Hi all. last month I bought online a TL14 with a nice Vitrisil shade . When it arrived I was a bit disappointed to note that it was a steel tank model . It got even worse . When pressure tested , it transpired that the base had various pin holes rusted through it . The rest of the lamp was fine and the shade excellent . Not to be deterred I sourced a brass tank for same and awaited its arrival . In the meantime I looked again at the steel tank and decided to have a go at fixing it . I cleaned it out and stipped the outside . I coated the base externally with Araldite (Not a cheap excercise) I finished the base off with a coat of satin black . After lots of testing and use , it seems fine now . I guess the pressure through tiny holes is not that great anyway . I part sprayed the tank with gold and laquered it . The base rim came up well just polished to silver . In due course the brass tank arrived and turned out to be in very good condition . I now had one spare tank ! I looked at my "stock" and found I had nearly enough to make up another lamp . All I really needed was a pump . A brass pump would have looked a bit out of place with all the steel/alloy fittings on the first lamp . Amazingly , good old Steve (Shed man) kindly found me a really superb steel pump . Well , that sorted out the steel lamp . The brass tanked one was just missing a handle , so for now I have made one out of sheet brass . This looks OK I think but it's a bit thin so I am looking for an original brass TL14 handle . Maybe "hen's teeth" syndrome ~ I'm not sure ! I am pleased with the result and I had a lot of fun along the way . Both lamps work very well but at first , the steel tank had a blocked feed tube . The only way I cleared that was lots of pressure with the fuel cock removed . It freed off with a satisfying "plop" . Some strange substance hit the kitchen ceiling !! These jobs are always done when wife is out of course !!! I have gained such a lot of knowledge from reading the posts on this forum . Had a good few laughs too ! I guess we are all a bit crazy .... Well it helps doesn't it . Regards to all here . Noel .
What great lamps! Well done, good painting job. You will have to pay attention, one of the preheater cups is upside down. You might get some meths on the kitchen table when your wife is out...
Yes , well spotted about the spirit cup .... Now I know how I burnt the house down . Hard to explain when the wife got home after shopping . Nowhere to put the baked bean tins !!! Sorry about the duplicate photos . No idea what happened there . Just in case you thought you were seeing double . Cheers to all , Noel .
Two very nicely restored lamps Noel. Well done. I actually think your handle looks better than the tilley one. I think tilley were a bit lazy on their design. Some of the TL 14 handles on the brass tank version have steel handles but the brass ones look so much better. Did you consider having the steel tank mig welded up ? Anyway nice work Ozz
It is worth whatever it takes to make sure that steel tank survives. That is a rare item made during WW2 and I doubt many were made. I know I have never seen another. It is the same basic tank as used on PL53s and I have seen a couple of R1s in steel but this is a first TL14 for me. ::Neil::
I didn't think steel TL14s were that rare. There is one in the reference gallery link so it can't be that rare
Hello Noel, both lamps have restored well, to clean out the fuel feed tubes, I use tying wire, it's the perfect size and it does the job, Jeff.
