# Lamp oil



## gweny (Feb 10, 2014)

I've got some oil lamps that I use when the power goes out. I'm concerned about long term/ off the grid oil use and supply for these lamps. 
How long does store bought oil keep?
What are alternatives?
I was thinking of planting 2 almond trees so I could make my own oil. 
Has anyone done this? Is this viable? Any recipes? Know how? Other ideas? 
I've read That olive oil works well too. What else works?
How about wicks? How can I make them off grid? I'm thinking long term sustainability. What are my options?


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## driftwood (Jun 29, 2013)

5 gallon of kerosene will be good for years...........neighbor gave us some during outage,i know he had had it for twenty years.....i now keep a five gallon jug also.. a small bunch of wicks should last several years......candles can be reused and may be your best bet............


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## oth47 (Jan 11, 2008)

What driftwood said..buy kerosene.Cheaper than lamp oil,which is kerosene refined a little more.Wicks are cheap insurance,they'll last for years,maybe outlast you.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

I've used kerosene that I've had for fifteen years. It was old when I got it. Lamp oil should last just as long. I have some from Y2K. I keep it stored in the dark.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I had planted 2 Almond trees , out of a catalog. One decided to be a Peach and the other a Mulberry, peach Ok, mulberry,they are like weeds around here, so I would not plant one. But reading up again about buying a Northern Almond, the directions say I have to boil them to get rid of the bitterness. So back to reading. Anyway, plant some cotton(wicks ect). I did last year for my spinning. The "bols" got nice and big but never popped open. So I have to retry again.


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

One Hardware store sells bulk (your container) *****undyed**** kerosene.
Even at (last fall price) $5.25 a gallon it is far and away cheaper that those small jugs of "lamp oil".
So good 'pure' kerosene will store for years.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

I second the 5 gallon jug filled with kerosene from the gas type pump. I use some as parts cleaner and some to start piles of brush on fire so it gets replaced every couple of years. I don't have to worry about it going bad.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

This person hates any kind of burning lamp....unscented candles are about all I can stand....that said...I have oil lamps, some w/kerosene, some propane....hate them all.

Give me a 7watt CFL and a battery any day.


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## gweny (Feb 10, 2014)

Thanks all! I did not know I could use kerosene. I don't think that would work though cause we'd end up burning it in the heaters and be out of it quick! I want to use renewable resources. I don't mind the extra work involved. Love the growing cotton idea! How far north can it grow?


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

You can buy wick material in any width and thickness in large amounts for very little money. I think we bought about 100 3/4" x 1/8" for about $12. A properly trimmed wick lasts a long time.

If your lamp oil is in a plastic bottle, transfer it to metal. Eventually the plastic will leak.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I think this is one of those things where people try to shoehorn their current life into a SHTF life without realizing that a LOT of things change pretty radically. 

When the sun goes down, we start getting ready for bed. One Ryobi lantern hanging in the center of the cabin lights it up for us well enough to see. The kids are watching a movie on the laptop and I'm surfing on the internet ... both activities that won't really persist after SHTF.

So I haven't bothered to stockpile a lot of oil lanterns or anything, much less plan on how I'll be making my own oil after SHTF. My lighting needs post-SHTF will be minimal to non-existent.


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## gweny (Feb 10, 2014)

I will still need light to read, sew, shell almonds late into the night, (lol) or just to work in my garage... It's not very light in there during the day. What about in the winter when the nights get long and you just aren't tired? Don't you and your spouse stay up for some quiet time together after the kids are in bed?


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

gweny said:


> I will still need light to read, sew, shell almonds late into the night, (lol) or just to work in my garage... It's not very light in there during the day. What about in the winter when the nights get long and you just aren't tired? Don't you and your spouse stay up for some quiet time together after the kids are in bed?


We don't allow any reading of paper books after dark. We don't have the lighting for it and it's damaging to the eyes. Reading is a daytime activity. As for shelling almonds, I could do that in the dark. Working in the garage? I don't know what you're doing out there, but around here ... most everything can wait until dawn. 

