Dietz Blizzard Lantern: What's the Best Way to Trim a Lantern Wick? 

Thank you for the video. I wished you put the 3 on the table at the same time for visual comparison. Cheers 🤲❤️

Dean, your presentation is just FANTASTIC ! Taking me right back to my childhood when my grandpa in Sicily ( tiny village/town Castelmola ) was ALWAYS arguing with my uncle, " How wick in the lamp should be cut ". Thank you

Hi Dean, I watched your videos about lanterns many times, not so much because they teach me anything new, but because I love your voice, your presence, and the topics. I'm a lantern collector, and you helped me with understanding how they work when i started the collection 4 years ago.... Hope you're well, greetings from Belgium Mate . P.S: Dietz are great lanterns, even the new ones still available, though made in the Far East, I own a N° 76 and N°90 D-Lite, amazing lamps, the US quality is still present...(original tooling) just the globes are a bit thinner than originally... finding original globes isn't a big deal. I own both original and modern Dietz's

I get the same results. I also stopped by Hattersley Wicks. Don’t get me wrong, they’re very good. But the 6 foot rolls I get from Amazon from $5 to $7 work well. I honestly don’t see any brightness or runtime advantage to the more expensive Wicks. As far as the lifespan of the Wicks, I don’t see any noticeable advantage to the more expensive Wicks. So, I get the Wicks that have the best price at the time I order. Thanks for sharing your results, it’s most appreciated.

Yup same here. I trim my lantern wicks straight across in my lanterns as I get a good amount of light & even for a dead flame lantern like my Adlake lanterns. I trim it’s wick straight across in the Adlakes Great tutorial vid too!🙂🙂

I did some experimenting and had the same results. The perfectly flat wicks have a much wider flame on my lamps. Any deviation from perfectly flat (rounded, pointed etc) creates a narrow, peaky flame with less light. No reason to complicate things, like you said!

Thank you for an informative video. Will now get me a nice pincer tool for a good straight cut.

I had one cheap lantern and just purchased a Dietz 76 to start off my collection. Thanks for the informative videos.

Just love your channel , you always have great advice . My old Beacon lanterns always work their best with a flat trimmed wick. Keep up the good work and I'll be watching.

THANK YOU! What a great video . Very helpful. I have had some problems with mine smoking and sooting up the glass.

thanks for making a simple and easy to follow video.

Thanks for making this. I just got my first Dietz lantern (Jupiter).

Thanks Dean, for this very clear and informative video. Since I was a child I have always appreciated the brightness and reliability of storm lanterns. This year I bought a Feuerhand Baby Special 276, it's very common in Europe (I am Italian), and I cut the round wick because I had read it was the best way. I will follow your advice and try the straight cut to see the difference. See you soon. Tony

Thanks, Dean! Good to know! P. S. I wish I was, "Alberta Bound!"

Great video and great information

Thanks Dean, I am glad you did this test, I too am an avid lantern collector and a lot of people don't believe me when I tell this to them and I see a lot of videos telling to trim wicks on all sorts of angles but I also find that the brightest flames that I get from my lanterns are when the wicks are trimmed as straight across as possible without any loose fibers and this is the job of the burner cone to properly shape the flame accordingly, also I find that trimming a wick wet with fuel is easier than cutting a dry wick.

You're awesome man thanks for the info

Thank you. Very informative.

Way back in 1964 my mother bought me a Dietz junior red lantern while we were fishing in a place named Bruce Mines. The resort was named Greenbay Cottages located about 50 miles from Sue Saint Marie on the Canadian side. And from the moment she poured the lemon scented kerosene into the fuel tank and lit the wick, I was never the same again! Over my 64 years of life I have probably purchased 50 lanterns. 5 or 6 for myself and many others to give as gifts. I always include a package of 3 extra wicks and a jug of citronella scented kerosene. Sooner or later everyone that I have given a kerosene lantern to has called me up or written to me to tell how grateful they were to have one of these lanterns. Flashlights are fine for short term use, but when a power outage stretches out for hours, days or weeks, nothing comes close to having a dependable lantern! Especially when you have no less than 4 gallons of kerosene in yea ole garage. I live in Southwest Michigan and the weatherman is talking about 3 to 4 FEET OF SNOW TONIGHT!! Sure glad I have 3 Dietz lanterns, 2 table top oil lamps and 5 gallons of kerosene on hand... Thank you for the great video, Mama was right, always cut the wick straight across and wash the globe for maximum light.

Great video, mate 👍🏼. I’m just refurbishing my lantern and they are so versatile old lamps.

