Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Greatings fellow rangers!
I though i would share a small project i did over the/my weekend. It's a primative grease lamp i have made from (gasp) stainless. while the steel isn't authentic to our time periods, i fetl like it would hold up better to the out doors. I suppose one could be made from brass or copper as well. measurements are as follows. lenght 3 1/2 inches long by 2 inches wide. the bowl is about 3/4 of an inch deep and holds enough oil to keep it lit for about thirty minutes. of course you can add more while it burns, i've done so safley. any way on to the pics annnd a short video too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74968682@N ... hotostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74968682@N ... hotostream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8pASX547Y0

Nice job and invites several experiments on oils and grease.

Thanks pete, it was hard work, to get it to even remotly resemble a leaf. if your into hard core wildernes survival skills i suppose you could use tallow as a replacement for oil. but i use mineral oil on my blades so thats waht ill have on hand most of the time.

Bacon Grease! I seem to have a plethera of the substance that I never know what to do with! Now I know...and knowing is half the battle!

Ringulf wrote:Bacon Grease! I seem to have a plethera of the substance that I never know what to do with! Now I know...and knowing is half the battle!

I'm sorry, this is a non-Tolkien reference, this needs to be routed to the correct forum.



-Jack

p.s. (just kidding) Ever wonder about the other half? 25% red lasers, 25% blue lasers.

dwayne davis wrote:Greatings fellow rangers!

It's a primative grease lamp i have made from (gasp) stainless.

Nice! I'm a fan of the grease lamp. I've had a 4 wick hanging grease lamp for 13 years and have loved it.

Really nice work, Dwayne!

As an aside, if you cut an orange in half and carefully scoop out the "meat", you're left with a bowl-like orange peel and something in the center that looks like a wick. If you fill the empty orange half with oil, you can light the "wick" and it will burn for hours. It may take several tries to get it lit, but once it is, it will just burn and burn. I've done it twice now, and it worked both times. It's best to use an oil that doesn't have much of a smell, because you want to smell the yummy citrussy smell of the orange. (Peanut oil just winds up making it smell like peanuts, for instance.)

kaelln wrote:Really nice work, Dwayne!

As an aside, if you cut an orange in half and carefully scoop out the "meat", you're left with a bowl-like orange peel and something in the center that looks like a wick. If you fill the empty orange half with oil, you can light the "wick" and it will burn for hours. It may take several tries to get it lit, but once it is, it will just burn and burn. I've done it twice now, and it worked both times. It's best to use an oil that doesn't have much of a smell, because you want to smell the yummy citrussy smell of the orange. (Peanut oil just winds up making it smell like peanuts, for instance.)

Really?! I had no idea you could turn an orange into a lamp!

PS- Nice work Dwayne!

RangerKellen wrote:Really?! I had no idea you could turn an orange into a lamp!

PS- Nice work Dwayne!

Yup! Here's a youtube video about it. This technique is a little different than mine, but the result is the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YJgdOFYtj8

Wow great work.

Looks great, Dwayne!

Great work, I think I'll have to add one to my kit now.
I was thinking it was copper from the pictures. Was that the lighting or did the stainless turn that color?

I forged it. then polished it up a bit with some 220 grit emery paper, then heated it up again untill the metal turned a straw color.

Kaelln: That's very interesting! I had no idea you could do that! Especially that fast!

I think I'll try my hand at making one of these. Seems like something simple and easy to get into metalwork with.
I've been fiddling around with a few different cooking oils as well as bacon grease in an improvised grease lamp using a tea light. I'm surprised how well they all burn. Slightly sootier than wax, but not enough to be a problem.
Me likey fire