Homemade lamps from everyday objects: a tuna-can oil lamp and a grease candle

A flashlight is the right first choice when the power goes out. Fire services say so every storm season, and they are right: most candle fires start with a flame left burning near something that catches. But batteries run out, and a household that has thought ahead about light will get through a long outage in better spirits. If the candles are gone too, the kitchen cupboard holds everything needed for a small, steady lamp.

How a lamp works

Every oil lamp and every candle relies on capillary action. An absorbent material pulls liquid up into itself against gravity. Dip one corner of a paper towel in water and watch the wet line climb; the wick of a lamp does the same with fuel. The flame burns the fuel at the tip, and the wick keeps drawing more from below.

That is the whole principle. Any absorbent natural fiber can serve as a wick, and any container that will not burn can hold the fuel. Cotton is the right material. Polyester and other synthetics melt and drip instead of wicking, so check the label on the old shirt before you cut it.

A tuna-can oil lamp

You will need:

• An unopened can of tuna
• Vegetable, olive or other cooking oil
• An old cotton T-shirt, rag or sock
• A nail, or anything sharp enough to punch through the lid

Steps:

1. Punch a nail-sized hole through the middle of the lid.
2. With a can opener, cut the lid most of the way round so you can tip out the fish. Leave a hinge so the lid folds back down. Wash the can and dry it.
3. Cut a strip of cotton about 2 inches wide and 8 inches long.
4. Roll it lengthwise into a tight wick. A twist helps it hold its shape.
5. Push about half an inch of wick up through the hole from underneath, and coil the rest in the bottom of the can.
6. Close the lid and pour oil in until the can is about three-quarters full. Give the wick a few minutes to soak, or wet the exposed tip with oil to speed things up.
7. Light the tip.

As the oil in the wick burns, fresh oil climbs up to replace it, and a full can will give hours of light. If the flame smokes, trim the wick lower. A quarter to half an inch showing is plenty.

Cooking oil has a much higher flash point than kerosene, so it will not flare up the way a knocked-over kerosene lamp can. That does not make a spill harmless. A lit wick lying in a pool of oil on a tablecloth can start a fire, so treat this lamp with the same care as any open flame. Olive oil gives off very little smell.

A grease candle

Saved cooking fat makes a serviceable candle. Rendered pork fat, which is what collects in the pan after frying bacon, is lard; the beef or mutton equivalent is tallow. Both melt when warm and set firm when cool, and both burn like wax. Vegetable shortening works too.

You will need:

• A small glass jar of solidified fat, filled most of the way
• A cotton swab with a paper stem, or a wooden skewer (plastic stems melt)
• A strip of cotton cloth about 2 inches by 6 inches

Steps:

1. Wrap the cloth strip tightly around the swab or skewer until it is fully covered.
2. Push it down into the fat until only about half an inch sticks out.
3. Rub a little soft fat onto the exposed cloth.
4. Light it.

Bacon fat smells faintly of bacon when it burns. Fat that has been strained through a cloth while warm burns cleaner than fat with bits of meat in it.

Keeping it safe

Any flame burning indoors uses oxygen and gives off smoke and some carbon monoxide, and oil lamps with long wicks give off more. Keep a window cracked in the room where a lamp burns and make sure a battery carbon monoxide alarm is working. Never run a lamp in a closed bedroom while people sleep.

The practical rules for open flames apply in full:

• Stand the lamp on a plate, tray or baking sheet, never directly on wood or cloth.
• Keep it at least 12 inches from anything that can burn, which is the distance the National Fire Protection Association gives for candles.
• Blow it out before leaving the room or going to sleep.
• Keep it well out of reach of children and pets.
• The can and jar get hot. Let them cool before moving them.
• Never put gasoline, kerosene or any other volatile fuel in an improvised container.

Any fireproof container, a cotton wick and a fat or vegetable oil will make a lamp on the same principle. The tuna can and the jar of fat are simply the versions most kitchens can put together tonight.