Opened a pack of butterfly mantels I purchased awhile back and besides being quite radioactive they also have asbestos strings. But hey they are pretty bright.
The asbestos string is a little worrying but the radioactivity is a bonus given that it's thorium. I might (OK, I definitely will) get some backlash for saying this, but I have never been 100% convinced that you have to fit the exact mantle as originally specified, and in any event, there are some mantles that you simply can't get any more, well, at a reasonable price anyway. Butterfly mantles have always served me well, both the ball type, and the sock type and even when they're adapted to fit on a Tilley or a Willis and Bates lantern.
And often beggars can't be choosers... finding mantles that work at a reasonable price is always a challenge (well in the UK anyway)
I've made sure I have plenty in stock just in case we have a trade war with China. A few years ago you stopped being able to get my favourite soy sauce brand (Pearl River Bridge) which was almost certainly because of a trade spat we were having at the time. Now you can only get it in catering sized containers of 8 ltrs at a time! Doesn't bother me as we get through quite a lot.
I've just bought a few new butterfly mantles, they come out at about £1 each, the one I tried last week seems fine but a little yellow when burning, probably dropped the thorium these days.
They were offering both radioactive(thorium) and non-radioactive ones not too long ago. I'm not sure if they are still producing thoria types now. Well about asbestos,...I don't really see much difference when you are already dealing with radioactive Thorium compounds. Both would be hazardous in their own ways..we are well aware of what those are. I'd just say, just treat them the same:- -don't consume or breathe-in the particles/dust/microscopic fibils. Avoid causing it to become airborne as far as possible. As for me, I don't really consider these stuffs(asbestos, thorium compounds) to be a threat to the Environment. Afterall, the asbestos is not a synthesized product but a mined mineral. For disposal, I'd just 'return' it to the Earth as it is, instead of wrapping it with some synthetic, non-biodegradeble plastics and sending it to 'someone else'. The same applies to the thorium stuffs if any.
