Always wanted a real Petromax but they are rare as hen's teeth here in Canada so I bought this one from England and cringed at the £35 shipping. The outside of the lamp is covered in 20+ years of barn dwelling that will need to be cleaned off before I can polish it, if anyone has any tips for lamp washing I would appreciate it. I plan to polish it with Autosol unless someone can recommend something better.
Gratulation to your fine acquisition. That's not really an old lantern, in fact it seems to be built in the late 1960's. From my experience Autosol is good for the finish. But using only that you will need lots of elbow grease to get all that muck what I can see on the photos off the parts. I use thinned citric acid in an ultrasonic bath to get off the most serious oxide plaques. But don't do this too long, only a few minutes. After that polishing with Autosol will be much easier. And be sure to renew all the seals and gaskets as they most likely will have hardened over time. The most important is the NRV pip of the pump. If you like to use the Rapid torch preheater the fuel valve at the bottom of the pickup tube needs to be OK as well. And last but not least the sealing insert at the preheater or at the filler cap could be annoying due to pressure loss if they fail.
It will clean up well, I think. Just be very careful and gentle with the painted aluminium plaque on the side. The paint comes off more easily than you think
All washed now and about to start polishing, has anyone used 0000 steel wool to start the polishing process? First time if ever polished nickel.
If the nickel plating is strong and not flaky 0000 steel wool to apply and rub in the polish generally works very well after the citric treatment removed the tarnish.
Hi Thomas. Last year in Paris Ontario I was lucky to drop by an antique show and bough a 1956 Petromax 826 . It is in great shape.
And that's really a good find: it's what we call a "Sickentank" in Germany. That model is quite rare due a short period of production. Well saved BTW: nice collection that you have there!
Thank you very much Martin. Question - will my Petromax also shine up with the suggestions as above or is this model " the way it is " ? I have collected Coleman lanterns and two lamps here in Canada. Slipped into a few railroad lanterns but a very expensive hobby. Cameo.
That's hard to say from the photos you made. To be honest, personally I wouldn't try to polish it up. The tank is nickel plated and you may uncover the brass if polishing it too hard. After all it's an old lady and may well have some authentic signs of it's age. If in your place I'd rather look for another one that is more shiny from the beginning. But as always, it depends on your own preferences...
That specifically adresses the way how it is built where the globe rest sits on the tank. It was designed such that the heat transfer was meant to be minimuzed by only having 4 relatively small contact surfaces, whereas the rest were a kind of cooling slots. In order not to allow the globe rest to move on the tank there are 4 indentations on the tank to hold the the contact surfaces of the globe rest. These indentations are what we call "Sicke". However, it turned out that the construction was mechanically a bit weak and expensive to produce. That's why it was abandoned again shortly after its introduction. That can be seen on this photo taken from the reference gallery, compared to the usual construction on this photo from another post in the reference gallery. BTW @Cameo: well worth to put yours in the reference gallery here as well...
A trick with the Peerless mantles is to gently stretch the cloth wider around the middle after tying it on. It will then form into a rounder shape which should work well on the Petromax
Lovely job Thomas, there is some more to come in my opinion. When that is going as well as it can, you will have a hard job to get a photograph of it. The good thing is that they can do many roles. Sometimes quiet and just enough - as you have it. Sometimes howling and bright as the sun. It depends how you work them.
Im getting a light surging, I am very new to kerosene pressure lanterns so any input would be greatly appreciated. Petrol lanterns are the standard in Canada and they ether work or explode lol
You can fit a 250cp jet and needle to these if you find the output too bright. Use a mantle burned in with a 350/500 jet adjust the air gap and away you go!
The surging can be caused by carbon build-up in the vaporiser, but it sometimes also occurs with a clean vaporiser. One cure that has been discussed here is to wind a piece of fine brass mesh around the conducting rod inside the vertical part of the vaporiser. A coil of copper or brass wire wound around the conducting rod should work just as well.
