Kerosene Lantern Hunt

I was going to post on some more action from this past weekend but it is getting late.  Tomorrow is Zen Wednesday so any of the real production photos on my part won't be up until Thursday at the earliest.  I did splurge on a purchase today which I felt might be of some interest.  After exhaustive research, I settled on, and bought, two kerosene lanterns for the workshop area.  There is a vast amount of nuance to kerosene lantern design, construction, and manufacturing history.  I would point you to this website if you were really interested: www.lanternnet.com.

Instructions for a Dietz brand Kerosene Lantern.  Unfortunately, Dietz lanterns are now made in China and are not constructed like they once were.

The Blacksmith Shed is fully primitive (no power or water) so the plan has been to light the workshop area using kerosene lanterns.  Lighting this space falls in line with the flow chart priority of getting the workshop area ready for use by next hunting season.  This isn't a crucial item at this point but it does adhere to the "Bang Factor" school of design (future blogpost).  Also the lanterns that I liked had been really difficult to find in stock so when they finally became available, I went ahead and pulled the trigger.  To hang the lanterns, we are going to try our hand at blacksmithing and attempt to bang out a few scrolls.  Jay and I have a friend who has offered to let us use his forge for this task.  Once completed, the scrolls will be driven into the posts that support the workshop table.  The lanterns will illuminate both the table for task lighting and the workshop as a whole.

Below is a picture of the Feuerhand #276 Black "Baby Special" Cold Blast Lantern.  It's the BMW of kerosene lanterns and as such, operates with the smoothness and reliability of a German sports car.  I finally settled on this lantern for it's size, fount capacity, light output, and quality construction.

Two of these bad boys for the workshop space.

I've also included the following review on this lantern for your reading pleasure:

There are storm lanterns, and then there are storm lanterns. But you already know all that… Sure, you can buy the cheapest crap, made in China these days, and hope it’ll work when you need it. Hell, who knows, mebbe it’ll work just fine. Or, the wiser choice would be this fine German-made, brand-new Feuerhand lantern. The original. Been making ‘em since 1878, when Hermann Nier made his first one. Since then, over 250 million have been sold. This is the “mil-spec” lantern for the German Bundeswehr, NATO, the Austrians, and god knows who else. Hell, Feuerhand Lanterns are the primary illumination in West Africa and elsewhere in the fourth-world. Made of high-grade 0.3mm sheet steel and hardened wire, completely tin-plated, they include a long top carry bale, self-venting hood, bottom fuel regulator. The glass globe is made of legendary Schott-Suprax glass! (The same glass Zeiss makes lenses out of). The bottom reservoir with 11.5oz capacity, is easily filled and will burn kerosene or any other cool-burning lantern fuel for up to 20 hours, with optimum brightness with no flickering or sooting. No sharp edges and no leaking! This is a handy little item for not only the end-of-the-world doomsayers or the merely well prepared, but the romantically inclined. Take it from me, this is a most welcome gift. People love ‘em! Why jack around with anything else… height w/o handle 10”, weighs 19 oz.

From : http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=61&products_id=1002