DIY Garden Lantern

[Charlie]

Whilst travelling overseas I saw a number outdoor lantern type thingys outside restaurants/bars which looked quite effective.

They were constructed from

- a 4ft wooden/bamboo stake (in the ground) with a cup holder thing at the top

- a small beer bottle filled with petrol

- a wick of some sort (perhaps rag) which was lit.

These lanterns burned away quite nice without any problems.

I wanted to make something similar up myself but preferably without inadvertantly making a petrol bomb.

Can anybody comment on the arrangement and what I should use as a wick?

Charlie

[Frank Erskine]

A sort of Molotov cocktail on a pole? :-)

[meow2222]

Glass tends to break, and a lit petrol torch would make a dramatic insurance claim. If you're nuts enough to do it, paraffin would be a bit less dangerous than petrol.

NT

[Charlie]

I actually don't what liquid they used, I just presumed some sort of fuel. Maybe it was paraffin.

I'm not feel so keen about this idea any more....

[Andy Dingley]

NEVER try to burn petrol -- its vapour has horrible behaviours. There's a really high risk of igniting vapour fireballs.

Use lamp oil if you're close enough to smell it, or paraffin if you don't care too much.

[Steve Firth]

Years ago, when I worked in Manchester, the police asked the University for help in identifying what had happened to a body. The body was burned to a crisp above the knees but was unmarked from the knees down. After a bit of investigation it turned out that he was an arsonist who had decided to burn down a rival's premises.

He had entered the building then splashed petrol all over the place just like in Hollywood films. When he had the premises soused he had applied a match intending to start the fire going then leave. What actually hapened was the vapout ignited where it existed in an ideal fuel-air mix. However down at knee level there was too much vapour to burn. So he was flash-fried high up but no fire at all lower down.

As you say, petrol vapour has horrible behaviour.

[Mary Fisher]

Whatever you use it will burn with a very sooty flame. You might not notice it but I promise it will be.

It's not a lantern anyway but a torch. A lantern has the light enclosed to protect it against wind and rain.

Mary

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[John Rumm]

Citronella oil would be a more usual choice for this application.

[meow2222]

glad to hear it :)

Multiple candles on a stick might be more practical. Because the fuel's solid, it can still go wrong, but the resulting conflagration would be slow moving and usually self contained.

NT

[Andy Dingley]

Citronella oil burns badly and is impossibly smelly.

The "citronella oil" burned in outdoor torches to discourage bugs is just a few % citronella in cheap lamp oil. The varying % is one reason for the cost variation and effectiveness. If you buy the neat stuff and try burning it though, you'll choke!

[John Rumm]

Indeed, I was missing a "lamp" there (as in citronella lamp oil). Not convinced it makes that much difference to the bugs though - the things still seem to prefer biting me! Perhaps I should find a "stronger" mix.

[Chris]

how about these

[clot]