Well that's blown it!
Posted: 05 Apr 2014, 14:59
I've had a hand torch for a couple of years. Today I filled it as usual with lighter fluid and left it to settle for an hour before use. When I lit it, it instantly flared a long, ragged, yellow flame which hit my soldering block and ricocheted back towards the torch nozzle. The torch instantly went out. Since then, there is no sound of gas hissing when I turn it on and, of course, it will not light. I'm now regarding it as suspiciously as an unexploded bomb!
I was thinking about getting a full-size jeweller's torch anyway - one that works from the kind of gas tank you use for a cooker - because the hand torch doesn't get hot enough to work larger pieces. It's fine for rings and small pendants but just can't maintain the silver at the right temperature for anything bigger. Now I'm thinking, if I do, I'm just introducing something to the house that will eventually go off with even more of a bang!
On the plus side, my metals arrived this morning, and so I have some things I can be getting on with that don't need soldering. Well, I can when my daughter has finished marbling so I can use the table... She has marbled almost every sheet of white paper in the house already, and seems to have only a few sheets left, so I should be able to get on with it soon.
I was thinking about getting a full-size jeweller's torch anyway - one that works from the kind of gas tank you use for a cooker - because the hand torch doesn't get hot enough to work larger pieces. It's fine for rings and small pendants but just can't maintain the silver at the right temperature for anything bigger. Now I'm thinking, if I do, I'm just introducing something to the house that will eventually go off with even more of a bang!
On the plus side, my metals arrived this morning, and so I have some things I can be getting on with that don't need soldering. Well, I can when my daughter has finished marbling so I can use the table... She has marbled almost every sheet of white paper in the house already, and seems to have only a few sheets left, so I should be able to get on with it soon.