One fire at a time - My Dietz Fire King Lantern

[AL_as_needed]

The world really works in odd ways. With the lantern bug now fully rooted and the lanterns slowly populating my already limited shelf space (sorry phones), a jewel was hiding right under my nose!

Many many moons ago, my great grandfather was a volunteer fire fighter in Cold Spring NY. He was also a bit of a pack-rat having lived through the great depression, so things that were not nailed down or slated for the dump ended up filtering into his house and work shop. At some point (not going to guess how or why), a dietz Fire King ended up in the mix, and was promptly lost to the void and forgotten. Flash forward some 50+ years... "oh you like this type of old stuff? Great, here!"...

And so it begins!

Overall its in "ok" shape. All the parts are present (globe / burner removed), but rather crusty. It also seems at some point the lantern was dipped or coated in some sort of a plating that has long since failed and flakes off at the slightest hint of a touch. The fuel tank however still retains a good platting (looks like silver?) over the copper. No Dates quite yet, but this one is in for a long soak in molasses. 

[Pourme]

A wise man once told me in another thread...

"And so it begins." 

[AL_as_needed]

After a two day soak, finally starting to see some progress.

The coating I now believe may have been an original nickle plating. It seems this plating did not hold up and rust formed between the nickle and the metal body. This caused the rust to blister off the plating and more or less turn the lantern into a rusty mess without it being immediately apparent.

Well grandma is setting that straight! As the plating is flaking off, rusty tin comes to light, and slowly transformed back to clean metal. It has a long way to go yet. Doing my best to preserve the plating on the copper tank (as it is in great condition there) and slowly bring a shine to the rest of the lantern.

First image is of the clean tin starting to emerge from the rusty mess. Second image shows some of the dark rust hidden under the old plating....sneaky.

[AL_as_needed]

After a week of soaking, scrubbing, and polishing....The King Fire Dept revealed itself. I would have loved to have been able to keep the original nickle plating if it were not compromised and hiding a god-awful amount if rust. This lantern was probably as rusty as my "rusty wizard" from earlier in the year. The copper tank did however retain its nickle and polished up wonderfully. Still need a new globe as this one lost its annealing.... seems to be a theme with this one... Either way, looks great enough and looking forward to lighting it soon. 

[Pourme]

Looking very nice, Al!

[AL_as_needed]

I have been neglectful and forgot to post a nice "glow shot" with the lantern alight. So here we are.

[AL_as_needed]

Just some further notes for the lantern compendium.....

Since the last posting on this lantern (Oct of last year) and having lighted it many many times along with my others, I have to say there is a huge difference in fuel consumption. Cold Blast lanterns draw cool air into the fire cone for a brighter flame, and naturally have a higher light output (Such as the Blizzard, Comet, Little Wizard etc).

The Fire King is however a Hot Blast lantern that recycles some of its hot exhaust back into the burn cone. The trade off here is lower light output, but more efficiency as gasses are re burned. Initially I thought "yeah right, ok..." but over the last few months the Fire King has been refueled maybe three/four times where my best burning rusty wizard has taken easily twice the fuel. Both are lighted frequently the same times and run a few hours in the evenings when the mood strikes..... So best MPG.... Fire King or other hot-blasts.