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Dear fediverse,
does anybody know of instructions on how to light an oil lamp (the kind with vegetable oil) with flint and steel, and no matches (not even the old, non self-igniting, type with sulfur)?
I've found how to light fires (lots of resources), a couple of instructions on how to light candles that aren't going to work with a lamp, articles and videos about oil lamps in general, but nothing on the combination.
I can't believe that before the invention of sulfur matches people had to light a full fire (or ask some fire to the neighbors) in order to be able to light a simple lamp…
does anybody know of instructions on how to light an oil lamp (the kind with vegetable oil) with flint and steel, and no matches (not even the old, non self-igniting, type with sulfur)?
I've found how to light fires (lots of resources), a couple of instructions on how to light candles that aren't going to work with a lamp, articles and videos about oil lamps in general, but nothing on the combination.
I can't believe that before the invention of sulfur matches people had to light a full fire (or ask some fire to the neighbors) in order to be able to light a simple lamp…
@valhalla flint and steel make sparks, which have to be caught in or on something which then catches fire. Lighting a candle or lamp with flint and steel often involves lighting char cloth or very slim tinder and then using that to light the wick. Using something like a fire piston might work better than loose flint and steel.
@raye oil lamps require a flame to start burning, the small ember you get from char cloth isn't enough, so you need some kind of intermediate kindling.
Most instructions show how to light a full fire, so for kindling they use big-ish bundles of dry grass, vegetable fibers etc., sulfur matches were used in recent time as a smaller alternative (and I know they were used to directly light lamps), I'm wondering if there is another relatively small alternative.
Most instructions show how to light a full fire, so for kindling they use big-ish bundles of dry grass, vegetable fibers etc., sulfur matches were used in recent time as a smaller alternative (and I know they were used to directly light lamps), I'm wondering if there is another relatively small alternative.
@valhalla
...which is why my answer to you was "Lighting a candle or lamp with flint and steel often involves lighting char cloth or very slim tinder and then using that to light the wick."
Having watched videos of people doing this online, I'm not seeing them using large bundles of dry grass.