Vegetable Oil Lamps/Stoves

[JAK]

Someone mentioned that jute or hemp twine was useful tinder.

I tried it as a wick for vegetable oil and it works great.The idea is that vegetable oil can be carried as both food and fuel and as a fire starter or wood fuel booster for a small wood stove in cold weather. I also got the idea of twisting the twine with a wire to make a standing wick and that worked great also. Snare wire is heavier than it needed, but if you are carrying snare wire it will do. If you are carrying twine to do some biodegradable lashing the wick idea makes more sense also. Thought I would pass both ideas along.

I used a standing wick in a tealight tin in my tealight candle and it made a nice bright light. You have to be a little more careful not to spill. You take the glass out to fill it, and you can drop the glass back in before or after lighting it. The other thing I wanted was a small vegetable oil burner, the size of a tealight or ion stove, but no more than 1/2 oz of fuel at a time because it does get extremely hot and dangerous. Using a little snare wire and hemp or jute twine you can get a pretty good flame going without too much soot. It will be a slow long burn, but it is good at night when you are not in a hurry, and could be used in bad weather easier than a small wood stove. With some fiddling you should be able to get 1/2 oz to burn in about 30 minutes without too much soot, which at even 30% efficiency should heat up 450ml of water by 150degF, enough to make soup or oatmeal. I am going to try it with a small hobo type stove, or with the stuff from my ION stove.