because they breed prodigiously.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Judging by Broch's example, I was going to suggest it's because they breed prodigiously.

And make a right mess of your car's paintwork when they spill.

 

[Furbles]

I’ve been searching for this knife for at least 8 years. Finally, it is mine.

 

[Woody girl]

Totaly and utterly exciting purchase today...a new plug for the bathroom basin. Even fitted it myself, what a day!
I'm exhausted!

 

[Pattree]

Well done! [Flaps towel]

Mine has a swivel affair instead of a plug. I’m not sure whether I’d have to fit a new basin or move house if it went wrong.

 

[Woody girl]

Well done! [Flaps towel]

Mine has a swivel affair instead of a plug. I’m not sure whether I’d have to fit a new basin or move house if it went wrong.

To be honest, the hardest part was trying to remember where I'd put my plyers. (Still awol)
Luckily, I remembered my jewellery ones were on the craft desk in my spare room. They did the job.
I only had a 30 mile round trip to get a new plug, so I bought 4, one for each sink in the house....I think I'm set for life now.

 

[Herman30]

Bought a Victorinox serrated folding knife for my kitchen travel kit.
Kit contains Böker foldable kitchen knife and Opinel foldable butter knife (also sharp cutting edge and dull point).

 

[Dan00001]

I bought a new closed cell foam mat, a Multimat Expedition 12XL. Multimat is a brand name under the company 'Beacons Products' who are based in South Wales. They were making the Karrimat for Karrimor before Karrimors demise in 2004 and the Expedition 12XL is the old Karrimat, made out of 12mm thick, 35kg/m3 Evazote. Sir Ranulph Fiennes also chose the Expedition series closed cell foam mat combined with the expedition series self inflating mat from Multimat for his 2013 'The Coldest Journey' expedition. I've owned two Multimat self inflating mats for about 10 years and they've been great. As a Welsh person, it warms me to buy a Made in Wales product (it even says Made in Wales on the packaging!).

 

[Nice65]

A Multimat Profile 35 was the best mat I ever had. Jack Russell proof, and once when I must have caught a thorn with it stupidly packed on the outside of my rucksack, it deflated but the internal foam was good enough to give me a reasonable night. Albeit nowhere near as comfortable.

 

[hughtrimble]

I bought a new closed cell foam mat, a Multimat Expedition 12XL. Multimat is a brand name under the company 'Beacons Products' who are based in South Wales. They were making the Karrimat for Karrimor before Karrimors demise in 2004 and the Expedition 12XL is the old Karrimat, made out of 12mm thick, 35kg/m3 Evazote. Sir Ranulph Fiennes also chose the Expedition series closed cell foam mat combined with the expedition series self inflating mat from Multimat for his 2013 'The Coldest Journey' expedition. I've owned two Multimat self inflating mats for about 10 years and they've been great. As a Welsh person, it warms me to buy a Made in Wales product (it even says Made in Wales on the packaging!).

May I ask where from? I've just looked it up and am only finding discontinued, unavailable or sold out sales listings on various sites.

 

[Dan00001]

May I ask where from? I've just looked it up and am only finding discontinued, unavailable or sold out sales listings on various sites.

I bought it from Camping International

 

[Mesquite]

A Victrinox Farmer X Alox , currently on sale on Amazon with 35% off bringing it down to £41.04

 

[Chris]

A Victrinox Farmer X Alox , currently on sale on Amazon with 35% off bringing it down to £41.04

Wow, that really is a bargain. If I didn't have two already (doh!) I'd be tempted.