I started with a Bialaddin 300x which i bought "because I liked it" when I saw it in a "junk" shop. Upon returning to the shop a few days ago I bought another Bialaddin and a Tilley Guardsman - I can see that I might have caught the bug ......... Attached is a photo of my small collection. They all appear to be in very good condition, but I would welcome any advice on how I should clean them and restore them. I will admit that my original intention was to convert my first one to have an LED mains lamp - this would have been a non destructive conversion i may add. However I am now more determined to restore the to their original working condition. I am not keen on repainting them, I just want to clean them up and retain as much of their originality as possible. I would like to polish the aluminium frame and other frames though - would wire wool be ok? I am only missing one brass air cap for the newer Bialaddin - any advice on where I could obtain one and non-asbestos replacements for the burners (sorry if my terminology is wrong) would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Welcome aboard! Those are fine restoration projects! However, the centre lantern has been fitted with a Tilley asbestos heater mantle, so you need to carefully remove the mantle and secure it in a container. There may be other members of this forum who reside near to you and may be able to assist you.
Thank you - I didn't realise that the mantel was asbestos - I will remove that too - i secured the pre-heater wicks in the plastic bag.
These are classic British lanterns and relatively common and simple to work on and restore. I have sent you a PM with instructions for Bialaddin and Tilley which will help you understand them. If you need parts then check out the fettlebox here for things like seals and such but for other bits have a look at Base Camp because Mike will almost certainly have any missing parts you may need. The Bialaddin will run ok with a missing air cap so I guess to make them run all you will need is mantles, seals and maybe pump leathers. If you are in any way worried about running them them maybe it might be worth a trip to Hertfordshire and we can fettle them and have them all running in an afternoon. Save you a bit on spares as well since I have everthing here from scrapped lamps to pretty well rebuild all of yours for free. ::Neil::
@italiastar Welcome to the forum, Spraying the asbestos mantle with hair spray will hold down any loose fibres for handling purposes . You have the start of a nice collection there and soon you will be a confident and competent user especially if given advice from @Mackburner. Reproduction replacement air buttons are available from www.tilleylampsandstoves.com or genuine ones may well be available from www.base-camp.co.uk. Enjoy your lamps, Regards Jeremy
Sincere apologies for not replying sooner - things have been hectic and I've put the lamps on the back burner - excuse the pun. Thank you very much for your kind offer - I may certainly take you up on it as it would be good to see them working. I'm not too concerned about getting them to run, and hopefully it wouldn't take too much work, maybe new seals and mantles etc. Ive never lit one of these lamps, but reasonably handy, so should be able to work it out. I've used a paraffin blow lamp, so the principle should be similar. In the meantime do you have one of the missing air buttons - I could re-imburse your postage costs. Thank you very much, Gerald
I just like to see these old things working again and if I have parts here gathering dust then I don't mind fettling lamps that come here wanting help. I am not good at mailing stuff but if there is need then just about anyone can come and rummage through the parts and complete a lamp. Bottom line is fetch it here and I will help but don't expect much through the mail. ::Neil::
