Anyone made a Kudlik ?

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Shewie

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Dec 15, 2005
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I fancy having a go at making a kudlik but as there aren't many seals going spare around Leeds I wondered what can be substituted for the blubber.

I've got a nice kidney shaped steel dish which will do nicely once I can source a fuel.

Toddy / Wayland, have either of you had a play with something similar ?
 

Mesquite

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Mar 5, 2008
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I fancy having a go at making a kudlik but as there aren't many seals going spare around Leeds I wondered what can be substituted for the blubber.

I've got a nice kidney shaped steel dish which will do nicely once I can source a fuel.

Toddy / Wayland, have either of you had a play with something similar ?

How about unrendered pig fat?
 

spamel

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Feb 15, 2005
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I fancy having a go at making a kudlik but as there aren't many seals going spare around Leeds I wondered what can be substituted for the blubber.

I've got a nice kidney shaped steel dish which will do nicely once I can source a fuel.

Toddy / Wayland, have either of you had a play with something similar ?

I've seen a few whales down town in Leeds, you might want to pack the larger of your shrimping nets! :lmao:
 

Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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If you can get your butcher to supply kidneys in their caul, that works.
This is the kidneys in the fine fine skin covered hard fat, the suet.
Cut it off the kidneys and flatten it out gently. It's hard, kind of like wax. If you lay it in the ashet and then gently beat the edge into a kind of mush you can get a line of flames as it burns.

Remember the temperature differences too, fat goes soft much easier in our climate.

Be a bit wary of this type of flame though. Inuit mummies of women who spent their Winters indoors using the kudlik for heat, light and cooking, clearly show soot blackened lungs, and I mean *black*.
I know lives were shorter for most when this was the only type of fuel available but we kind of expect at least seventy years now :)

I'm told that if you get a really fatty streaky side of pork to make your own bacon, that it's possible to follow one of the fat layers with a sharp knife and cut a big slab free. Probably as close as you're going to get to blubber round here. Haven't tried this though.

Be interesting to hear how you get on :cool:

cheers,
M

p.s. Must type faster, Mesquite beat me to the piggy bits.
 
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Mesquite

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Mar 5, 2008
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What's that then, just a slice of dead pig ?

Would it burn ??

Sorry no idea on this one Steve

Yup, see if you can get some from your local friendly butcher (if you know of one).

As for it burning I don't see why not though you might have to prep it by 'tenderising' like they do for the seal blubber
 
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In one of Ray Mears' Arctic programmes, an Inuit man made one from a peice of sheet metal which was probably aluminum. He hammered it into shape over a wooden block.
 

Shewie

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Dec 15, 2005
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Cheers folks

The father-in-law's a retired butcher with a few contacts still, I'll get on his case at the weekend.
 

Shewie

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Dec 15, 2005
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get your self down to wales and grab one,,,i saw them years ago when i used to sale dinghy's,,,,,,,,,,,


only joking by the way


There's going to be a few up on the west coast when I head to Scotland next weekend, don't fancy trying to get one in the canoe though.
 

nickg

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May 4, 2005
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Failing that try some of the nightclubs around Chatham - by about 4am on a saturday morning there are pig & whales lying around all over the place;-)

Cheers
Nick
 

Goatboy

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Jan 31, 2005
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There's going to be a few up on the west coast when I head to Scotland next weekend, don't fancy trying to get one in the canoe though.

Ah Rich,

I've a mental image of you dressed up as Ahab with a whittled and fire hardend harpoon being dragged around the coast by a very miffed whale.

Where you heading too?

Colin.
 

JimH

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Dec 21, 2004
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I'd use lamb or mutton fat.

In fact I have, but rendered, in a soapstone lamp.

The unrendered version should behave, and the structure of the fatty tissue will stop it running away (so to speak) as it melts.

Beef and pork fat are more likely to have sausage value and therefore a price. My butcher uses them but discards a fair bit of lamb trimmings.

Your butcher may vary...

Jim.
 

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