This dirty but very clean Tilley came my way. The top of the box reads: AFRIKAANS X246 SPECULUM The instruction sheet is printed in the Afrikaans language. It came with a Tilley dipstick, fuel bottle but unfortunately no funnel.
@Andrew T That’s a very nice lantern, especially with the single lip hood and the blue Davisil stamp on the glass. Cheers Tony
Very nice looks great runs good what's not to love about it well done excellent find. congratulations mate.
Thank you. Best looking Tilley I have. Unfortunately I found there’s a pinhole leak in the bottom of the tank.
@Andrew T Whereabouts is the leak? It’s unusual for Tilleys to get pinhole leaks. Sometimes they get stress cracks, or, in later models, the get blown base plates. Tony
@Tony Press It must be one or more of these which leaks. I have an old South African Railways Tilley which had so many pinholes I ended up covering the whole base with solder to stop it leaking.
Ah yes that will be the S.A brass weevil at work . Joking aside - I am really surprised and have to wonder if it was an errant duff brass sheet used at the time. Or it was stood in some corrosive material. Interesting for us, a pain for you, sorry. Maybe fuel tank sealant is the way forward on this one ?
Thanks, Andrew. Some kind of brass corrosion in there. Not so common. I suppose you could use a tank sealer like POR 15 (expensive) or patch solder it from the outside. Cheers Tony
I would guess it's been left for too long with fuel in it. As air is pumped into the tank, the water vapour inevitably present condenses out and sinks to the bottom and accumulates there (water is denser than paraffin/kerosene). Over an extended period of time there's a reaction between the water and the brass which eventually presents itself as pinholes around the lowest part of the baseplate, generally in the centre, assuming the lantern has been stored upright as it probably would be with fuel in it or in the original box...
@Andrew T Just looking at an enlarged version of your picture of the base of the lantern it seems that there are quite a few spots of quite deep corrosion. I was wondering if the corrosion has been from the outside. Not withstanding, perhaps a deep clean of the brass base then solder applied to the pin holes may seal her. If the holes are bigger than pin holes then a brass plate could be soldered over the offending area. Cheers Pete
