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FAQS
How
do I care for my new Lantern?
For lanterns kept indoors or under cover,
very little attention is necessary. A light coat of oil once a
year and cleaning of the glass is all that is needed. Lanterns
can take some weather, but were never intended to be left to the
elements, now or 200 years ago. Always spray a light coat of oil
on any lantern after exposure to the weather.
How do I
remove the Glass panels to clean them?
All the lanterns have different glass
arrangements, some are easy to remove, some not so easy. In the
case of the half-round or tri-corns, the glass simply slides up
and out to be cleaned, where as in the case of the four-sided
glass lanterns with panels, each panel must be carefully removed
one at a time after bending away the corner tabs, starting with
the back piece. Edges of the glass have been smoothed --but be
careful -- as a small chip could always be present and they can
be very sharp!
The lantern I like has a circa date of 1803, but the living history
event I'm going to has a 1790 cut off date; what do I do?
Although the Circa dates assigned to each
lantern are fairly accurate, they are still approximate. Some
have circa dates associated with the architectural structures
they were found in. Few books on early lighting can accurately
date any lantern positively, and the ones that try are usually
down right misleading.
If you purchase a small 1/2 round and take
it to a French and Indian War period (1755-1763) event, you are
going to have one of the most authentic lanterns in camp. A
round lantern with horn panels may be a more authentic choice,
but all those cheap, spot-welded, cone topped, four-sided
lanterns with modern glass would have to be junked by the
thousands!
Which lantern puts
off the most light?
The more glass panels a lantern has the
more light is emitted, but any lantern with a tin back can be
polished up with fine steel wool to act as a reflector and
greatly increase the light value given.
What size
and what kind of candles should I use?
Most of my lighting devices are designed
for a 6 inch taper candle, but some of the smaller ones will
need to have a couple of inches cut off to fit properly. These
small lanterns were made to the approximate dimensions of the
originals, which were around long before candles were made of a
uniform size.
My favorite candles to use are. . .the
cheapest ones I can find! Beeswax candles are nice and some burn
a lot longer than the regular paraphin candles, but they're more
expensive and almost impossible to scrape off of the bottom of
the lantern. It sticks like glue!
Have a question not answered here? Please feel free to
write and ask!
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Malta, Ohio