Anyone tried Rush lights?

[Tony]

I've often wondered what Rush lights were like in real life and earlier I watched a Modern history vid where the guy endeavours to make them, it's quite an interesting process and I was wondering if anyone on here has tried to make them and how was the experience?

 

[British Red]

Tombear did some epic stuff on them ten years or so back

Rush pith wicks

Since I was doing a batch of about 150 rush dips (would have been more but again t was a very poor crop near us and over 90% of what we picked were not viable) and there were several which broke I completely peeled some to use as candle wicks. They had about a fortnights drying and yesterday I...

bushcraftuk.com

 

[Toddy]

I've made and used them.
You get used to what is to modern eyes a 'poor' light.
It's quite surprising how well we can actually see with them once your eyesight settles to it.

I used to think that there was no way one could accurately do stuff like fine stitching, or good leather or woodworking, but the reality is that you can.

It's a smokey light though, and gross though it may be, you only realise just how sooty is it when you blow your nose but even your eyes end up smutty with it too.

On the whole, yeah fun to know how, fun to work with and know that you can, but ehm, well we know that soot and smoke is not good for lungs, so if I don't have to, I'll find another way.

Incidentally, the pine splints work just as well, and though sooty, no where near as bad I found, and the smell isn't so clingy. The rush lights, even made of good suet, smell weirdly waxy, the pine splints smell of resinous timber, and I'm pretty sure that what they give off is at least mildly insecticidal.

M

 

[Tor helge]

Some of the straws the Modern History guy collected looked like plain grass of some sort.
This is Juncus effusus wich was used as a wick in oil/cod liver oil lamps here.

And this is a pic of a straw and its marrow (the wick).

In the old days it was the childrens job to "peel" the straws getting the marrow out.

That said; while I`ve got short pieces of marrow extracted from a rush, I`ve never made lights nor used them as wicks in a lamp.

 

[Toddy]

There are two kinds of rushes used best. One is as @Tor helge shows, the small field rush that is common across the UK. It's best pulled from close to the root, and instead of stripping all of the pith out, just peel off most of the outer, but leave a strong strip running up the length to help keep some structure to the rush light.

The second rush is the soft rush, the loch and lake rush, and it's pith can be over a cm thick. Peeled the same way, soaked through on a cresset, it burns very well, very much like a candle.

M