Blow torches: are they still used?

[dennis]

You get a lot more heat and more control from a propane torch than from an electric heat gun. They are also safer in the wet.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Try using it on an hourly basis,you cant start a job of stripping paint and have a blow for ten minutes at a time for the gun to cooldown.

Be there all day.

Nothing to do with the fact that electricity might not be available at certain jobs? :-)

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

The gas torch is not only a paint stripper but a pipe welder ie soldering copper pipe together and any other uses you can think of?

[Guy King]

The message from "The3rd Earl Of Derby" contains these words:

They're good for starting home-made hot air baloons. The plastic film you get your drycleaning back in is good - cut loads of panels and tape them up. Wire hoop round the base with dangling wires carrying a bog roll soaked in paraffin. Inflate with the torch, light the bog roll and away it goes.

Not suitable for built up areas or times of drought, obviously.

Or anywhere else, really - but we were young.

[<me9]

Don't forget the ali foil for the radar target -- and do it under the flight path to the airport.

[Dave Liquorice]

Depends, I fully intend to be like my father and grand father and reach

90+. In which case exterior wood work would probably need doing 3 if not 4 more times...

[Guy King]

The message from contains these words:

Don't forget the ali foil for the radar target -- and do it under the flight

Someone phoned one of our largest in to the emergency services as a full sized balloon on fire - which indeed it looked like if you didn't know what it was. There were police cars, fire engines and ambulances chasing all over the place - but miles from where we were because of problems of judging distance to an object that's about fifty times smaller than you expect.

In retropect of course it was all very reprehensible, but at least we were making our own entertainment. And that of all the UFO spotters who used to gather on the North Downs over Otford to catch a glimse during a rash of sightings on hot summer.

[google]

I have used it, very successfully, for extended periods.

Why?

Yeah, that as well.

MBQ

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

The reason I changed from heat gun to propane torch was for the simple reason when I decided to strip the paint off the bay windows ie the sandstone structure itself,the paint underneath was very old I'd say it was lead based as it was melting and sticking like toffee,the gun was doing the job but the slight wind was degrading the heat from it whereas the butane torch kept its constant heat on the matter. ;-)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Guy King saying something like:

Must remember that for November.

[Andy Dingley]

I have about 5 of the things. They're nearly as useful as angle grinders.

Try your local council tip if you want a half-empty propane cylinder for only a couple of quid - just buy the heaviest / sloshiest.