Where can I purchase a smoking oil lamp for use in inletting a stock? I'm referring to the type seen in videos about making guns like Purdey and H&H. I thought Brownell's carried them but I can't find one on their site.
I previously used Jarra's inletting compound but used all I had. Besides, I find it messy and it got all over everything. I tried using a hurricane lamp burning kerosene and it worked sort of OK, but not as well as the lamps I see in the videos. Also tried a candle and a dry marker without success.
Any know of a source?
What about an engineers oil lamp? Ebay has lots of them. Something like this:
https://ebay.us/4jf9rZ In one of the Midway videos, Jack Rowe uses a stick with kerosene on it. It seems to make plenty of soot. He keeps the stick in a can of kerosene and then lights it with an oil lamp when he wants to make soot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EqfxRugPVw&t=1599s
Any small jar such as a baby food jar will do. Poke a hole in the lid, insert a cloth wick, soak the wick in kerosene and fill the jar with kerosene.
The oil lamp on eBay appears to be the same as the base on my hurricane lamp. I made a torch from a small jar with a hole in the lid. Had to shop around for a circular wick, which I'm using. Works well with lots of sooty smoke.
The Jack Rowe torch seems a bit scary, given that it takes two people to blow it out. That would set off the smoke alarm over my work bench.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys.
Dave is it one of these you are talking about? Unfortunately the days of fitting to the thickness of smoke in the engineering world has almost died out. This lamp was one I rescued from the scrap bin it was just one of the many hundreds that where in use at Crewe Loco works here in the Uk that where scraped. All is not lost though a good low cost replacement you may find are a type of Paraffin (Kerosene) garden oil lamps.
damascus, that is exactly what I was looking for. From what you say, they probably aren't made anymore. I found a small garden torch of similar size that uses some type of insect repellent. I suppose it would work if Kerosene is burned in it. Only $5.
Don't stock makers use smoke anymore? I gave up on the mixture of grease and carbon. That stuff stains and gets everywhere, and is a pain to apply to the metal.
Here's mine. From eBay for about $20 I think. Not the best photo, but you get the idea.
This one sold today for $13:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F174141196561
This is what I use for smoking metal for fitting. Bought it off eBay years ago. Works perfectly, and you can use it either leaning or standing straight upright. Kerosene goes in it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Glass-Alcohol-Lamp-Spirit-Lamp-Burner-Adjustable-3-16-Wick-5oz-Polisher-Wax-Work/333374915648?hash=item4d9eb18440:g:3OkAAOSweahdsyvL
SRH
What about a rail road marker lamp? Seems like it could make plenty of soot.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F401999255421
An old oil can, cut the spout back big enough for a wick and use mineral spirits. I found some stuff in the sowing section at walmart that makes a good wick. A empty shell case makes a good cap.
Here is the one that gunmakers universally used through out the world and the one I like the best.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-c-1884-French-Brass-LUMA-Pigeon-Type-Gasoline-Petrol-Lamp-Lampe-Pigeon/233391478075?hash=item365737553b:g:R2oAAOSwgCxdX54I
Braided cotton cord, of appropriate diameter, makes a good wick.
Mike
As I posted previously, I made a torch from a small jar with a hole punched in the lid. My first attempt for a wick was some 3/16" braided rope but it must have been made of dacron or something similar. Problem was that it burned rather than the kerosene. Then I found a wick of similar size made of fiberglass. That worked.
It appears to me that the key to getting sooty smoke is to use kerosene. The other fuels for lanterns are made to be smokeless and odorless. They don't work.
My lamp is an old tin can with a screw top lid which I poked a hole through and then soldered a cut off cartridge case over the hole. Cheap and I have had it forever. Kerosene works great, you can add a bit of motor oil too.
Cheap and I have had it forever.
I'll bet being cheap is the best part for you...
But not quite as cheap as going against Dave's wishes and running free advertising of your businesses in every post you make:
look for a old toy chemistry set, they had a nice small glass alcohol lamp that you could use with kerosene.
I had one of those Tom....then I knocked it off my bench. Hope you are staying warm.
Steve
Not necessary. You can buy a new one on eBay for $10.99. See my earlier post.
SRH
steve I use that one we made in Trinidad
that one at Lowes looks good but like SKB don't drop it
That'll do it.
that one at Lowes looks good but like SKB don't drop it
Living in a house with granite countertops for the last 15 years has taught me to be careful about handling everything!
