Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Lamplight 110 Chamber Lamp (I purchased mine from Amazon with Prime shipping) is a functional, cozy light for mood lighting, emergency use, or, if you live like I did as a child, everyday lighting after dark. The parts of a standard, flat-wick table lamp are the fount (the base, where the fuel is stored), the burner (the metal part in the middle, where the wick is held), the adjusting knob (the protrusion you can't see in the stock photo, but controls the height of the wick), the wick (the woven cotton designed to draw kerosene up from the fount to be burnt off at the top), and the chimney (the glass bulb or tube with a throat, or smaller area, at the top). To use the lamp, 1. Add fuel the the fount, 2. screw the burner with wick properly inserted onto the fount, 3. make sure the wick is trimmed straight across, and adjust to 1/16" above the burner, 4. wait 15 minutes or more for the wick to soak up kerosene, 5. light the wick, and adjust down if the flame seems too high, 6. clamp the chimney back in place on top of the burner, and 7. immediately turn the flame down again, as the chimney increases flame height. Over the next few minutes, continue to turn down the flame as more kerosene is drawn up the wick, until a stable flame is established. 8. To "shut the lamp off," turn the flame down until it is nearly nonexistent, then cup your hand at a 45-degree angle over the chimney, and blow quickly and gently. The light will go out, and you will be done. If you are buying this lamp for decoration, it will more than meet your needs. The glass is clear, the lamp is pretty, and all the "ugly" glass is underneath the fount, so no one will ever see it. A pair of these on the mantlepiece or the top of a bookcase will go well with any decor. If you are buying it to use, either occasionally or frequently, you either have experience from your past, or are looking into expanding your lighting options. I call this a kerosene lamp because that is what it is designed to use as fuel. You can buy lamp oil for outrageous prices (Amazon recommends some good quality stuff, actually), but I only recommend that if you intend to use this lamp once or twice a year. The lamp oil does not have a scent, and the increased cost is likely negligible compared to the wasted space a jug or can of kerosene will take up. If you intend to use this lamp as emergency lighting, and you actually want to use it for more than a day or two, get some K-1 Kerosene from Wal-Mart or another reasonable seller, and store it in your basement, or somewhere else out of the way. It burns longer and brighter than lamp oil, and the high quality K-1 has almost no odor. Keep the lamp somewhere at or above nose level (on a shelf, instead of a table) and you will not notice an odor at all. If you plan to use this lamp on a daily basis, consider biting the bullet and getting K-2 Kerosene (dyed, fuel kerosene) from a gas station. It's a little smellier, and it will mess up your wicks faster, but the significantly lower cost of the fuel more than compensates for the cost of replacement wicks, if you don't mind the scent. Current costs per gallon of the fuels should also be considered. As of the posting of this review, average prices when bought by the gallon in your typical Wal-Mart or other box store are: Lamp oil: $40.00/gallon K-1 Kero: $10.00/gallon K-2 Kero: $5.00/gallon Frankly, I recommend the average consumer buy this, and then get a gallon or 2.5 gallon container of K-1 Kerosene from Walmart or any good hardware store. The bigger container brings your cost down to $8.00/gallon for the fuel, and the slight aroma from kerosene can be overcome by simply adding a drop or two (not much more than that, or you will start to clog the wick!) of pure vanilla extract to the fount. That way, instead of kerosene smell, you get the faint aroma of vanilla. This works with mint extract as well. I recommend this lamp for anyone who wants decorative pieces for their mantle, anyone who wants light for when the power goes out, anyone who wants a cozy and romantic evening light without paying for endless candles which are never bright enough, or anyone who wants a constant light for reading, eating dinner, or any other life tasks. It is well-made, easy to clean, simple to adjust or fix, and straightforward to use.