Make Your Own Olive Oil Lamp

[Knob Creek]

I ran across this and thought it was a pretty neat idea in a emergency:

This olive oil lamp is fast and easy to make at home, and it’s a safe, reliable light to have around during power outages.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/Make-Olive-Oil-Lamp.aspx

 

[alphawolf]

Cool link. Another thing I now know how to make.

Thanks!

 

[coastie]

THis summer we made our own sunflower oil. I took a jelly jar, some scrap wire a piece of a cotton mop and made an oil lamp. It was a fun experiment. Beats being in the dark but it didnt give a lot of light. I still have it somewhere and I can take some pics and try to post them.

 

[jmjkd]

That is good to know stuff…. in addition in your BOB you should have similar items to make and achieve the same result.
1. Small metal tin.
2. Beeswax. or fat from your kill.
3. Jute
Melt the (wax/fat) in tin. Take a single strand of jute and dip/coat in substance, set jute in the tin with the tip out….. light.

 

[Plural of Mongoose]

I made one out of a large clam shell, some old cooking oil and moss for a wick last year, just for kicks.
It worked well but burned a little dirty and smelled like fried chicken.

 

[ShadeWPI]

This is exactly the kind of thing I would love to see on this forum.

How To discussions that people can go practice.

 

[glostamon]

I made one out of a large clam shell, some old cooking oil and moss for a wick last year, just for kicks.
It worked well but burned a little dirty and smelled like fried chicken.

PoM, you may be on to something.
Fried chicken aroma incense?....imagine fried chicken scented "Pine Tree" car air fresheners....the possibilities are endless

 

[liberal]

I read an article that I can't seem to find about the 10 items that will be impossible to find ins a disaster. 2 of the items had to due w/ lanterns
1. Lantern Mantels.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Standard-Tie-Mantles-Pack/dp/B000J084KY/

2. Pump Repair Kits.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-220A6201-Pump-Repair-Kit/dp/B0000ANBEZ/


I own a couple dual purpose lanterns so at the time i stocked up on enough replacement parts to last me 6 months. But this oil lantern is pretty neat. I have about 25 boxes of jars in my garage for canning. I'm going to have to take a dozen jars & fill them full of oil for this purpose.

 

[coastie]

I read an article that I can't seem to find about the 10 items that will be impossible to find ins a disaster. 2 of the items had to due w/ lanterns
1. Lantern Mantels.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Standard-Tie-Mantles-Pack/dp/B000J084KY/

2. Pump Repair Kits.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-220A6201-Pump-Repair-Kit/dp/B0000ANBEZ/


I own a couple dual purpose lanterns so at the time i stocked up on enough replacement parts to last me 6 months. But this oil lantern is pretty neat. I have about 25 boxes of jars in my garage for canning. I'm going to have to take a dozen jars & fill them full of oil for this purpose.

Honestly I wouldnt waste the oil. You are better off buying more fuel for your existing lanterns. The light from these oil lamps is better than nothing but you have much more light from your Colemans. The oil lamps are my last option before I start burning pine knots and fat lamps. For the oil lamps I would build one so you know how and then stock up on your wick of choice. I bought a large cotton mop head and I think it would last me forever.

 

[ochmude]

I made one last night from an empty grape jelly jar, some spare copper ground wire, and an old t-shirt. It's a pretty cool idea.

 

[glostamon]

....oops ,still gettin used to this new set-up

 

[Hanwei]

Cool idea. At least it's a good thing to have in your bag of tricks.

 

[stixnstones]

Honestly I wouldnt waste the oil. You are better off buying more fuel for your existing lanterns. The light from these oil lamps is better than nothing but you have much more light from your Colemans. The oil lamps are my last option before I start burning pine knots and fat lamps. For the oil lamps I would build one so you know how and then stock up on your wick of choice. I bought a large cotton mop head and I think it would last me forever.

+1

IIRC, oil and fat lamps also throw a good amount of soot. Not bad for a short term thing, but Coleman types burn cleaner. I've built a few with both animal fat and vegetable oil.

Not to mention if your vegetable oil were in short supply, it may be better to keep it for cooking.

