One of my favorite items to cook while camping is french fries and scones. Both take a large amount of oil, which you have to figure out what to do with or dispose of in an eco friendly way while camping. The thought came to me, why not use it as some type of lamp oil. Can you use cooking oil as lamp oil?… Come to find out, the Roman’s used olive oil for this purpose years ago! Olive oil was used for their cooking, lighting, and even medicinal with using it topically on their joints. So… lets put it to the test. We all already know that the stuff will burn… it’s oil! It’s just that we do not want all of it to burn at the same time. That would be extremely bad. We will need a container that will not burn or melt and some type of wick.

Here is the build that I did:

1. I took a metal canning jar lid and collar and using a old 1 inch chisel with a rubber mallet, punched a 1 inch slit into the canning jar lid.

2. Using lamp wick, I cut off a piece that could reach the bottom of the jar when the lid is placed on.

3. I fed the wick into the slit on the lid. This was a little tough as the opening was pretty tight. But that’s ok. You want it to be small enough that the wick can not fall down into the oil.

4. Connecting the lid onto the mason jar now filled with the old / used cooking oil, I let it sit for a long while until the oil wicked up to the tip.

Now for the test… It worked just as it should. The oil only burned on the wick that was exposed on top.

Putting it out was a bit of a challenge. As you blow the flame out, you will notice that the wick will continue to smolder and smoke. You will need to smother the wick out completely. I used a folded paper towel and with my thumb and index finger pinched the wick until it no longer was smoking. Remember, smoke means heat. Plus, the some smelt like burning oil and french fries. As the wick had flame, there was very little smell in the air. Make sure to keep you wick not too long, doing so will cause a flame that is unsafe along with putting unwanted black smoke up as it burns.

All flames must be treated with the most care and caution. Do not ever leave a burning flame unattended. This build was created to see if I could use old / used cooking oil as lamp oil for an emergency. Use under the direction of an adult / parent / guardian.

Wick alternative: any 100% cotton based rope can be used. I would not use larger than 1/4 inch cord. punch a slightly smaller hole in the top of your mason jar lid and feed through.

NOTE: Do not use in your heirloom lamp from years ago that was handed down to you. Or the lamp that you have purchased from the store. Only “Lamp Oil” should be used in emergency / hurricane lamps. I’m not brave enough to test the cooking oil out on one of my lamps… Also, this self made lamp does not have an off or on switch. Which usually means that you should not be using this during a no burn or if restricted in some camp grounds. Be fire smart if making this.