I have Coleman and a bunch of fluorescent and then lately, LED lanterns. Still love my oil lamps, particularly Kirkman and Dietz (love that Jupiter!). Thanks for your excellent video.

Hello Sir. Thank you for a great video! Greetings from Western Jutland in Denmark!

Ya never know when the skills you learned in kindergarden will come in handy! Now on to paste eating and glitter. Always wondered about which way was best if any. Thanks, Dean. -YB

Very interesting 🧐, I will make sure that my wick is trimmed flat for better performance. Thanks Dean.

Nice to see another canuck with true Canadian spirit

Yes, I have more than a dozen kerosene lanterns (2 dozen...but would have to count to be certain) but mine are a mix of new Kirkman, Dietz, 100 year old Dietz, Feuerhand, and cheaper Chinese lanterns. You are correct on wicks that are 5/8, 1/2, and 3/8 but I believe from massive testing that is incorrect on 7/8 wicks. I am using good ole kerosene. With 7/8 inch wide wicks the fuel does not act the same. It rises in the center. I take a ceramic plate (6.5 inches in diameter) and a new very sharp razor blade with a small sewing type seal healing cutting mat. I cut a convex (goes down slightly but ever so slightly) in the center....not up in the center. With my Kirkman Champion 2 (basically a premium version of the lantern he is using in this video) I get a superbly shaped flame that is nice and wide but after it heats up I still get the point in the center that is taller. I have other tricks as well. I've found that the burner rattles inside the cone. I put the cone inverted in a vice with the shoulder hitting the vice and slowly tap while moving around the cone on the upper lip. This causes the cone to seat better around the burner. I personally do not like 7/8 wicks because they are soooooo tempormental. My favorite lantern is a Feuerhand 276 (galvanized) follwed by a Dietz galvanized Original 76 followed by a customized Dietz Little Wizard No. 1 with increased fuel tank size and an extra burner I have customized so I can use either 3/8 or 5/8 wicks like they used to do for the older Dietz traffic lanterns. Best regards, Mike K

Great video

Great vid, Very informative. Thanx

Thanks Dean

Thanks für the video. Some years ago I tried this with some lanterns in my collection and came, despite the findings I read in some internetforums, to the conclusion that a flat trimmed wick is the best. I have a Dietz Blizzard, a Kirkman Champion and a similar lantern from a local hardware store here in Austria that costs under 10 EUR. This one looks like a Blizzard or a Champion, and is made in China like the other two. But it has a burner with a 6mm round wick installed. I modified the lantern a little bit and installed a 7/8'' Dietz burner. Now I have three good lanterns in my collection, that cost me 16 EUR (Lantern + new burner), 30 EUR (Dietz Blizzard) and 60 EUR (Kirkman Champion). All three have a flat trimmed wick and all three give the same amount of light and are absolutely reliable.

Coleman pressure lanterns are brighter, but more trouble with the fragile wicks and more dangerous because of the flammability of the fuel. I prefer my Deitz lanterns for emergency lighting and have four of them. I live in a very rural area of the Missouri Ozarks in a 100 year old farm house and am the very last electrical service on the entire line. I can heat with wood and the Deizt lanterns furnish my light needs in a power outage. I only use Clean Heat brand refined kerosene which i get at Lowes for ten bucks a gallon. It has no smell when burning unlike regular kerosene and the Deitz lanterns also emit heat which helps in super cold temps. They are fool proof and for over a hundred years have done the job just fine, and they still do.

I'm 80 yrs old from the Ozarks yu tri the wick t match the shape fthe burner. Just rl it u and use the burner as the guide for the cut peeping I he saw distance from the burner. If you cut it flat over a rundedburnr the corners will be farther from the chamber and carbon up. Match the shape of the burner. Dandahermit

Thanks man, I'm lantern collector , have about 200 of them. It was educational. I like to cut wick on my lanterns as you do, even if a flame sometime looks like a fish tail. Light output is priority. Also, like you , i'm not fan of pressure lanterns (Coleman and so on). They bind you somehow, and you lose night vision. Canadian lanterns are awesome, try to use Beacon vintage lanterns. In my experience they have the best light output.

Interesting! Do you have a video on the various types of lanterns, how they were used, and lantern fuels throughout history along with safety? How to make various lantern fuels and storage?