And sure, we often stay up into the night after the kids are in bed, but none of those activities require any lighting. In fact, at my age, the lack of light is a plus. 

There's enough moonlight that comes in during the night (on all but the new moon nights) for me to find my way around and go to the bathroom. Occasionally I step on a plastic dinosaur (hate the stegosaurus) that isn't where it's supposed to be but I know my way around my own cabin well enough to navigate it in pitch black. 

It's almost 5am, a few hours before sunrise and before the computer monitor came on it was pretty dark in here, but I can see out the windows all the way to the chicken coop and down to the pond. I've got a pot of coffee brewing and I'm going to slip down to the treeline and see if there's any of those feral hogs coming up to eat the corn I've been leaving out for them. Been fresh tracks past few nights running. 

Artificial light is sort of a relic of the modern age. Most peoples have gotten by without it in history and there's a large portion of the world that gets by without it now. I can make both wax and tallow candles, but both would be too difficult of a chore for me to ever burn for anything less than an emergency. And the wax or tallow candle would be way too precious for me to ever burn for such a frivolous activity as reading a book, even if I wasn't trying to preserve what's left of my eyesight.

I would imagine that after you spent a few days crushing almonds in a manual screw press to extract the oil, and saw how little of it there was as a result, you'd reserve it for eating, bartering, or cooking as opposed to burning so you could read an old Danielle Steel novel.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

There are a lot of sources for light.Just about any type oil will work fine. Animal fat,veg. oil, one my favorites would be carbide light. The carbide is still available and burners are still around. You can store years worth of light in a very small space. The burners are adjustable and the only thing you need is moisture to burn it.
Wicks are easy. Instructions for making wick are on the net. It's just a salt and water soak and you can make "miles" of wick for $10 and in one day.
You should also learn to live without light. If you practice it you can see quite well without a light. Especially if you live east of the Mississippi because it never gets dark anyway. There is enough reflective light in the sky there are many things you can do without any other light source.
I live near the old Jefferson Proving Grounds which is 57,000 acres with no lighting.The pilots flying over this area use it at night to point their position on course.It is known as "the Black Hole".
In the Military survival school we learned that a person 5'6" can see a single candle that is 5'6" off the ground at a distance of 24 miles. (because of the curvature of the earth). We are spoiled by the availability of light and can get by with much less than we think we require.

Wade


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## gweny (Feb 10, 2014)

Ernie said:


> We don't allow any reading of paper books after dark. We don't have the lighting for it and it's damaging to the eyes. Reading is a daytime activity. As for shelling almonds, I could do that in the dark. Working in the garage? I don't know what you're doing out there, but around here ... most everything can wait until dawn.
> 
> And sure, we often stay up into the night after the kids are in bed, but none of those activities require any lighting. In fact, at my age, the lack of light is a plus.
> 
> ...


That's an interesting life style. Kudos to you for drastically reducing your carbon footprint. Most people need light or atleast they think they do. Me included.
I read an account from the Bosnian conflict of an older man surviving / providing for himself in a city surrounded and closed off from supplies by making lamp oil from a tree in his back courtyard. He was able to live quite well according to his Nieghbor (the writer) compared to others by trading lamp oil for food and other supplies.
I think in a suburban setting like mine that this would be a valuable good for trade. If a hurricane hits (happens a lot here) power is out long term, and looters start casing the place; simply having a light in your window could convince them to move on to easier pickings. Not saying I wouldn't post a watch too, but it's better to avoid a fight than win one.
I suspect the man in the story actually had an olive tree. It didn't say? I'm sorry I can't link the page for that story, but I just don't mess with links. It's a good way to give people malwear. 
I prefer almonds for other uses like eating, baking, and soap making. I'd just like to add lamp oil to the list of awesome things I can do with my trees. I also think they are beautiful and the compact size is perfect for my landscape. I have successfully made peanut oil and sunflower oil with a mini-hand pump chopper (cheapo I bought at ikea) and that really cut down the effort needed to smooth them with a mortar and pestal. Than I just put it in a mason jar overnight and poured the seperated oil off in the morning. Is that enough for lamp oil or would I need to filter it? Have you any experience making lamp oil?


