Lighting After The Fall.

My family & I lived an 18th century lifestyle for over 20 years, in that time we tried & used various methods of primitive lighting. Here are some of the lighting methods & tools we used.
1) Grease Lamp. These are rather smoky but easy to make & use. The fuel is tallow rendered from animal fat with a wicking of cordage or rolled cloth.
2) Rushlights. These too can be relatively easy to make, although we used two period style holders. For fuel they use a dried reed stem soaked in tallow.
3) Dipped Beeswax & Tallow Candles. You can either mix tallow with beeswax, or you can make the candles with either the beeswax or the tallow. Tallow candles smoke more than the beeswax, & they tend to burn faster. The finer the wicking, the less smoke & the longer the candle will last.
4) Lighting The Wicking. This can be done using flint, steel & tinderbox, or by using a Tinderlighter if you have one. Some tinderlighters have a candle holder attached, as do some tinderboxes. This allows you to light the candle & carry it from the room if you wish. If the candle is extinguished, it is then an easy matter to re-light it.
Keith.

 

I guess the only way we are going to find out mate is if one of us tries it.
Keith.