doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT - Lantern mantles.

Sorry for the Off topic... but you guys are generally the vintage outdoor infomation resource. I am working with a propane fired cabin, all copper plumbed propane lanterns on the walls and chandeliers. Is there a mantle, process, or any other information that is better than another to be stocked and ready to operate?
Happy to take discussion offline if anyone can help.

The old mantles had thorium. Coleman eliminated thorium from their mantles decades ago. You can still get thorium mantles. They burn brighter. Just know that they produce radon gas and the ash is radioactive.
https://www.orau.org/health-physics...taining-thorium/gas-lantern-mantles.html

Do you mean these?

https://www.coleman.com/camp-sports...ie-21-mantles-4-pack/SAP_3000004344.html

Another option- burning oil lamps. Easier to get coal oil at a lot of grocery stores. And antique lamps are a nice look. I have them all over the house for power outages. But, to each his own, I guess. Good luck Marks_21.

Yes to all.....
Yes I mean those mantles, yes I know they are easily found, 40 pack on the Amazon for $12. I am just VERY underwhelmed by the light out put and longevity of the piece. as I begin playing with them. I do not expect clinical white light and LED type output, but the typical coleman camp latern is significantly better and longer lasting than the propane wall fixtures seem to be .... I will live with what it is, I am just willing to buy the right stuff if there are tips and tricks out there. The thorium is an interesting and nice tip.... I weld with 2% thoriated tungsten, I assume the laterns won't be worse than that for gerenal healt risk !!
I do have several good oil lamps, as well as great modern headlamps and LED worklights, but the cabin has it own ambiance with the propane and wood stove... trying to get my things right!!! Thanks for the input so far.

My hunting lodge at Delta Marsh was equipped with those propane lights fed via the copper tubing. And as noted by Chuck, the old style burn brighter than the modern ones. If it saves one child!

Our solution, similar to what Jimmy was mentioning, was to acquire a good number of oil lamps as well. Set the wives to work garage sale-ing to find the older vintage quality lamps. Which they found in short order. Then we just got used to the soft glow. Worked well with a couple tired dogs, a tumbler of scotch or bourbon and a good meal.

Which in time I came to value that lighting as it really set the tone that I was in an entirely different place. A peaceful one, somewhat devoid of modern conveniences. Hell, we had to stand on the roof to get cell service. LOL

I had noticed that the copper tube fed propane lamps in our cabin weren't as bright as in the past but didn't know the thorium story.

We bought a $12 string of LED lights on Amazon, and hook ed them to the battery pack for a cordless drill. When somebody needs light in the kitchen, you just flick on the switch.

Or, there are 12V lights available that can be used and powered by a 12V deep cycle marine battery with an inexpensive solar panel to keep it charged.

Ambience has its price. Good, usable light is more important to me. But, YMMV.

Check your gas pressure

It's great to have so many options available for lighting when hunting, fishing, or camping. There's nothing like night fishing or camping with Coleman lanterns. I've known about the thorium in old type mantles for years, and always burned them off outdoors and handled the old mantles with a moist paper towel for disposal. My Amish neighbors use various non-electric sources of light every day. Candles and oil lamps may be a fire hazard, and put off a surprising amount of soot. Better than nothing when the power goes out though.

LED lights are a real game changer. They are so efficient that they can operate for many hours off batteries or a solar panel. I have four Honda generators from 600 watts to 4000 watts. For lighting, a radio, or light electrical loads, my little 600 watt Honda is great. It is smaller than a 12 pack size cooler, very light, quiet, and fuel efficient.

Aladin style mantle kerosene lamps are as bright as incandescent bulbs. I used them in my tent when I lived it it year.round. new ones are available along with parts. They are hard to look at without shades in the center of a table but light up a room without. Great in the outhouse in the winter as they put out heat.

Do not those keresene and oil lamps create a lot of fumes and soot? I used them a bit when we had multiple-day outages back in Iowa, but could not put up with the exhaust they create even in a large room with a vaulted ceiling and windows open.

Lamps put out soot if you don't trim the wicks or burn them too high, fumes if you use fuel oil/heating oil instead of #1 kerosene or lamp oil.

I lived with kerosene lamps for years in Africa and the smell was awful. Perhaps it was low quality fuel.

Lamps I used and still own for back up at the house.

I used lamp oil, but whether it was good quality, I do not know. I do not recall trimming wicks, so it could easily be operator error.

They are going to smoke and smell when you first light them up and when you blow them out. When I blow them out, if they continue to glow like a hot ash- they will continue to burn and stink. I wet my finger to wet the wick and make it go out quicker or they will stay there and sizzle and stink for a minute or so. But they shouldn't burn and stink while they are fully lit. If they do- That might mean you have them tuned up a little too high.

Those are gorgeous, oskar!! Who did the print of the ducks? It almost looks like a Ruthven print.

Those prints a by Dave Sellers, the stag with the three lamps was done by my grandfather

Instead of having to lift hot chimneys to snuff wicks you can just turn them down into the lamp a bit and that will snuff them quickly.

They keep taking all the good stuff away, original hoppes, carbon tech, original sweets formula, durasban, rossite, all the best stuff


John
Arrieta

Marks 21, are your propane lamp fixtures made by Humphrey? If so, they will never be as bright as a Coleman lantern, but with the correct mantle, gas pressure and air/fuel ratio much brighter than any wick-type kerosene lamp. Great in the winter when you want both light and heat.

https://gas-lights.com/mantles/indo...2-paulin-falk-3769-preformed-mantle.html