Kerosene Lantern Wick Restoration

So you found an old lantern in the barn, and it looks to be in pretty sound condition. No fuel, globe is intact and there don't seem to be too many bugs nesting in it. You give the wick raiser a twist and nothing happens. If the wick doesn't move, STOP! Turning the internal gears on a dry/stuck wick will damage both the wick and the lantern.

Put some kerosene in the lantern and set it aside overnight on a couple layers of cardboard. This will allow you to determine if there are any small leaks and let the wick soak up some kerosene and expand. It's possible that the sick is rusted in place. Pulling gently on the saturated wick while turning the wick raiser knob will prevent damage to the wick and lantern. You could even soak the wick with oil from the top if it seems especially stuck.

Your patience will be rewarded when the wick is fully expanded and lubricated by the kerosene and moves freely when the wick raiser is turned.

 

Good info at just the right time,,

 

And while you are there remove any built up carbon from the wick, measure the wick and buy a spare.

 

There's a mix of art and science in wick trimming, with maybe a bit of magic mixed in. I'll leave that for ya'll to experiment with.

 

Learned that from Granma, she had a 6 burner kerosene stove till she died.

 

anything kerosene check with the guru himself >>>> Miles Stairs - Miles Stair's Wick Shoppe
parts for everything - plenty of advice about the devices and kerosene in general ....

 

If you ever get a chance to buy one of the old circular wick oil lamps, buy it. About a tenth of the trouble of an Aladdin but a lot of light. Wikipedia lists a 1 in wide flat wick at 151 lumens, and a 1 1/2 round "Rayo" circular at 1,000 lumens. You can actually read with one, some of the "store lamp" circulars were up around 3800 lumens. If everything fails, we would have to go back to the old high tech oil lamps from the 1880's and burning oil distilled from some selected types of coal, until a modern Rockefeller could get the kerosine going again. The old barn type wire handle lamps, hot or cold blast burner type, give quite a bit of light and were designed for safety rather than efficiency, well worth remembering if you are new with lamps. The standard 1 in wide flat wick, glass oil fount and glass chimney gives quite a bit of light, but the glass chimney gets very hot, if dropped and it breaks, you have your own version of a Molotov cocktail, and if it tips over and doesn't break, it can set fire to flammable materials.

 

This is a newer Rayo, probably only 80 or so years old. The trick I use in getting round wicks to burn pretty is to let them get cool, turn the wick down until it's down even with the gallery edge at the lowest point and then burn down the high spots with a mini torch. Once the height is right, the final smoothing of the now ash wick is done with a fingertip.

Trimming is a terrible word to use when talking about wicks, because people immediately see scissors as the trimming device. On a round wick this will lead to nothing but frustration as you chase high spots.

 

Can I hijack my own thread?

Just a word on Rayo (B&H and other) center draft lamps. Don't go online and order a $100 Rayo, or a "rare" $350 B&H. They were $48 a dozen in 1911. These things do go for $15 if you're persistent. (Don't expect them to be bright nickel - That's your job.) I gave $30 for this one with the shade.

They were manufactured in the tens of thousands (at least) and are not rare. They're like coyotes. Once you spot one, you'll start seeing them out the corner of your eye everywhere. All the parts are interchangeable, so parts lamps are good to have.

Many electrified center draft lamps can be restored to wick burners again. Look carefully. These are by far my favorite wick lamps, and I've only ever found one cut and scrambled electrified Rayo that I couldn't restore, and it was still useful for parts... and was $3 at a yard sale.

 

If letting the wick absorb some kero for a few days doesn't do the trick, I've found that simmering the burner assembly in water and dishwashing soap works on stubborn mechanisms...had to do that on a Manhattan student lamp.

 

hot diggity, if 1 person could have one of the good circular lamps, 10 gal of good fuel, and a few spare wicks, when
tshtf, he and his children will sing praises to your soul. If you have never seen one, and in the 1940's most people with out electricity did not use the flat wick lamps in their parlors or any where where they really wanted light, your picture above show how much more light they give and unlike the Aladdin's, they are rugged, no mantle to go poof at the slightest shock, and aren't as hot, and don't cost $100 at the flea market like an Aladdin either.

Best place I have found for information and wicks for Rayo's etc is CENTER DRAFT LAMP WICKS

If you have any interest in kerosene etc lamps, don't go down this rabbit hole, won't be out in less than an hour and one of the better references as to where to find information and parts for many different lamps.

 

Thank you Duane. You made an old lamp loon smile.

I had to fire up the Winged Wheel No. 750 tonight just for comparison. It's a beast of a wickie at 12" tall and can handle an impressive flame height with no smoke. It's just not that bright. Practical for working in the barn but not for reading.
This one had a completely dry and seized wick when I got it. Fortunately, nobody had tried to crank on the wick raiser and I was able to save the original wick with patience, soaking overnight and gently helping the wick on its first move ... in how long?

 

In the past Aladdin made the round wick style and I mean in the near past as I purchased 2 new in the box around 1995.
Made in Brazil and of good quality and of the table lamp style.
Read to roll.

 

some sage advice from Miles Stairs on lantern wick purchasing >>>>

"WHY LAMP WICK BY THE ROLL?
Purchasing lamp wick by the roll results in much less cost per wick. How? The burner assembly is at least 2" high. From the bottom of the burner to the middle of the font is about 4'': the distance from the top of the wick to the fuel is then about 6'' on average. If you have an 8'' long wick, you get only 2'' of wick to burn before the wick is too short to even reach the fuel! If you cut and use 12'' long wicks then you have 6" of wick to burn - 3 times as much effective wick life."

LAMP WICKS

 

Thrifty folks sew the new wick to the old one and waste nothing but some thread.

 

Somewhere in my stuff, I have a chandelier I made with a wagon wheel, every other light was a kerosene lamp and the other was DC incandescent. Living on the desert this was really handy. I have only rarely seen circular wick lamps and not even fully intact.
It seems that that kind of wick would burn fuel faster, yes?

 

Yes, the center draft lamps do burn fuel faster than flat wicks, but give off more light...and heat.

 

and they eat dog food >>> your point?

 

The point is that if somebody didn't have the foresight to acquire a roll of wick in the correct width they could sew a couple eight inch lengths together and have a functional lamp. The lower wick doesn't even need to be the same size. It just keeps the lower end in the fuel.

I thought that was your point in posting about the roll of wick. Something has to touch the fuel or the light goes out.



I have no standard size wick in the old lamps I have, and never know what will show up next, so I buy eight inch lengths of wick in round and flat in every size I can find, a few of each. Most are four for $1.00 from places like the Lehman Coleman Center. I've probably burned only an inch or two of wick in all my lamps during my lifetime. (I burn a lot more mantles.) The Citronella fueled Dietz and Toledo Torches get the most run time in the Spring and Fall, and I have a Comet that I use for light while I light a pressure lamp. They'll likely have the same wicks in them when I'm gone. The thing that I've found that consumes wicks in a hurry is running the lamp out of fuel. Easy fix. Don't let them run out of fuel.

 

What is your favorite fuel you burn in your lamps ? Is standard dyed kerosene acceptable in oil lamps .