The Big Oil Lantern Thread is a Great idea. Thanks DBSAR.
I find old oil lanterns very interesting.
:+1: 
To celebrate the revival of the big oil lantern thread I made a picture of my smallest one.
1 Thank
lets also get Roostre to fire up one of his Aladins. Those monsters are really bright in comparison to the single wick oil lamps.
Yes I am a fan of the Aladdin lamps so to give a comparison, here is a short video (made by Aladdin of course.)
The supply of mantles I purchased in case there was a Y2K disaster ran out several years ago and I had not even thought much about the Aladdins (which have become decorations) until “The Big Oil Lantern Thread !” was revived.
Like the mantles for the Coleman White Gas Lanterns, the Aladdin Mantles are very fragile after their first use and eventually get holes in them and need to be replaced, but the Aladdin Mantles are hard to find and very expensive compared to the Coleman Mantels.
shedding some light on the aladdin mantle lamps
Are those Thorium mantles?
1 Thank
There is thorium in the mantles yes. Enough to easily pick up with a Geiger counter (I do the demonstration in the school where I work as a teaching assistent).
New to oil lamps here, just recently I’ve reading about non-led lighting lanterns (gas, gasoline, oil) and found them very interesting. Technologies that were already perfected for decades but discontinued in the modern times.
I’m looking for a compact oil lantern and trying to decide between the Feuerhand baby 276 and the Dietz 76.
I might not give it much hard use but do want something well built and durable that I can take to camping and work reliably. I read that dietz lanterns are now made overseas and are sold for mainly decorative purposes rather than functionality, meanwhile the feuerhand are still made in Germany.
Also, they don’t sell clear paraffin oil around here and only yellow tinted kerosene, would that work just as good for fuel?
oil lamps are not very fussy about the fuel, the tinted kerosine should be fine. Just do not use cooking oils because they turn rancid over time and the hard fats will clog everything.
I’d go with the Feuerhand too, they are sturdy and they use (Schott Duran) harded glass shades.
I’ve got a Feuerhand 276 on my wishlist right now…I’m hoping for a father’s day gift.
But to be honest, after more time spent researching than was probably prudent, I didn’t find any clearly better criteria for the choice than “Made in Germany” versus “Made in China.”
Overall, this site was the most helpful source of information for me. He sells both brands, as well as some of his own designs - both customs used by decorators and set designers, and apparently some sort of adaptation of Dietz designs. He claims, and seems to have the background to know, that although Dietz lanterns are now made in China, it is still to the same pattern and even on the same tooling as they used for decades.
https://lanternnet.com/product-category/oil-lanterns/
V&0 is a budget brand probably best reserved for decorative use, although I’ve read they’re still a step up from the poorly made no-name lanterns you may see sold as novelty items at various retailers.
My 2c worth …
I have both a Feuerhand 276 and a Dietz 76. My Dietz was made in Hong Kong.
The Feuerhand 276 is a heavier lantern & seems a lot more solid. It seems like the Dietz uses a thinner sheet metal.
I’d go with the Feuerhand.
I have a number of hurrican lanterns & some of them live outside. Under shelter on the porch but still exposed to the elements.
They are showing signs of ‘old age’ & a few of rust spots.
Any suggestions on how I can protect them ?
I thought of using car polish or a waxy/oil furniture polish. Preferable someting I can spray on to the lantern to make it easy to treat.
I periodicly treat the rust with a phosphoric based rust remover but maybe can use something else to protect from rust.
Turtle Wax seal N shine.
I got mine on Amazon!
!
Thanks, will try it. May be a bit expensive for my 4 outside lanterns.
from the MSDS:
P210 Keep away from all sources of ignition - No smoking
I appreciate the impressions based on a direct comparison. Thank you.
I was just looking at WT Kirkman’s website again and noticed he mentioned a “Suprax” globe on the Feuerhand 276. I looked that up, and found out it’s borosilicate glass, so it should be at lower risk of breaking.
Unfortunately, the price of the Feuerhand’s recently went up by almost $20 on Amazon US. But, that’s all the more reason to buy from Kirkman,
I’m actually now thinking I might want a slightly larger lantern, both for the slight increase in brightness, and more classical aesthetic. Since Feuerhand only makes the one size, the Dietz #20 Junior seems about right to me, since I don’t need a large fount. I’m not sure if I like the “modern” (as in 1950’s) red color more or the novelty bronze. I would probably actually go for the more classic look of the galvanized if it was offered.
A little goes a long way; I’ve done my small car( Fiat 500) and my lantern with it twice and still have about a 1/4 of a bottle.
I came accross this on Amazon.
Lamplight 52664 Farmer’s Lantern. It seems about 30 cm high.
I dont know anything about it but I have heard of the manufacturer. They make a couple of other glass lamps as well.
The cynical part of me doesn’t expect much for that specific lantern, although obviously it does the key function of holding a wick and and oil. The Amazon listing I see in the US has a surprisingly low price and reports the weight as a mere 6.2 ounces (about 175 grams). I don’t think that is just a mistake due to Amazon mixing up the weight with the oil capacity like they do on some of the Dietz lanterns, because the listed fuel capacity is 5 ounces. The Dietz lanterns are all over 1 pound (450 grams) as far as I have been able to find.
I see WT Kirkman has some of their glass lamps for sale, so I suspect those are at least decent, since he seems fairly passionate about what he sells.
Apparently Lamplight has been around for a relatively long time. They are now a subsidiary of the same company that owns the Tiki torch brand, but I don’t see the lantern you mention listed on any affiliated website, so that makes me suspect just the name was licensed by some other manufacturer.
https://www.wcbradley.com/divisions/lamplight
The best information I found about the company in general was this 40+ year old article about them when they were still a relatively young company. This is actually a fairly interesting read: