I have to say I already love this forum...immediately I sense a welcoming and open atmosphere. I'm pretty new to flashlight collecting and have spent a short bit of time on CPF just checking it out...and as an outsider, I have to say it felt awful from the beginning...I'm involved in other forums such as woodworking, bicycles and Coleman lantern collecting...and they're largely very friendly venues. I was so put off just lurking around CPF. So, I was very happy to stumble across this site...I'm all about finding a diamond in the rough and truly enjoying it. I don't have $30k to drop on a few lights, nor would I if I could...budget lights is more my style. Thanks for having such a forum, all of a sudden this hobby looks a lot more promising...or should I say another slippery slope to tiptoe around :)
Your assumptions are all correct Dave, and I couldnt have worded it better myself. Welcome to BLF! We have no "Greta's" here to bite us, so stay a while and enjoy.
Welcome! and enjoy BLF. You mentioned bicycles, I have restored and resold a few old BMX bikes in my time. I kinda like to find bicycles in "survivor" condition at yard/estate sales and such and hold on to them keeping the original patina.
Welcome to BLF, Dave. I think your user name is pretty cool. It's like a cross between The Three Stooges "Soitenly" and a dyslexic spelling of the sci-fi classic Soylent Green. Makes me hungry just thinking about Soylent Green. 8)
Colemans are great fun - in this country the equivalents were sold by the Tilley company and were known as Tilley lamps. I'm sure I can still rebuild one in the dark - I lived in a place in Africa in the 80's with no electricity. Those were what I used for lighting.
I sometimes cut the power and use one to light the room for the relaxing hissing and the kilowatt or so of heat.
The place I'm going next week only got electricity in the 80's so there are still a lot of Tilleys there.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the great welcome. Yes, my screen name derives from the Three Stooges...soytnly! Noodles, I'm into British 3 speed bikes, I restore and ride them...they are very classic and full of personality...and nobody expects you to ride fast when on one Don, I love Tilleys, but they are bit pricey here...one day I'll pick one up. It was someone on the lantern forum that mentioned CPF, which led me to register there, which led me to this site...gotta like that. I love your story about living in Africa using Tilleys for lighting...I love the hissing sound, there's just something about it, especially with a restored lantern from the 20's or 30's, it's pretty amazing.
LOL I remember that hissing sound. In Alaska I had an old US military gas lantern which I think was made by coleman (I can't remember) that I took with me everytime I went fishing, hunting and especially snowmachining. I found it at a garage sale for about 10 bucks and it was pretty beat up but it lasted for well over a dozen years. I think I might have gotten my moneys worth.
Anyway, I loved it because you could use coleman fuel or even gasoline so you always had access to fuel. I think I was able to sell it for 10 bucks during one of my many garage sales before leaving Alaska.
I'll do some pics of some old ones if the snow lets me travel next week.
The problem comes when you use them as table lamps - the tops get very, very hot. I had a bad burn on my right arm from accidentally leaning on it while typing. Took 20 years for the scar to fade.
In life we all need role models .As a young boy I remember watching workmen doing their job,plumbers or painters .i learned valuable lessons from how they realted to employers,people around them but more importantly how they interacted on the job with each other .Where else could I ever learn how to loosen a turtleneck with a crowbar or how to use electrical conduit as plumbing pipe or how to carry ice up a large flight of stairs .Subtle things you don't realize how important they are until later in life .. like how to throw a pie or hit someone with a hammer .lighting someones butt on fire appears easy untill you try it .how to make a top hat into a machine gun .. little things like that influenced my formative years.
I wanted to thank you david for taking me back to a non-gentler but more innocent time in my past ,when we'd rush home after school and pile up pillows on moms bed and watch a small black and white tv teaching us how to stab each other in the eyes or slap one another in love .
Don, I love Tilleys, but they are bit pricey here...one day I'll pick one up. It was someone on the lantern forum that mentioned CPF, which led me to register there, which led me to this site...gotta like that. I love your story about living in Africa using Tilleys for lighting...I love the hissing sound, there's just something about it, especially with a restored lantern from the 20's or 30's, it's pretty amazing.