I've been collecting and burning kerosene lanterns for about 30 years. I agree with your wick trimming in regard to that particular model, as well as other similar cold blast designs. However I've found the hot blast designs tend to burn best when there is a very shallow, perhaps 20-30 degree cut off each corner across about a third of the wick. Basically I cut them perfectly straight using the thread lines as a guide, then I cut the corners off just slightly so there's about a third of the wick that remains flat in the center. This is close to a flat cut but not quite. Anyway, most of my hot blast lanterns are the old Victor and Monarch styles from the late 1800s to pre-WW1 and this seems to work best for them.

Thank you ✌

Thank you sir

Had an old timer who used to work for the railroad say that they used to cut a V in the middle of the wick to essentially make 2 flames. He said this produced the most light. I’ll have to give this a try one day

Thanks, I just trimmed mine, and I had to use it for over an hour tonight before that, high winds took the power out from 2am till after 3am.

I've been experimenting with a inverted V cut, I start with a straight flat cut and using small very sharp hair scissors and slightly cutting from each side to the middle slightly lower. Another way to achieve this without cutting the wick is bring down to flush position and hold down a small flathead screwdriver in the middle of the wick then raise the wick while applying pressure, this will lower the middle. Results are this...when lit at at a low level you notice a wider V shaped flame. As you turn it up you get a wider than normal flame that starts to even out at higher than usual level resulting in more light and no soot. Any flame wants to converge to a sharp centerpoint and will result in sooting at lower level, the trick is to give the flame 2 separate centerpoints that pull off each other and as you raise the wick higher the middle will start to fill in. All together you'll get a wider flame at a higher point.

Hey ! / ABCDean ..... Good info. Thanks. I have a few lamps, cold draft , round wick, and mantle. It is always good to hear more info. I would suggest a brief video from you regarding fuels to use, and NOT use, for our lanterns. At local thrift shops, where I pick up many of my lantern parts and such for restorations, I find that "colored candle lamp" oil has been used in many of the fine lamps. Gumming up the works so to speak. Ciao for now ! In The Light ! A.

great vid dispelling the myth curved or shaped wicks throw off more light the cutting straight across!!

Just picked a dietz 80 in blue from amazon for $14 plus shipping so $20 total. I have 4 old coleman white gas lanterns but I couldnt resist getting a wic burning lantern. Was going to get the walmart one but others suggested amazon for a dietz one. Havent got it in yet but i am excited.

I have the #80 also but in red. The manual even tells you to cut straight across for best light. I tried the cutting to point way looks good but to me doesn't throw enough light like alot people claim. I will stick to what dietz recommends and cut straight across. Thanks for your video my brother and GOD BLESS

Best thing is not to trim it, it's fluffy from manufacturer, if you must, cut it straight across then rough it up with coarse sandpaper if you can. Drop the globe down before adjusting wick. Wait for cold blast principle to kick in, then turn it down some more. I've made wicks from cotton shirts that seem better and brighter than the store bought wicks, denim jeans make good wicks too.

Flat makes the widest flame and I always found it spots up the globe a bit.

'mornin, Dean; Great How-2 Demo Brother Stay-Frosty, Freiend. ATB Terry God Bless

Straight across with the corners cut off works best for my lantern. It allows a higher centre peak without smoking while still having high sides.

Thank you for the video and the tips. Wondering what your preferred fuel is I just recently picked up a lantern and I'm not sure what I should burn, bought it for use in a tent, it is an older one says Beacon on it, picked it up at a second hand store roughly the same size as the ones in your video. Also wondering if you know a good source for Quality lampwick? Thank you : ) Tyler

I like to peak the wicks on the dead flame lanterns. Looks real cool on that particular setup only. Not as effective on hot and cold blast lanterns.

Nice video. I was curious where you'd end up and we agree. I love hurricane lamps and when I was experimenting with my first ones 45 years ago, I tried different wick shapes -- pointed, beveled, curved, straight. I expected a curve that matched the curve of the burner mouth would be best. It wasn't. Pointed is a disaster. Straight across is best. It gives the best flame when adjusted correctly. It also gives the slowest rate of wick consumption -- near zero, as it should be. Any other shape will cause the wick itself to be consumed more rapidly. Not that wicks are expensive but why waste them? If you cut straight across and adjust the lamp correctly, the wick lasts an extremely long time.

By the time you clipped the corners of the straight cut wick is was more rounded than the rounded one. 😅

i have a brighter flame with a pointed wick. and, was it me? or did he have 2, "third lanterns"?

Can’t see the wick when you hold it to show us because it’s dark against a camo background. Why not hold it about 16” to your left so it shows better against a light background? Just asking…

Great video - thank you. What type of fuel works best in Dietz lanterns for you? Kleen Heat? Dyed Kero, Clear Kero, Diesel?

