Well, I've gone down quite a rabbit hole here.
I've never dealt with kerosene as a fuel before. Mainly white gas and propane. I have a little experience with gasoline stoves and lanterns as well as pressurized alcohol stoves. I decided to dip my toes and try a kerosene lantern. I checked out
Hardwick's in the university district thinking they'd be as likely than anyone in town to carry such stuff. I wasn't disappointed.
They had one tube type lantern, a Deitz Air Pilot.
Deitz #8 Air Pilot.jpg
I bought it and a gallon of K-1 kerosene. I had to work out most of the functions myself because the provided directions are pretty rudimentary. After some research on the
W.T. Kirkman website, I found that Klean-Heat kerosene subsitute is recommended for indoor use due to lower odor. Since both my G.F. and I are sensitive to strong scents, I went and picked some up at Home Depot. It makes a difference, but you can still tell that a kerosene appliance is being used in the room. I used it on a scout camping trip. It definitely isn't a substitute for a pressurized, mantle style lantern, but it illuminates a small area nicely, especially if it's dark. It's also silent and runs unattended for a long time.
I was visiting my grandmother a couple weeks later in Port Angeles. I had to pick up some items from Swain's, a local variety store. They had a few lanterns on clearance, six #10 Monarchs and a #20 Junior.
Deitz #10 Monarch.jpg
Deitz #20 Junior.jpg
I picked up one of each priced $15 minus 30%. I also got a couple of spare fuel caps, a small stainless funnel, and a spare globe which fit my Air Pilot.
I gave the Monarch to my girlfriend to use as an emergency light source or just for atmosphere. Since it is a hot blast lantern, it doesn't generate as much kerosene exhaust, but it is still noticeable. I took the other two lanterns on a trailer camping trip a couple weeks ago. I used them outside to mark the driveway of our site. This is what it looked like in the dark:
dark.jpg
and this is what it looked like with at f 5.6, 1 sec., ISO 1600:
exposed.jpg
They were sitting out for four days straight. I turned them down low at night and higher during daylight. The Air Pilot ran about 24 hours on a filling and the Junior ran about 12 hours.
I was visiting my grandma again last Sunday. I stopped in to Swain's to see if I could get another Monarch for myself. They had moved all lantern related stuff to the clearance aisle. There was one Monarch left and a D-Lite which wasn't there last time. I bought them and a spare globe which fits the D-Lite.
Deitz #90 D-Lite.jpg
The same day I stopped at a antique mall in Tacoma. This was the first time I'd visited one since I'd gotten in to lanterns. I was surprised at how many there were. Most were in poor shape and overpriced. I bought an old #100 Little Giant with a red globe for $25. It only needed a good cleaning and a fill up to run like a champ.
Deitz #100 Little Giant.jpg
Now I own six lanterns with five different globes. I think I'll stop for now, although I'm tempted to order a
Comet from W.T. Kirkman just because they're so cute. It would probably be good to have some spare parts as well.