I am a bit surprised at the amounts of comments on this subject, and if you look back up the line of the comments, I suggested that the French "pigeon" lamp is my choice. Not only is it my choice but it is the choice of European gunmakers who work daily using a lamp to black surfaces. An excellent video example is in the link below, starting at about 2 minutes 25 seconds into the video. You will notice that this lamp has the ability to be turned down to a very small flame, while it is not in direct use. This is a feature most useful and also this lamp has a safety feature that mostly unknown to Americans and that is that the entire (or mostly entire) fuel canister has a internal wool fill that soaks up the fuel oil when the canister is filled. The lamp wick fits down into this wool fill and "wicks" fuel from the wool fill to keep the flame going. Because of this wool fill if in the event the lamp is tipped over or dropped onto the workshop floor, no fuel spills from--a great fire safety feature.
Sometimes what works, works the best and trying to reinvent the same is without merit. Not only is the ability to turn the Pigeon lamp flame down a good fire safety feature, but a good cleaning feature as you reduce the amount of soot floating around your workshop.
In the past I used similars type of homemade blacking lamps that one sees in shops, but then I learned better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj1k2jMYhuc
bush, as the OP, I also am surprised at the number of comments. I guess each post revives an idea from someone else. Maybe there should be a feature on this forum that the OP can close a thread after the original question is answered.
I'm not a big fan of open flames in my shop and don't enjoy the fumes from some of the various fuels either. I do use them, but rarely. As a simple, cheap, and quick alternative, blue colored White Board markers work just as well if not better.
Give it a try if you don't want or have a lamp.
I use the blue chalkboard chalk for inletting metal the into wood. I coat the wood with the chalk then rub a light coat of very thin oil on the metal. When you press the metal into the wood you see the spots that need relieving by the way the oil darkens the blue chalk. I was shown this trick by an old tool and die maker who built m/l rifles.
For metal to metal I still favor the lamp soot.
SRH
So what's the benefit of lamp blacking vs. Prussian Blue (bluing in) or inletting black for stocks?
I use inletting black from Jerrows for woodwork. Benefits? Not sure really other than that is how I was taught in gunsmithing school. I do like not dealing with the fumes. I still smoke metal for most fitting but do use a marker and Dykem as well.
Mike,
It's mostly a matter of preference.
Mike
Neatest one I saw was made with an empty 8oz can of PVC primer.
Remove the dauber from the inside and drill a hole the same as the OD of a, let's say, 30.06 case at the base above the rim (use favorite rimmed cartridge).
Drill out the primer hole to open it up to the ID of the case, leaving the rim intact, and push the case through the hole in the cap from the inside. Then use some plumber's solder around the case/cap joint.
Push cotton wick up from bottom. Fill with fuel of choice and light. The brass case just looks right on a bench...
and I see that Steve already mentioned it...
The advantage of using smoke is two-fold; smoke is about as thin a film that can be applied and transfer. And smoke works for the male part and the female recipient; no pun intended. Smoke on a top strap shows where it is bearing on the inlet, and it also shows where it is being transferred from the mating part. As it is transferred off the mating barrel hook, and also shows where it is mating on the pin.
I always blow the lamp out after smoking a part, less to breath in. Light with my butane lighter. Sore thumb though.
Very good topic and suggestions.
Prussian blue is a mixture of iron and cyanide.....
Sometimes good ideas come from places you least expect. On a visit to a precision engineering works in Taiwan my eldest son came across a person in the tool room using a smoke lamp, though the use of the lamp did not come with the usual not so pleasant smell. After a lot of hand gesturers he was shown a bottle but unfortunately the label was in Taiwanese so after the translation surprise surprise what was used in the smoke lamps there was Citronella Lamp and torch oil a product that is extremely common here for keeping those small flying pests at bay in the evenings here, I can really recommend its use in smoke lamps for the smell alone.
Citronella seems like a great idea. A good option might be to keep a low-soot lamp "pilot light" going and then a stick with citronella for smoking.
That way you don't get the sore thumb of constantly relighting the lamp, don't by get the black lung of a constantly burning smoke lamp, and don't get the smell of burning kerosene either.
This would be like the setup Jack Rowe shows on the videos with Larry Potterfield, except exchanging kerosene for "soot-free" lamp oil and citronella.
Try a grill lighter, with the trigger that lights it. Doesn't tire you out nearly as much when lighting the smoke lamp many times.
SRH