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## MNMamaBear (Jul 16, 2013)

Some instructions on making your own wicks: http://www.redtedart.com/2012/02/03/how-to-make-a-candle-wick/

And as 1shotwade said, you can use just about any type of oil/fat for fuel. I am pretty sure you can use veggie oil and similar in an oil lamp, even after it goes rancid, although I have never tried it personally. You can use crisco, tallow, etc to make candles. Now, depending on the melt point of your fuel, you may not be able to use it in your lamp, however if you get creative, you will be able to have some sort of light


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## gweny (Feb 10, 2014)

MNMamaBear said:


> Some instructions on making your own wicks: http://www.redtedart.com/2012/02/03/how-to-make-a-candle-wick/
> 
> And as 1shotwade said, you can use just about any type of oil/fat for fuel. I am pretty sure you can use veggie oil and similar in an oil lamp, even after it goes rancid, although I have never tried it personally. You can use crisco, tallow, etc to make candles. Now, depending on the melt point of your fuel, you may not be able to use it in your lamp, however if you get creative, you will be able to have some sort of light


Very cool about crisco candles! Lol, I've got the butter flavor kind stocked up... Wonder if I'd have butter scented candles? X P
I've seen some super creative lamps when googled. Read on more than a few sites that sardine or cat food sized cans with a wick held up by a paper clip make the best mcgyvered lamps. I'm thinking I'll make one just to try it... But first wicks. 
I knew this was coming... Fiber arts. Next thing I know you guys will have me learning to knit.


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## Ohio Rusty (Jan 18, 2008)

The crisco candles don't work very well. I made about a dozen,some with standard wicks, some with thicker wicks and some with thick wicks. The problem seems the crisco oil when melted rises up and snuffs out the wick. That is why I tried thick wicks (cotton rope) to see if I could get the melted crisco to burn faster, but nothing worked for more than an hour. and the candle suffocated and drown'd in oil. Possibly being it's corn oil, it is clogging the wick. Crisco candles were a bust.

I make olive oil candles and they work wonderfully. Never a problem and I have used them for 5 days in a row, burning every night. Olive oil isn't explosive like kerosene or parrafin lamp oil. and olive oil does double duty as you can use it for cooking. 

I'll have to put some pics together on how I make my olive oil candles and post them on here as soon as I can. They are immensely easy to make. During Hurricaine Ike, when my power was down for 5 days. The stores had full isles of people fighting each other for the last little bottle of lamp oil. I walked over to the olive oil section and the shelves were full and no one was wanting olive oil. This has got to be the best secret that few people know about. It's been a standard lamp oil for the last 2000 years ............

Ohio Rusty ><>


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

Ohio Rusty said:


> The crisco candles don't work very well. I made about a dozen,some with standard wicks, some with thicker wicks and some with thick wicks. The problem seems the crisco oil when melted rises up and snuffs out the wick. That is why I tried thick wicks (cotton rope) to see if I could get the melted crisco to burn faster, but nothing worked for more than an hour. and the candle suffocated and drown'd in oil. Possibly being it's corn oil, it is clogging the wick. Crisco candles were a bust.
> 
> I make olive oil candles and they work wonderfully. Never a problem and I have used them for 5 days in a row, burning every night. Olive oil isn't explosive like kerosene or parrafin lamp oil. and olive oil does double duty as you can use it for cooking.
> 
> ...


I'm just wondering if the crisco would be better suited for an "uncandle". You know,the oil/wick floating in a pool of oil that is on top of the water in a glass kind of thing. What do you think? Have you tried it that way?

