DIY Garden Lantern

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

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

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....

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!

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.

how about these