Carbide lamps
- Thread starter Tengu
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Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
cavers use them a lot, and i guess that they're the kind of people who know a thing or two about the dark.
eddie mcgee (a seemingly forgotten survival author) recommends using a few of the pellets as part of an emergency fire-lighting kit (he calls it a survival kit but that generally seems to be a bit of a dirty word on here), the idea being that the gas they give off will light from the vaguest of sparks.
cheers
stuart
eddie mcgee (a seemingly forgotten survival author) recommends using a few of the pellets as part of an emergency fire-lighting kit (he calls it a survival kit but that generally seems to be a bit of a dirty word on here), the idea being that the gas they give off will light from the vaguest of sparks.
cheers
stuart
Used to see them potholing once in a while. They work by using a mineral (calcium carbide?) in the base of the generator and filling the top with water. There is an adjustable drip which allows the water to slowly wet the carbide where sorcery takes place and acetylene gas is given off. The gas is burnt in a simple jet flame and gives a very bright white light.
Bad points: Chemical burns and destroyed kit when they leak on you. :yikes: Sooty marks on the ceilings of pristine caverns. Piles of spent carbide all over the place.
Good points: Beautiful strong warm light from a comparatively light weight kit.
Carbide bombs.
Really impressing a bunch of french scouts by lighting the camp fire merely by "chanting" and pouring beer on it!
I have just looked on the bay and you can still get carbide - you could also try a caving supplies shop.
Z
Bad points: Chemical burns and destroyed kit when they leak on you. :yikes: Sooty marks on the ceilings of pristine caverns. Piles of spent carbide all over the place.
Good points: Beautiful strong warm light from a comparatively light weight kit.
Carbide bombs.
Really impressing a bunch of french scouts by lighting the camp fire merely by "chanting" and pouring beer on it!
I have just looked on the bay and you can still get carbide - you could also try a caving supplies shop.
Z
widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Here's a couple of pics;
that is truely a thing of beauty, i want one just so that i can polish it!
stuart
There is one use for them I have come across in the past when you could buy cheep lamps, if you drop them into a river where salmon are laying, it causes an explosion that stuns the fish. Didn't Know you could still buy carbide
A very pleasant light to work with, possibly less damaging for your eyes over a long period than candles or tilleys.
Some further info...
http://www.caves.org/member/mfraley/intro.htm
Some further info...
http://www.caves.org/member/mfraley/intro.htm
I used one when caving a good while back. Good light, reasonably reliable and a lot lighter than battery pack lights.
Not the cleanest of things though.
Not the cleanest of things though.
IIRC mine came from here.
Scroll down and hit the link, 'Collectors corner', then scroll down for lamps & carbide.
There's a caving/outdoor shop in Ingleton, N. Yorkshire, that sells carbide but they won't post it.
Scroll down and hit the link, 'Collectors corner', then scroll down for lamps & carbide.
There's a caving/outdoor shop in Ingleton, N. Yorkshire, that sells carbide but they won't post it.
They are certainly not as popular as they used to be in caving. We used to use them all the time in the late 80s but they have largely been superceded by LED headlamps.
I guess they're a bit like miners safety lamps - look nice on the mantlepiece but why would you buy one if you weren't a miner?
I guess they're a bit like miners safety lamps - look nice on the mantlepiece but why would you buy one if you weren't a miner?
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