Wade


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## MNMamaBear (Jul 16, 2013)

The way I've seen crisco candles made is to fill a canning jar almost full with crisco, and take a small tapered candle and shove it in the middle. That way the wick is protected by the candle wax, which melts slower, and does not get clogged & go out. I think the problem is the crisco liquifies and the wick kind of wilts unless it has some support. 

Here's a video on how to make them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNxj8Mg0BYk




Ohio Rusty said:


> The crisco candles don't work very well. I made about a dozen,some with standard wicks, some with thicker wicks and some with thick wicks. The problem seems the crisco oil when melted rises up and snuffs out the wick. That is why I tried thick wicks (cotton rope) to see if I could get the melted crisco to burn faster, but nothing worked for more than an hour. and the candle suffocated and drown'd in oil. Possibly being it's corn oil, it is clogging the wick. Crisco candles were a bust.
> 
> I make olive oil candles and they work wonderfully. Never a problem and I have used them for 5 days in a row, burning every night. Olive oil isn't explosive like kerosene or parrafin lamp oil. and olive oil does double duty as you can use it for cooking.
> 
> ...


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## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

Living up north, I want light in the winter. Ugh, dark at 4:30 until 7:30 in Dec. I post often, mineral spirits, low odor or regular, burn with next to no odor or smoke and leave the wicks clean. Much cheaper than lamp oil, more expensive than kerosene. A gallon will last a long time. One lamp with a reflector does wonders. Easy to store. 
I wonder if sunflowers would produce an oil worth burning. They grow most anywhere.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

If you are going to go the kerosene route, it helps to understand that there are multiple grades of kero.

K1 (also called 1-K) grade is the purest. It has the lowest sulfur content. 

K2 (also called 2-K) is not as pure and has more sulfur. It is not supposed to be used without a flue. Personally, I would not use this indoors due to smell.

Some kerosenes are dyed red. This type of kero is sold to farmers with no taxes. It is dyed so that if you use it in a street vehicle, it will be apparent.

For lamps, I don't like the dyed kero but prefer clear K1.


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

7thswan said:


> I had planted 2 Almond trees , out of a catalog. One decided to be a Peach and the other a Mulberry, peach Ok, mulberry,they are like weeds around here, so I would not plant one. But reading up again about buying a Northern Almond, the directions say I have to boil them to get rid of the bitterness. So back to reading. Anyway, plant some cotton(wicks ect). I did last year for my spinning. The "bols" got nice and big but never popped open. So I have to retry again.


I don't know why you are just a little out of the cotton belt like 300 miles.


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

> transfer it to metal


Or glass


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Old Vet said:


> I don't know why you are just a little out of the cotton belt like 300 miles.


I'm still gonna try again:whistlin: I'll start seedings in the house.
I grew Tobacco once, even got seeds started from what I grew 4 days ago. We'll see if they germinate. No smokeing around here, but it is good for other uses. Besides, I like to grow just about anything, cause I get to play in the dirt.Barefoot too.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Be careful switching oils. Read the instructions. You can make a dandy little lamp with a wick, some olive oil, a paper clip, and a little jelly jar.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

If TEOTWAWKI occurs, and you have natural gas wells in your area, note that there are usually several huge metal tanks on site... one is for water, one is for crude, and one is for distillate. Distillate (a clear form of crude oil that's associated with natural gas production) will burn just fine in oil lamps. I've got a well, and can burn the distillate in my oil lamps just fine.


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

> too precious for me to ever burn for such a frivolous activity as reading a book, even if I wasn't trying to preserve what's left of my eyesight.


