Restoration of Forgotten Railroad Carbide Lantern - World War II

Restoration of Forgotten Carbide Railroad Signal Lantern - World War II

I saw this abandoned carbide lantern in my friend's house. It was threw aside with junk item waiting to be sent to junkyard. I fell in love with it at first sight and asked my friend: 'Hey, why is it here as a junk? It should be displayed nicely somewhere as a treasure piece..' . He said, 'Well, the current look is ugly, and not functioning.. my wife said there is no place for this ugly thing to fit in the house...'

So I took it this project and help him to restore (look nice and functioning again). According to his story, he bought this from Austria flea market, it has around 100 years of history as this lantern was used during World War II around 1930's. What really grabs my attention is 'Carbide' instead of kerosene or battery powered.

By doing some research online, carbide was widely used as light source in railroad signaling (like this one), headlight for miners, headlamp for bicycles, etc in the old days. As carbide reacts with water to produce acetylene gas which is flammable, the flame produced is very stable and bright which is one of the reasons it is suitable to be used as light source.

Again, I try not to over-restore the lantern to keep the originality. As you can see the lantern structure is still in very good shape, not much rusted and beaten up. So I really hope that this video will somehow remind you to rethink before you throw something.. haha

The restoration process is pretty straight forward, however, the water outlet was clogged which is the reason of malfunction. I did a lot of flushing to unclog that. Also, the structure of casing is not that perfect and has difficulty to close smoothly, so I give that a fix. For the casing, after removing the paint and sand off some light rust, I sprayed on heat resistant Matte Black, to give it a rustic look instead of a shiny bright colour. As for the carbide part, to minimize the footprint on the copper and brass, I just use a fine steel wool and water to patiently scrub off the patina and they look amazing!! Usually I will use tamarind to clean copper and brass since it requires a lot less elbow grease, but I thought tamarind in this project is a little too harsh. haha its just a feeling.. and finally, give it a little polish and YA! I really love how it turns out.. the colour combination of matte black with copper and brass!!

And now, this forgotten lantern got its new life again! I hope you enjoy watching the video and let me know in comment what do you think.. any constructive comment and suggestion are welcomed, I still have a lot to learn from the community..

I am not professional mechanic/handyman/restorer, nor I own a workshop. But I believe, If Y can dream it, Y can do it!
And, If Y can do it, You can do it too!!

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Видео Restoration of Forgotten Railroad Carbide Lantern - World War II канала The Y Maker