Kudlik...Survivorman

[Jay H]

OK, saw another episode of Les Stroud and Survivorman when he was in the Baffin Islands in Nunavut, Canada. One of the interesting things I saw was the use of a Kudlik which was like a type of oil lamp where he used oil from seal blubber, a soapstone base and a paper towel as a wick. Used it to heat a very rudimentary igloo.

Found a webpage on it, after guessing how it was spelled.

http://www.athropolis.com/arctic-facts/fact-kudlik.htm

Sounds like something to try this winter, if only if it can be done safely. I imagine having a bowl of some kind of oil and an open flame might be kind of hard to keep safe.. Maybe the ole candle lantern is the best compromise!

jay

 

[el-bagr]

You can do this in the home fairly easily. Get any old small pottery bowl or dish, a piece of paper towel, a paperclip (bend it to make a stand to hold one end of the paper up), and fuel -- I've used olive oil, vegetable oil, and uncleaned "tallow" and "lard" (the fat you drain from skillets of ground beef and bacon, respectively).

They're all rather smoky, but all burn well. The paper towel singes at the top, but does not burn completely until your fat is exhausted; until then, it wicks the fat up into the flame zone.

I have not used it in a survival situation -- it does not put out very much heat, and I'd probably rather eat the fat than burn it in an open flame.