 

[coastie]

Here are some pictures of the one I made:

THis is the wick assembly. Just a scrap of copper wire that I twisted around a piece of metal to hold the wick which is a piece of am industrial mop head I bought at Ace.

Next 3 are just pictures of how it looks assembled and then what it looks like burning. The oil is green because of the copper wire. It actually burns fairly clean once you get the wick adjusted.

This is the device that I used to make the sunflower oil. I got it on either Ebay or at a yard sale. I was looking at a small hand operated oil press online and I remembered this was in the basement. Took some fiddling with it but it worked well. I just used black oil sunflower seeds that we use as bird seed.

If there is an interest I can try to take some photos of pressing the oil as well.

 

[Plural of Mongoose]

Cool little lamp there, coastie.
For safeties sake I would arrange the wire so it fits completely in the container and then punch a hole in the top where the wick could be pulled through. Then if it tipped over, you wouldnt have a huge spill. You may even be able to ditch the wire and just have the wick coming up through the hole. As the wick burns, you pull it out to expose more burning area.
Is that an old sausage stuffer you used to to press the sunflower oil?

 

[coastie]

Cool little lamp there, coastie.
For safeties sake I would arrange the wire so it fits completely in the container and then punch a hole in the top where the wick could be pulled through. Then if it tipped over, you wouldnt have a huge spill. You may even be able to ditch the wire and just have the wick coming up through the hole. As the wick burns, you pull it out to expose more burning area.
Is that an old sausage stuffer you used to to press the sunflower oil?

The problem is the wick needs to be very close to the oil as it wont draw up well. I found that the closer it was to the oil the less it smoked. I have thought about trying a floating wick holder. It might be as simple as a small block of wood with a hole drilled in it. These are actually quite safe fire wise. I have put the oil in a shallow dish and tried to light the surface with a BBQ lighter with no success. When I lit it last night I accidentally dropped the match in the oil and it went right out. If I do these again I will use wide mouth half pints for greater stability. I also want to try using the standard mouth 3/4 pints and only fill them half full and see if that will create a chimney effect. My orginal plan was to come up with a couple of wall mount holders with a reflector behind them but havent had time and I need to do that for my kero lamps first. The wire on the outside is to let me lift the wick in and out. This was the start of my testing for the taller jars. It would be a lot easier to lift the wick out with the handle to light it than to try to light it in the narrow jar.

The press is an old Enterprise juicer. Chop Rite still manufactures it but the are expensive. I collect old hand operated kitchen stuff so I had this in the basement. I looked at this site : http://www.network6000.com/store/html/oil-press.html
Basically I set a candle under the end of my press like in the picture. I ended up removing the plug at the end of the juicer and setting the screw in the press back 3 turns. If you look at the pic of the press I wrote in permanent marker what the setting was so I dont have to remember. I tihnk there are cheaper versions of this juicer on Ebay. I was actually surprised how easy it was to do. I need to get some good oil seed to plant and I should be OK for veg oil for cooking and eating. As I said earlier the lamp is my second to last lighting option and I think the oil will be better used for eating.

 

[green_metalflake]

There are also Biblical & Roman era lamps that used simple twisted cloth wicks. The Canaan-type (1st image) could be quickly made from a cat food can "in a pinch". In the novel "The Road", Cormac McCarthy mentions the light source the man & boy use being a "slut" lamp. It is essentially a crude Betty lamp. His fuel is the dregs from emptied motor oil bottles. I would think that used motor oil would work too (but I wouldn't want it inside the house). Both of these "fuels" are worth trying out.

The last is the Betty lamp which is likely the best iteration of all -

Betty Lamp

 

[Gonzo]

In a survival SHTF scenario if I have any olive oil on hand, I'm going to be sauteeing my cat in it.

In the meantime, a drawer full of $0.15 candles can light up my kitchen.

 

[chippinder]

In a survival SHTF scenario if I have any olive oil on hand, I'm going to be sauteeing my cat in it.

In the meantime, a drawer full of $0.15 candles can light up my kitchen.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Thats just funny.

 

[MisterHappy]

Just because a technique or tool is less than optimal, doesn't mean it shoud be discarded....better to curse the candle than light the darkness, or whatever....

Cool project for the kids.