DIY Gas Mantles

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Bishop

Full Member
Jan 25, 2014
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691
Pencader
This is something for the advanced homesteader's or those with Steampunk tendencies and recently having just been parted from £30 for two Luxon mantles to keep my Aladdin paraffin lamps going am sorely tempted as well. Anyhow, during my quest for anybody who even stocked gas mantles Google coughed up an interesting document from the Petromax website. called Homemade Mantles

http://www.petromax.nl/Home_made/Homemade_mantles.pdf

Written by Ludwig Gebauer in 2004 it's only three pages long but gives the basics of how he made his own gas mantles from scratch. Whilst traditionally Thorium was used it being slightly radioactive makes it difficult to get hold of today so he created a recipe using slightly less nasty Yttrium oxide and that is available on Ebay amongst other places.

I thought this was going to be some complicated process, risk of exploding shed, singed eyebrows etc followed by the wife beating me to death with a fire extinguisher. Turns out it's more of a kitchen table job, aside from the weird stare and laughter from the wife that happens every time attempt knitting then it seems doable.

What do you think, anybody else still using mantles?
 

Jaeger

Full Member
Dec 3, 2014
670
24
United Kingdom
Aye Up,

Yes Bishop, I've got several Tilleys and Gaz lanterns as part of my 'What-if' stores.

But heaven help me if I have to learn to knit mantles for them!

I've bought a slack hand full of spare mantles - when they run out I'll just capture a prepper and burn the fat out of him!:lmao:
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
For parts & service for I do not know how many decades, Coleman is the gold standard in North America.
Like Jaeger, I have a handful of new mantles stashed with the lamp.
I'm not willing to risk my accomodation in the incendiary experiment with a home-made mantle.

Actually, I think the bigger issue is a long term supply of clean and stable fuel.
 

Jaeger

Full Member
Dec 3, 2014
670
24
United Kingdom
Aye Up,

Yep, I think you may be right Robson, and when the electrickery fails someones gonna wish that we still had fossil fuels.

Time to start creating a list of where all the preppers live. :lmao:
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
We have lots of "off grid" electrical experiences. They range from a flicker to 30 days.
The grocery store girls counted 60 failures one day, before they quit.
The store owner ran all the registers on a battery back-up system.

To a wild fire here, a power pole is no more than a tree. In self defense, I put a small solar system together.
Psychologically, it paid for itself, the first time I had to run it in the middle of a winter night.
Winter means 12" - 20" fresh snow at -20C, driven into your car/truck radiator by a 50kph wind. Tree-breaker.

The true and indisputable advantage of a gas (petrol) lantern is that they will light just fine at -20C.
You get heat and light.

About 30km south of Valemount on hwy #5, there is another new wild fire which has closed the highway as of yesterday.
If any power poles burn there, our power goes off. Plan for it, sports fans.
I never wanted to spend a penny on solar power but it was simple self defense.

We now have biodiesel generators and a 5MW hydro river project that come on line, isolating McBride, in 15 seconds.
The heat is going. 41C on Wednesday, 47C Thursday but only 34C yesterday (shade temps).

Don't we have fun?
 

Bishop

Full Member
Jan 25, 2014
1,716
691
Pencader
Actually, I think the bigger issue is a long term supply of clean and stable fuel.

Some of the Japanese stove guru's came up with this alcohol fuelled lamp, though it would be a waste good sipping liquor.
[video=youtube_share;xjAhK461fbs]https://youtu.be/xjAhK461fbs[/video]
 

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