I was experimenting a few weeks ago with Olive Oil and Pure corn oil. Mostly I dd it out of curiosity and just "wonder if it would work.. and how" kinda things.
I took a wick that would be used for a regular hurricane lamp (about 6 inches long and half an inch wide) and cut it into 3 long strips. I then got a potpourri bowl that I wasn't using, and placed a 1/2 cup of oil in it. The oil was short about a half inch on the sides of the bowl. I laid the three wicks in the bowl with them sticking out about a 1/4 of an inch of the oil and laying on the side of the bowl. I lit them up and.. voila.. had a flame about the size of a candle in three spots. Good enough to read by and maybe warm some foods up if held over it lol. (going to experiment with that later.).
With everything I read.. nearly everyone made some kind of a stand for the wicks to hold them out of the oil. I was also concerned that the oil would catch on fire. Another concern I had was with soot or smell.
What I discovered...:
As long as the oil stays relatively cool... it's not going to flash fire... But I still only burned it in a metal (glass would work too) with a small tray under it "Just in case". With the three wicks I had .. it was not a problem I found.
Soot... If the wick is too far out of the oil... it starts smoking and sooting all over the place and destroys the wick. Based on my concern about a flash fire.. I kept the wick high. But I discovered the oil will actually put the wick flame out if it's too low in the oil. So.. after dinking around with it.. I found that if the wick was about 1/4 of an inch out of the oil.. that was enough to prevent it from dousing itself out. Play around with it a bit and you will see what I mean. I used to pencil to move the wick around back and forth in the oil to get it just right

(Like I said.. about that of a candle flame).
As long as it wasn't smoking.. I had no real issue with smell. The Olive oil burned cleaner in my experience.. the corn oil burned with a small.. french fry smell. Not overwhelming.. just a faint hint of it.
1/2 half cup of oil burned for nearly 7 hours with the three wicks. it was the same for both Corn and Olive oil.
Anyway... hope that helps out someone with some info I discovered. I am mulling over trying it in one of my hurricane lamps. I was searching the web to see if anyone else did this and what results they had. But this thread was the closest I came to anything. My concern with my lamp is that I'm unable to really access the reservoir to clean it thoroughly. Thinking about just buying an $8 one at wally world lol. Anyway. happy hunting all!
