lighting an oil lamp

,,i fill it full of oil and let the oil soak for about an hour or more. ................The wick shouldn't stick up very tall. Just a tiny bit above the adjuster knob wick turner. It shouldn't take hours for the wick to get wet.......If you're getting a lot of smoking you have too much of the wick above the burner/adjuster. Use plain lamp oil not the oil with paraffin mixed in with it. Without being saturated with oil the wick would not burn for long and would give off a LOT of smoke. The flame should be a bright yellow color with no smoke. Prolly a 1/2" wick so the flame should burn no higher than about 3/4 +- inches. If there is a lot of black char on the wick it may need trimming. Cut the black part off at exactly 90 degrees (straight across the wick). Make sure the globe and lifter are well seated to minimize draft. You want the draft coming from the tubes on either side of the globe to work properly.,