I have a lot of old books: old cookbooks, home economics books, tool books, farming books, you name it. Many of the tips and recipes I share with you either come from these books (always cited!) or are inspired by them. We’re headed back to a simpler way of life, and old books are a wonderful resource I learn from again and again. Imagine my excitement when I started reading in several old sources (an old science book, a book on pre-Civil War Virginia) about making a night-light from a horse chestnut! Naturally I had to try it!
The instructions from all sources were the same: Take a horse chestnut, prick the skin all over with small holes, and soak the chestnut for 12 hours in lamp oil. After the soaking, probe a hole into the center of the chestnut, insert a cotton wick, float the chestnut in a glass of water, and light! The chestnut lamp was guaranteed to stay lit all night! How could this not be fun to try out?
After soaking in oil for 12 hours, I drilled a hole into the center of the nut.
I had a bag of chestnuts leftover from Christmas that I never got a chance to roast, so I dug a few nuts out of the bag to try this out. I selected chestnuts that were decidedly flat on one side (another tip from days gone by) so the nut wouldn’t roll over when placed in the glass of water. I tested each nut in a glass of water and they did, indeed, float.
A large needle served to prick a nut’s skin all over with small holes, but since I didn’t have any lamp oil on hand I soaked the nuts in canola oil, which I’ve read can be a substitute for lamp oil. I let them sit overnight and then moved on to the next step, which was to bore a hole into the center of the flat side, insert a cotton wick (I used a thick thread), float the transformed nut in a glass of water, and light the wick.
It looks great, but mine only burned for about 10 minutes, and not the promised over-night duration.
It certainly looked pretty! But I was really curious whether the nut would burn all night as promised, and serve as a safe light via flame (presumably the reason for floating the lit nut in water) all night.
Alas, neither nut lasted for more than about 10 minutes of burn-time (I tried one in water and one on a plate). Whether soaking the nuts in lamp oil would have made a difference I’m not sure. But it’s worth a shot! In any event, it was a fun experiment and the next time I have lamp oil on hand, I’ll give it a go again!
Jean-Marc
January 9, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Thanks for sharing! I love eating chestnuts (just had some yesterday as a matter of fact) and never thought what other wonderful uses they could provide.
Eric Kelly
January 10, 2012 at 7:58 pm
A horse chestnut, aka buckeye, is different then the chestnuts you eat from the grocery. The American chestnut is nearly extinct now, so most chestnuts we purchase from the store are Chinese chestnuts. These are not necessarily from China, but from the Chinese chestnut tree. This could cause a serious difference with your experiment as they are pretty different in the botanical world and are considered unrelated. The horse chestnut is actually toxic when eaten by humans. They’ve all already fallen in my area. I’ll have to keep this in mind next year and give it a go. Thanks for the post!
Rural Spin
January 10, 2012 at 8:11 pm
Lucky for you we have a graduate degree in botany!
Yes, horse chestnuts (Aesculus sp.) and chestnuts (Castanea sp.) are different tree families. However, the nuts are very similar (hence the similarity in common name) and I do not believe it would have made a significant difference in the experiment. But thanks for bringing this important issue up for people!
Eric Kelly
January 16, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Lucky for you I have opened both of these nuts. Had you done the same you would find two similar looking nuts, but not so similar on the inside texture, density and taste. The horse chestnut is much dryer and can almost be crumbled between two fingers. The regular chestnut is oily and dense. This major difference is probably why your experiment was a failure. Ya see, while you was in class I was out bustin nuts. AND just because the nuts are similar in appearance and have similar common names doesn’t have much to do with the interior. That’s a major contradiction in the botanical world. But, you already know that. Then we go into that they’re not even in the same family blows the whole thing catawampus. You can take two holly’s that ARE in the same family and one is caffeinated and one is not. I’ve busted the spines open on a few books too. You need to go back to school before getting all smart with the mouth.
Rural Spin
January 17, 2012 at 12:11 am
I wasn’t aware that my experience was limited to school, nor was I getting “smart with the mouth.” It would have been nice if you had chosen to get into a civil dialogue and discussion that everyone could benefit from instead of getting defensive and judging someone so harshly–I know both nuts for very similar reasons as you, and I do not believe using one or the other was the reason for the experiment’s failure. If anything it likely failed because the nut I used was old. I was being friendly and thanking you for bringing the important issue up. I apologize if it seemed otherwise.
Eric Kelly
January 17, 2012 at 5:41 pm
What were your resources for this experiment?
Rural Spin
January 17, 2012 at 10:34 pm
I used two books for resources: An 1892 book called “Magical Experiments: Or Science at Play,” and a reprint of a book called “An Antebellum Plantation Household: Including the South Carolina Low Country Receipts and Remedies of Emily Wharton Sinkler,” which is a reprint of the personal receipt book of Mrs. Sinkler, who loved around the time of the Civil War. I should emphasis that I did not have lamp oil on hand so I used olive oil, which is frequently used as a lamp oil substitute. However, back in the 1800s their lamp oil would have been very different from ours, and common names for plants back then versus now can be very different, too. I’d like to try this experiment again using lamp oil, and a fresh horse chestnut to see if either make a difference. It’s such a cute idea.
Eric Kelly
January 18, 2012 at 6:04 pm
It’s a darn cute idea. I would like to see the experiment come out a success. I use vegetable oil for bracket fungus lamps and things like that, but I’m thinking it’s too thick for this application. You’re probably right. I don’t know if lamp oil, coal oil or kerosene were synonymously used language at the time of the writing, but I’ve heard of all three being in lanterns and lamps in old book. If you are able to I would like to see you use a regular chestnut and a horse chestnut with the lamp oil. And, if you’re really feeling crazy, try a horse chestnut in canola oil too. I’ve done a lot of experiments myself only to scrap the outcome as a failure. I later reread the original instructions to verify everything and find my error. It’s always something I overlooked, shortchanged or substituted. I wanted to do your experiment myself, but that first book is $125 on Amazon. Number two I can get, if this is it http://www.amazon.com/Antebellum-Plantation-Household-Including-Carolina/dp/1570031290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326908159&sr=8-1
Rural Spin
January 19, 2012 at 2:08 am
I love the idea, too, and will try it again at some point, touching upon all of the variables (different nuts, oils) and see how it works. If you try it as well let us know your results! That second book is the one I have, but the reference to the experiment in that book is literally about 5 lines long, though I do like the book for Antebellum recipes of various sorts. If you can get a used copy it might be nice to have on the bookshelf. The Magical Experiments book has a few paragraphs of instruction…not much. It also uses both terms for the nut: “chestnut” and “horse chestnut.” Instruction includes taking the nut, use a sewing needle to “riddle it” with small holes bored into it, then steeping the nut in lamp oil for 12 hours. After this, “bore a hold down the middle without going quite through and place therein some cotton thread, which will form the wick. Then you will place the nut in a glass of water, on which it will float lightly.” Then you light it and it’s supposed to last all night. That’s all the instruction the book includes. I tried a few nuts…one sank after it was lit and the others didn’t really stay lit long. I’m thinking the nut was too old and hard and just didn’t soak up enough oil. But I’ll try this again with other nuts, too!