Introduction: Hand Grenade Oil Lamp
Want to light up the room and give your guests a little scare, even if just for a moment? Then maybe you'd like to have a hand grenade oil lamp. It won't explode, but if you bump into it you could spill lamp oil everywhere and cause a fire.
That's right, this is a novelty lamp that you probably shouldn't make. But if you're like me, then common sense doesn't stop a good idea from happening. Or even a bad one.
Step 1: Get a Dummy
The term for these safe and empty hand grenades is "dummy hand grenade." Do a Google search and plenty should pop up for about $8-$10. These are metal, come with pins, and have a pretty good heft to them. They're also hollow and have holes in the top and bottom.
Step 2: Plug It Up
To plug up the hole in the bottom, I used half a packet of Sugru. This made the grenade water-tight and made it a little more stable.
Once again, a spherical oil lamp is a bad idea. A base would be way better.
Step 3: Make a Wick Holder
Something needs to hold the wick on the top of the grenade. I made a holder out of a piece of a soda can. This wasn't so precise, but the approach went something like this:
- cut out small rectangle
- watch it fall back into the soda can
- try not to slice up your fingers as you fish it out
- realize you could've just shaken it out... ah well
- cut slit in middle
- fold sides over to make it stiffer and smaller
- insert wick
Step 4: Fill It Up!
Fill the grenade about halfway with lamp oil and drop in the wick, resting the wick holder on top of the grenade.
You barely need any wick showing for the lamp to burn with a decent flame. In fact, what's in the picture here is about 3-4x as much wick as I needed.
Step 5: Light It Up!
Find a nice safe place to set it, such as the table in the office kitchen and light it! Once it's burning along just fine you can tell your coworkers that it didn't explode and they can come back in the room again.
Wait, this was plugged up with Sugru!?! If you're going to be using this for more than a couple minutes at a time, I'd recommend something a little more permanent. As it is, this was meant for a quick laugh. If you're foolish enough to make this, you should make a base for it so you're less likely to burn the house down.
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111 Comments
12 years ago on Introduction
Am I the only one that finds this totally offensive? To those who have lost body parts and lives due to grenades I think this would also be offensive. It's o.k. to those who will want me to CHILL, I'm not going to receive any more e-mails from this site.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I don't mean to be rude, but I think that that is a little bit ridiculous. You too poetryperson, It's a creative idea, it's not a live explosive, and it's doing no-one any harm. Perhaps you have something against this instructable, but you really don't need to react that way, or hold a grudge against an entire community.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I think poetryperson is using a bit of sarcasm. that perfect world doesn't exist, so suck it up and deal with the one that does.
Reply 5 years ago
That's what my teacher would say.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
well if you think about it when it tips over without a proper base it can burn down the house so it can do some harm XD But I was wondering if you can weld or (like me with hardly any welding experience) solder a piece of metal for a base
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
barbnjos, you are certainly not the only one who finds this instructable offensive. The discussion following your post was also quite offensive to me, particularly the post referring to your "arm or prosthesis." Also, the former military person who wrote was not typical of the military people I have known. Finally, I can not imagine why this site sent me a promo today which led off with this particular instructable. All this in the season of "peace on earth."
If anyone else finds any of this inappropriate or demoralizing, please let your voice be heard. barbnjos and I are not freaks or spoilsports. We simply have a different frame of reference and sense of humor from that of the majority who wrote in about the grenade lamp to scare your friends with. I would like to think we have a right to be heard respectfully -- just as you guys obviously have a right to dump on us while talking about the joy and beauty of lamps made to resemble lethal and maiming weapons.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
you got it the wrong way around, man. it's not making a lamp look like a lethal weapon, it's making a lethal weapon into a lamp. This could easily be a way of expressing peace on earth, because all in all, you're turning a dangerous device into something practical, fashionable, or maybe just plain silly. But seriously, lighten up it's a lamp, it's recycling, it's fun, and it can be quite the conversation starter. I'm pretty sure it was made in no offense. You just have to understand that just because many have died from grenades doesn't mean having a deactivated one should be offensive. so, by your guys' logic, people drowned on water therefore we should be offended by people who drink water and we should all stop it.
Reply 5 years ago
Well said.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I thought I was making something that resembled a weapon into a lamp. Ah well.
I'm fine if you and barbnjos find this inappropriate. It's a bit of black humor, I admit, and that's not for everyone. To each his own. There are many other things in the world I find totally odd that people seem to enjoy. Truck nuts, for example. What's up with that?
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
oh lord i had to go and google truck nuts didn't i. a little magic has left the world for me now.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Well, now you're prepared for when you see them in person, I suppose.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
lol truck nuts
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I see it more in the vein of "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." IOW, taking a thing of killing and making it into a thing of peace. What better way to celebrate the season of peace? It's symbolic of another well known phrase as well, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." This little light does that very well. I think it's about time Barbnjos and PoetryPerson stopped cursing the darkness.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
You make a good point, DoItOrDie. I hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I find it interesting that my comment caused so many comments that have nothing to do with my statement. I find dogs offensive?? My dog and cat would be surprised at that. Piano wire and rope?? As far as PEACE I'm an activist and don't think it's a good thing to use a symbol of destruction as a toy or something with which to shock your friends. Silly me, I didn't give my children toy guns for play either. "Me thinks thou doth protest too much".
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
OK, seriously, everybody needs to calm down.
We COULD continue arguing like this for weeks, OR we could just accept that everybody has differing views, and move on.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
CHILL... and keep CHILLing
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
This chain is too long. I officially announce that its a pretty much moot point. Tallow comes from cows. candles can be made of tallow. if someone burns their house down accidentally with a candle, lets go destroy all the cows to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I have family member in the military, several of whom have been in active combat. I mentioned this to them, and they found it extremely funny.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I fell and hit my head on a tree.I propose that we remove the Gardening section,because it is offensive to people like me who have a headache from hitting their heads on trees.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
I once fell while using powerisers and got a concussion. now I have a big scar next to my eye. I propose we remove the sporting section.
for realz, though. if he were making a sculpture out of it of a cartoony guy getting his leg blown off, that might be offensive. however, if he's making a pretty cool oil lamp with it, that's fine.
same goes for things like the mouse mouse (the taxidermied mouse that works as a computer mouse). it's not like the person who made that is making it to poke fun at anyone who's ever been bitten by a mouse. the interest comes from the fact that nobody expects a taxidermied mouse to be plugged into a computer.