In trying to deal a death blow to Japanese Knotweed in the garden, i have bought an old paraffin blow torch. The leather washer of the pump is very dried out and no longer a good seal. To moisten it, to expand the piston leather; am i better using paraffin or dubbin or would it be kinder to the leather to use a vegetable oil like walnut oil? Thanks.
I'd say as there's going to be paraffin in the area anyway, use paraffin. It may, though be necessary to make or buy a new washer. Your local shoe repair place or leatherworker may be able to help.
I have read a (German) guide to making new pump leather for pressure lamps:
Soak leather in meths, which turns it soggy and limp. Wedge leather in pump cylinder using socket from socket set as a plug, rough side of leather towards cylinder, minimum 8mm. Light the spirit-soaked bit (5-10mm) that sticks out of the cylinder -- this dries the part inside. Wait for flames to subside, remove leather, trim, soak in motor oil, use.
This should adapt to a torch, should a new leather be needed.
Thomas Prufer
You are wasting your time and money, as Japanese Knotweed roots can penetrate metres underground. You can burn the topgrowth down to the ground with a blowtorch, but it will resprout in spring. The best way to deal with it is repeated application of glyphosate (Roundup), and even then it will take years to get rid of it completely.
There are legal issues surrounding disposal of Japanese Knotweed. See here:
Apparently injection is a good application method -- google "japanese knotweed injection".
Looks like it would be very selective in applying the herbicide...
Thomas Prufer
You are right. If you cut the canes off you can fill the hollow void with roundup. Undiluted if you can get it. Cover to keep the rain off and keep topping up.
Which is of no use at all. Glyphosate is the only thing that will shift it and is ideally injected into the growing stems. It will takes several years to completely eradicate it. If you dont wish to follow the injection route then it can be sprayed, again repeatedly over several years.
Japanese Knotweed has a number of 'prohibitions' around it and I recommend that you look them up and check just what you can/can't do with it (including the soil its growing in)
If the washer has dried to the extent you suggest then its probable that only a new washer will be the cure. In the interim you could try a good soak in paraffin to loosen it a little followed by an even longer soak in engine oil - if you have any used engine oil then you could skip the paraffin soak and just try that.
Two if you do it right, from experience.
first year you get all the stuff abovee ground, second year you get what was seeded or sprouited from below.
Cut the stems off a few inches above ground level (*) and pump neat glyphosate down the hollow remainder.
(* Do NOT put the cuttings into green waste bins or on compost heaps. They must be burned.)
In uk.rec.gardening john.west wrote: : In trying to deal a death blow to Japanese Knotweed in the garden, i : have bought an old paraffin blow torch. : The leather washer of the pump is very dried out and no longer a good seal. : To moisten it, to expand the piston leather; am i better using paraffin : or dubbin or would it be kinder to the leather to use a vegetable oil : like walnut oil? Thanks.
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Tom.
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