Almost every problem people have with an oil lamp comes back to the wick.

It should sit properly in the burner and be cut straight across. Above the burner, 1 mm is usually enough, 2 mm at most. Any higher and the flame grows beyond what the burner was designed for: it starts to smoke, the glass blackens, and the burner runs hotter than it should.

I cut wicks with heavy dressmaker's scissors. Ordinary household scissors chew the thick ones and leave a ragged edge, and a ragged edge burns unevenly.

A new wick wants soaking in fuel for half an hour before you first light it. A dry wick draws the flame into itself and chars.

Keep the top of the wick clean. Once the char builds up, the flame goes lopsided — on a round wick you can usually wipe the crust away with a cloth rather than cutting anything off.

Turn the wick down low, light it, and leave it low for the first few minutes.

The flame will climb on its own as the burner and the glass warm up — on some lamps noticeably so over the first ten minutes. Set the flame at its final height straight away and you'll come back to a smoking lamp. Stay with it while it settles, then adjust.

There's a second reason to start low, and it's an expensive one to learn the hard way. Make sure the glass is at room temperature before you light the lamp. With a hurricane lantern this rarely causes trouble, but a tall chimney on a table lamp is a different matter: bring one in cold from the shed, put a flame under it, and there's a fair chance it cracks within minutes from the difference in temperature. I've lost a few that way.

If you can't let the glass come up to room temperature first, warm it gently instead — start with the flame very low and raise it slowly, so the glass heats evenly rather than all at once.

Use purified paraffin (kerosene). It burns cleanly, produces far less soot, and doesn't leave the room smelling of a garage.

Never petrol, never alcohol, never a fuel meant for a different kind of burner. The wick and burner in each lamp are built for one type of oil, and this is the one mistake that turns a lamp into something dangerous.

There's more on this — including what the various things sold as "lamp oil" actually are — on the Fuel for Oil Lamps page.

Fill in a well-ventilated room, over something you don't mind wiping. Oil left on the outside of a tank is a fire hazard, so wipe the lamp dry before you light it.

Fill to about two-thirds. The fuel needs somewhere to expand as the lamp warms, and a brim-full tank will push oil up past the burner.

You can blow an oil lamp out, but it isn't always the best way — not with a tall chimney, and not with the flame turned high. The safer method is to lower the wick until the flame goes out on its own, or to smother it with a cap or snuffer. Or blow out a low flame, instead of a high flame.

Give it a moment before you touch anything. The chimney and the burner stay hot long after the light has gone.

Wipe the soot out of the glass regularly; a lamp with a clouded chimney gives noticeably less light. Let the glass cool completely first — putting a hot chimney into water is the quickest way to crack it.

Check the tank for leaks now and then, look at the seal around the burner, and replace a worn wick before it starts misbehaving rather than after. On an antique lamp these are the parts that wear, and they're the parts that are still easy to find.

Do that much and a hundred-year-old lamp will light your room as steadily as it did on the day it was made.

On this webshop you’ll find a wide variety of kerosene lamps and hurricane lanterns. Most pieces are fully functional and can be used for mood lighting or as an emergency light source. Always read the full product description for details on the lamp’s condition and any remarks.

The collection changes frequently, so check back regularly to explore the latest additions to the shop.