Getting ready for Hurricane Season

Chuck Ellis

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6,997
Location
Tellico Plains, Tennessee
Actually working on getting ready for the summer farmer's market in downtown Knoxville... first show is May 2, plus our local art guild is having their annual art show the same weekend... I make up these hurricane lamps that actually have a glass font (reservoir) embedded in the upper part of the wood turning. The font will hold about one and half cups of lamp oil. The lamps use the flat 1" wide wicks and 10" chimneys. The lamp wood turnings are about 5 to 6 inches diameter and about 5 to 6 inches tall... with the chimneys the overall height is about 16 inches. Both are finished with polyurethane.

They've always been pretty good sellers for me.

The first is oak from a friend's house.
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The second is from greenheart poplar.
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This is one I made earlier from red cedar... but the wood cracked after I finished it, so we're keeping it for ourselves.
This one is just buffed with carnuba wax.
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Those are fine looking lamps, Chuck! We used to have quite a collection of those for use when the power went out. That doesn't happen much anymore and when it does, I go outside and grab all the solar powered walk lights and put them around the house. No more worries about setting the place on fire.:)
 
Those are fine looking lamps, Chuck! We used to have quite a collection of those for use when the power went out. That doesn't happen much anymore and when it does, I go outside and grab all the solar powered walk lights and put them around the house. No more worries about setting the place on fire.:)

If you're careful, you can't burn the house down.... I grew up having these things as our only source of light... I think I was 8 or 9 before they put electricity through rural Freestone county in Texas...

when we loose electricity here, which happens too often, we have a pair of solar powered flashlights... they sit on the night stand facing the windows... we got them when we signed up for one of the health insurance policies... I thought she was joking when the lady gave them to us, but they actually work quite well... not sure for how long, but they're LED lights and put out a good bright light.
 
Great looking lamps and Ted, great idea for light. I never thought of doing that. Wait, what about in the winter, no sun.... no solar power....
I still have a box of hurricane lamps in the attic (from living in Turkey where power outages were a daily event). Current back up plan(s) are: The twenty or so free Harbor Freight LED flashlights I keep around along with with a big box of rechargeable batteries. Then in the event of an ice storm or hurricane induced power outage longer than a day, the natural gas generator I bought after the last such event seven years ago? and have never had to use since. I think it keeps disasters away.
 
Those are some great looking lamps, Chuck. I'm in a rural area of Parker County, Texas and am on Tri-County Electric. They are great. Hardly ever have a power outage no matter how bad the storm. But, I have some lamps, as well as some battery operated lighting and some of those hand cranked lights. I don't use the lamps in the warmer months if the power goes out unless I have to as they generate heat in enclosed areas. I'd just as soon as sit in the dark than make it hotter inside the house. But in the winter those lamps can be lifesavers as well as wood burning stoves both for heat and cooking.
 
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