👍🏻

Wish you had put all three on the table so we could see the comparison.

I have recently discovered that I had an affinity for storm lamps. Rolling blackouts occur often in South Africa so these have become somewhat of a necessity. You wrote an earlier comment about cutting "lamp oil" with kerosene. Can I therefore just mix citronella and paraffin with a 1:1 ratio? Regards.

Thank you for such a great video. However, I must say, if you're getting a brighter flame it's because you're increasing the fuel consumption. But I suspect the increase in consumption may just be so small you are not noticing it.

Hi Dean, thanks for the video. I'm thinking about either this Dietz No. 80 or the W.T. Kirkman #2 Champion Lantern. How has your experience been with the overall performance of the No. 80's ?

Sorry but you can't see the flames at all, too much reflection inside the globe. I was always tought that for the best light and least soot to trim the wick in an arc matching the profile of the flame shroud. I will experiment with your suggestions and see if I can get a better result than what I've been doing for 60 years. Thanks

Hi Dean, I have a question. What size wick would I install into a Dietz Jupiter 2 oil lantern that was built in Poland. Do I use a 7/8 " wick? I attempted to insert it but it was to wide and would not go in. Are there other size wicks available that I could use. It was from my father's house and he collected them. I would like to see if I can get the lantern to light and work. Any help, assistance or opinions would be appreciated. Have a Good Day...

How much heat do you get from them? Do you think they'd have any warming effect on an enclosed 3 season porch?

I wonder if its cut down towards the middle would it look like two flames

Dean this is my first video watch than your website and so this question may have already been answered I have tons of Coleman lanterns and a few kerosene lanterns my question is this when using a barn style Lantern such as in this video what happens if you leave it outside and it starts to rain I would love to hear from you and your viewers how many of ended up with a fractured chimney using one of these as a child when he got wet it broke and I kind of stopped using them since I also had this happen once with a Coleman lantern. I am now starting to use the kerosene lanterns again have one and ordered for more but would like to know about using them in the rain what luck people have had walking in the rain with him and leaving them in the rain. When I checked with some of the larger retailers of these lanterns they implied like walking from the house to the chicken coop in the rain might be okay but to leave them out burning in the rain would not would love everybody's opinion and experience thank you Simon

Sub'd today impressive lesson TY & neatest Dietz ive ever seeen gonna start 2 save up now. As a $$ poor DAV be awhile ;)

I find no matter how I cut the wick it burns to take the shape of the flame spreader. We demonstrate this to our Boy Scouts.

trimming a wick is my new dreaded thing right after dry burning a kerosene heater. Its easy enough to do but somehow still a pain in the butt. Those wicks just dont wanna cut straight.

I have several lanterns but just bought a brand new blizzard #80 . I trimmed the wick straight across and made sure there was no fuzzy pieces of wick . I cannot get a good flame as it has a dead spot on one side and the other side spikes very high above the normal flame. Do you have any advice on how I can fix this problem ?

Hello. I trim my wicks flat and usually after I freshly cut one and light it, the flame burns flat instead of that nice rounded spaid shape. What makes it do this and how do you fix it?

I need advice. I bought a replacement wick for my Dietz #2. I can't thread it through the burner, the teeth on the rotator just won't grab it. Any ideas??

What fuel is best for the brightest flame?

now you called it a hurricane Lantern in the video and in description it says it's a blizzardcs number 80 looks like a hurricane to me but they keep calling the blizzard how much and where to buy them I've been buying quarter inch Wick lanterns just now getting into them

What kind of fuel do you use? Thanks

So, the manufactures recommended wick trim is best.

Can u elaborate on the "impurities" comment that causes burned wicks? Is it impurity in the wick or oil?

Can I burn one of these safely inside a tent? Some of the lamp oil says it's safe to burn indoors, obviously a tent is smaller. Or am I likely to die? Maybe use a co2 detector. Some people say they heat your tent up.

do you have any canadian made or USA made coleman lanterns? that might make a good AB video?

I have about a dozen or so Dietz lanterns and every method used in this video is prone to human error. The best way to trim any wick style lantern or lamp is straight by raising the wick until the soot line is just above the top of the wick tube and trim flush to the wick tube this guarantees that your wick will be perfectly even and have a steady and even flame

You missed one: trimming the wick so that it has a point. That seems to perform better than the round wick trim. See this comparison: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XDHuK6waXWA.html Do the burners for conventional table-top oil lamps differ from the Dietz lanterns?

I was told a V notch is best

Came here after reading Mathew 25. Parable of the ten virgins