Hmm. 1) Everything, and I mean *everything* I've read in medical sources for the last 50 years, has said that the idea of vision suffering any sort of permanent damage from reading in dim light is an untrue old wives' tale. 2) I'd want to stay far away from post-collapse cultures that regarded reading still-available information by kids educating themselves or adults looking for simple information as automatically frivolous. Even if back to days of Abe Lincoln, well, he pored over books by lamplight schooling himself, right? I'd think families relying on strictly non-artificial light for reading would quickly sink into increasing ignorance especially with daylight necessarily filled with subsistence chores. That said, I'm glad to see this thread since it reminds me I have a bit of a hole in preps in the area; several boxes full of assorted candles from auctions and estate/yard sales, but not much in the way of oil lamps and kerosene in particular. Sort of related, I'll make sure we have a couple BIG handfulls of basic knife-sharpenable pencils for note-taking while reading, too.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

texican said:


> If TEOTWAWKI occurs, and you have natural gas wells in your area, note that there are usually several huge metal tanks on site... one is for water, one is for crude, and one is for distillate. Distillate (a clear form of crude oil that's associated with natural gas production) will burn just fine in oil lamps. I've got a well, and can burn the distillate in my oil lamps just fine.


Texican,

You've said this for years about the free gas you get. Every time I am envious. And as for today, I continue to be. What a deal! But, I do have a good river real close so I do have unlimited water. Does that equal your gas?  Maybe a wash?


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

I figure as rural as I am, that one of the first things to 'go' from the store shelves in a SHTF scenario will be candles, lamp oil and kerosene. I've been stocking up on baby oil to use when my kerosene runs out. It doesn't smell as bad as kerosene, and no one will be suspicious if I buy a large jug of baby oil at the Alco or Walmart every time I go in. I also have several unopened cans of cheap vegetable shortening and shortening that is made of animal fats plus shortening. All you have to do is shove a round wick into the center of it and light it, and it should last at least a month. I'm trying to prepare for when the candles, lamp oil and kerosene are either in short supply or NO supply.


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## gweny (Feb 10, 2014)

farmerpat said:


> I figure as rural as I am, that one of the first things to 'go' from the store shelves in a SHTF scenario will be candles, lamp oil and kerosene. I've been stocking up on baby oil to use when my kerosene runs out. It doesn't smell as bad as kerosene, and no one will be suspicious if I buy a large jug of baby oil at the Alco or Walmart every time I go in. I also have several unopened cans of cheap vegetable shortening and shortening that is made of animal fats plus shortening. All you have to do is shove a round wick into the center of it and light it, and it should last at least a month. I'm trying to prepare for when the candles, lamp oil and kerosene are either in short supply or NO supply.


My thoughts exactly! I'm really considering almond trees for that reason. I eventually want to get bees, and then I can make great candles. Right now I'm working on landscaping the area for long term sustainability. Are there any other perennials that I can make lamp oil from?


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## NorthernMich (Apr 30, 2006)

Candle lights
http://thewoodslife.com/?p=82


View attachment 26017




(I copied and resized and replaced the original photo that was here. It was just too large)


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

NorthernMich,

Neat candle light.

Not so neat image. It is over 7 MB. I'm on satellite so it hurts in performance but I also have a limit on my usage. Just saying.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

logbuilder said:


> NorthernMich,
> 
> Neat candle light.
> 
> Not so neat image. It is over 7 MB. I'm on satellite so it hurts in performance but I also have a limit on my usage. Just saying.


Yeah! Me too. It's not as if anyone who's been paying attention doesn't know how to download IrfanView or XnView, and use them or some other image editor to reduce the size of images until they're less than is needed for a computer screen - say 640x480 pixels, or 320x240. 

Just basic consideration. Of course, whether they've heard of the Golden Rule, let alone keep it, or even think of it before they break it, is another subject.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I've worked on the candle lantern photo above to make it visible and load better.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

Thanks Angie. I do understand that in this day and age, lots, if not most, have really high speed internet with no download limits. So large pics are not really a problem and are not noticed by most. Nor do those folks think much about the size they upload. I get it. However, some of us have limits. When you get a thread with a huge image in it, you have no advance warning and just have to endure it while wasting away your monthly download.

Sucks sometimes to be on satellite. But the alternative was dial-up which on my land line came in at 14.4k bps.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

AngieM2 said:


> I've worked on the candle lantern photo above to make it visible and load better.


Thanks, Angie.

It'd be nice if either the poster (ideally), or else the reader, got some advance warning if there were huge volumes involved.


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