[Sca-cooks] RE: "Period" candlesticks and chandeliers

[ruadh]

corn cobs as wicks in sheep tallow work with a less smoke. Must be very dry
[baked even] before inserting into tallow/wax.
Note to SheepStealer: if its big, fuzzy white, part of the herd, and barks
in Italian - *Do Not* try  anything but leaving. He has enough problems
getting those 'nervous sheep to sleep here in the highlands. Ru

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stefan li Rous" <stefan at texas.net>
To: "SCA-Cooks maillist" <SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2001 2:07 AM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] RE: "Period" candlesticks and chandeliers


> Sheepstealer replied to Mel with:
> > >Also used were rushlights, but my experiments with them suggest
> > >that they are every bit as nasty as Colonial US accounts say they were.
> >
> > Really nasty in what way ? Seem OK to me
> >
> > Mel
> >
> > I used fat from breakfast bacon one time and that smelled like burnt
bacon
> > and eggs.  Yuck! I used lard from the grocery store last time I made
> > rushlights and though that was a lot better. Have not tried olive oil
yet
> > but think that would be better yet again, should smell like cookies.
>
> Uh-oh. Bacon = pork. From various reports, including period comments
> I think, pork was the worst material to use. Supposedly sheep and
> beef were better. Not only does pork apparently smell more, as you;ve
> noted, but it also smokes much worse than the others.
>
> The lard might also have been purified further than you were able
> to get the bacon grease.
>
> For more comments on getting the right tallow and how to refine it,
> check the lighting/candle files in the Florilegium.
>
> --
> THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
> Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
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