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Nope, not a gun or even a gun related item! This morning at our monthly collector gun show I had an older gentleman come up to me and hand me a plastic grocery bag and said, "Take a look inside." I opened the bag and pulled out a carbide miner's light! In beautiful shape, and also with a full 2 pound can of carbide pellets too!
I asked him what his plan was for it, and he told me he was getting ready to move, and was getting rid of things he wont have room for at his new place. He added that I'd bought some things from him before and if I wanted the miner's headlamp and the carbide I could have it for $20. Condition is excellent and I was glad to get it even just to sit on top of my safe. Maybe light it off and wear it if we lose power sometime!
Boy that's $20 well spent.....
I remember my father telling me as a lad he helped bury a load of old lamps after they stopped being used and back then nobody wanted to buy them.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Cool Vall! I have one in much worse shape. Don't think I have the can of carbide that I bought for it though. Those little toots are awesome, and reminded me of endless happy hours as a kid with a carbide cannon, shattering the peace of our neighborhood in Fircrest, Washington.
The lower reservoir that holds the carbide shows signs of use from the carbide making acetylene when wetted. So surely it''s been used, just not much. I'm going to put some carbide and water in it and take it outside to fire up at night as I want to see this thing working at least once or twice. Think I'll wait until the grandkids are over to let them be amazed by how it works.
I have a couple of carbide lamps. I grew up in North East Ohio and they were cheaper to use than the flashlights of the day (and much more fun was had with CARBIDE than batteries). At night in the summer we used them to spearfish from a canoe the bug attracted to the light became bait.
GREAT FIND, enjoy.
that is a great find. i doubt you could wear it out. my Dad had his from back in the day when he was a miner, along with the hard hat with the bracket that he wore underground. batteries can't tell you when you are running out of air, but methane, Oh My.
I still have the lamp and cap I used when coon hunting. It had been my brothers before me. I also have the Prince Albert can for extra carbide and the hip flask for water.
If you are not familiar, you only need a few pebbles of carbide in the bottom of the revivor. Test the drip of the water to find the best setting. You only need a drop every couple of seconds to avoid flooding the carbide.
Grizz wrote: ↑Mon Mar 24, 2025 11:08 am
that is a great find. i doubt you could wear it out. my Dad had his from back in the day when he was a miner, along with the hard hat with the bracket that he wore underground. batteries can't tell you when you are running out of air, but methane, Oh My.
Guess I need to find a miner's helmet now so I can clip it on to wear it!
There is a large cave in central New Mexico where we lived and my older brother and I, along with other would-be spelunkers used flashlights as well as carbide lanterns as we wandered through the miles of passageways. It doesn't look like they put out much light until you get a fair distance underground but then they really shine.
I remember as a kid going to Bullseye matches with my Dad, he would blacken his sights with a carbide lamp. I still have all of his bullseye equipment including the lamp. The can of carbide I have seems to have lost is ability to produce gas.
Great find.
Walt, was that Snowy River Cave at Fort Stanton? As far as I know it is still closed to the public to prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome to the bats that call it home.
