My Tilley KL-80 haven't been in much use after I fettled it and on Friday when I sat with my wife in the dinner room in the evening, enjoying a glass of wine, I suddenly came to think of the brigh idea of testing the lamp again. Noticed that a fly or something else had made a hole in the mantle so I started to search for another mantle and the only one I could find was a "Happy mantle" (the ones with the metal ring). Even if I didn't want to use that one, I was a bit curious about this mantle, so I attached it and started up the lamp. What a great lamp Tilley made when they made this lamp , well the technique is the same as on other Tilleys, so I knew it would be a good lamp. I haven't even oiled the pumpleather since I hanged up the lamp (probably a year ago) and still everything was working perfectly. First it smelled a little unburned kero, but there had to be a leak somewhere because when I restarted it after tightening everything up, it burned without smelling and was bright and also warmed up the room a little, something needed when it was -23 degrees celsius outside This Tilley KL-80 is a bit special as it has a Finnish made burner (Petro-Valo) and the top of the fuel fount is coloured in the same colour as the rest of the base, and this is the original colour on the lamp (not repainted).
Hello Anders, I prefer the Tilley Happy mantle, it fits well and the mantle forms properly when it's burned off, and it tends to last longer, especially in lanterns. When I have to fit a new mantle, I use 2 Tilley meths torches, one to burn off the mantle and the second one to preheat the lamp. I have found that this procedure enables the mantle to form well. After fitting a new mantle, i always let the lamp burn for a few hours, as this also helps to form the mantle; when stored, rust sometimes forms on the happy mantle ring and the rust can stain the mantle but a few hours burning clears the stains.
