>>1168745>>1168748>>1168750Lots of lamp oils are a mixture of purified kerosene and paraffin oil, some are just highly purified kerosene, and some are just paraffin oil. Dead flame lamps and oil candles use paraffin oil because those burn slower and cooler, and paraffin oil has almost no smell, usually even less than wax candles. The difference is paraffin oil is made with hydrocarbon solids that are dissolved in solvents, mineral oil or something like that. Paraffin oil will sludge over time as the solvent dries up, it's not good to use in cold or hot blast lanterns like Madmartigan's there.
The problem is most kerosene has a flashpoint way too low, like 20ºC, and most paraffin oil has a flashpoint way too high, like 200ºC. For a cold blast lantern you want between 50ºC and 80ºC or so. It can be hard to find, I mix kerosene and paraffin oil and it seems to work well. You don't want a slow gluggy wick burning dim paraffin oil but you also don't want the stinky stink of pure kerosene, and with that low flashpoint if you drop the lantern it'll explode. When you drop an oil lantern with the correct fuel it should go out, not blow up.
