"Newshound" wrote:

Anybody know if it's still possible to get thorium mantles of the sort
fitted to tilley lamps from any place there days?

It's actually for testing an old Geiger counter that was a Maplin kit.

Don't know, but do you have an old luminous watch or, best of all, the
standard War Dept prismatic compass? Mine gives about 500 counts per second.
The natural K40 in high potash fertiliser will give you about double the
natural background.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've looked on ebay, and WWII luminous
watches are about £20-£30, which is a bit expensive. I didn't know
about the potash fertiliser.

--
John