Erik wrote:

IIRC I was told the old Coleman mantles were dipped in some Thorium
compound which improved the light output and made them slightly radioactive.


There is more on the Thorium aspect of gas mantles in this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_mantle


Again Gunner is ahead of the curve wanting to stockpile. Some tree huggers will try to
ban them because they are slightly radiocative one of these days.

Wes