This is perhaps my favorite Youtube Channel bar none and I have learned more through watching this gentleman’s videos than perhaps all others combined. He uses the simplest tools and has impeccable technique and skill. The one thing that really intrigued me though, was his torch. I posted a comment on the video, but no reply from him. Pretty sure it isn’t some super secret piece of equipment because it looks very rudimentary if not home made. I like that it uses air (from the bellows) and what looks to be methyl alcohol, but is still capable of melting gold/silver in higher quantities than I can get out of my ORCA propane/air torch. Does anyone recognize this torch and more importantly where can I get one??!! https://youtu.be/jlQScw8iONM?si=a2_oqMyQXnAZ6neX
Thanks for asking, I have wondered too. Definitely a foot bellows. Looks like those that Otto Frei has sold in the past. The fuel may be gasoline as there were older torches that used gasoline. It is a different color than you typically see for gasoline. The color is just an additive and may not be the same in all countries. If anyone knows more about this torch, please share it…Rob
Look at Semme jewelers torches. They appear to run on a foot bellows and either alcohol or gasoline for fuel. All I can find is the torch handle and bellows, but not what is used to contain and dispense the fuel. I am really interested in older, simple, torches and how they were used to make such fine jewelry years ago.
Rob, you are spot on. I went through all the comments on the video and he did answer one of the commenter’s question about the torch very early on. The torch was bought on Aliexpress and it runs on gasoline. I did a search through Aliexpress and it no longer exists, I looked everywhere for the name Semme. Nothing. Then I decided to check Alibaba and there it was! I ordered one for just over $100 Cdn. Which I thought was a steal considering how much money I have paid over the years for Oxy/Propane, Propane/Air, Oxy/Acetylene, Oxy/Air and didn’t really like anyone of them. And certainly not keen to have big bottles of compressed gases in the house. This torch is an ingenious design and clearly works well for him and precisely what I would need it for. Small melts/castings. I love the simplicity and type of fuel it uses. Gasoline can be found everywhere and 24hours/day in most places. Truly a portable torch. Here is the link. There are more hits on the webpage as opposed to the app. https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?spm=a2756.trade-carp.the-new-header_fy23_pc_search_bar.keydown__Enter&tab=all&SearchText=leather+bellows+torch Thanks for the info Rob. I will post my review of the torch when I get it in early January. I haven’t been this excited and pumped about a new piece of equipment since I bought my rolling mill 16 years ago.
I replied to a posting of jewelry tools for sale while visiting my daughter in Indiana. An older Vietnamese gentleman was selling a set of those torches, some draw plates, other hand tools, and a really beat rolling mill. $500.00 takes the whole shebang. He said those torches were used everyday in Vietnam. I did look them all over carefully. The bellows leaked air and fuel, the plates were badly rusted and the side of the mill was cracked. I passed on them.
I wondered at the time if they were like the gasoline torches our Dad spoke of using on the Reservation during WWII. I believe a lot of very refined work has been made by just such equipment. Just the same when Dad got a prestolite torch I bet in his mind it was an improvement in comfort, control, and safety.
Good luck with your new old equipment.
Don Meixner
Hi Sonja,
I agree with much of what Don has said. A significant amount of fine jewelry was crafted using older gasoline blowtorch-style equipment. However, once modern torches with bottled gases became widely available, their convenience and safety made those older tools quickly obsolete, often left to collect dust. Up until around 1940, the gasoline blowtorch was essentially the only option available, especially on the reservation.
This may or may not be relevant to what you’re exploring, but I thought I’d share my perspective. While I do have modern equipment, I’m a bit of a “Neanderthal” myself—I use a German blowpipe torch for delicate soldering operations, particularly granulation. It produces a soft, controllable, and less oxidizing flame compared to oxygen/gas torches, making it perfect for precision work. Instead of gasoline or alcohol, I use a small camping-style propane cylinder with the blowpipe, although these can also be connected to a natural gas line. These torches operate at very low pressures—1 psi or less. Yes, just one pound of pressure or less. Using higher pressure is dangerous with this type of torch. The hose I use is a thin rubber one, about 1.5 mm thick.
I don’t use a bellows—I simply blow air through the tube manually. For the scale of work I do and the level of control I need, a bellows would get in the way. Even with such a simple setup, these torches can generate a surprisingly hot flame.
Using gasoline, even in small amounts, is a rather risky option for indoor use, whether in a house or garage, especially when vaporized under pressure. Maybe I’m overly cautious, but it’s worth considering that gasoline might be excluded from coverage in the event of a fire or accident by most insurance carriers. That’s definitely something to keep in mind.
The appeal of these torches lies in their practicality in areas where bottled gases are hard to obtain—they can be almost a necessity in those situations.
That said, I don’t use this torch for larger jobs like annealing or casting. For those, I rely on an oxy-propane setup with a Meco Midget torch. This runs off a small camping-style propane bottle and an oxygen concentrator. These little propane bottles last much longer than you’d expect, making the setup surprisingly efficient.
If the blowpipe torch were my only option, I think adding a bellows system would be highly beneficial. I would also replace the thin hoses with thicker, safer ones if it were being used for more extensive tasks or all-around work.
I hope this provides you with some useful insights!
Don, thank you for sharing that. I would have taken a pass on the equipment as well. Personally, I’m surprised that the torch can generate enough heat to melt that much metal. Thanks again!
Very good insights, thank you! Which tip are you using with your Meco Midget? I have a Smith Little Smith #7 but can’t melt much using the small propane bottle with my O2 concentrator. Not sure if it’s my concentrator but the output has always been poor right from day 1, so that might be part of it. I have always done all my casting or larger scale melting, outside (including with my Electromelt) and will do the same with the new gas torch. Camp fuel butane with a Sondiko torch head is my torch of choice in the studio and works exceptionally well for all my projects requiring soldering/fusing including bracelets. I’m hoping the new torch will work with other fuels like Methyl Alcohol. Then I would use it inside.
Methyl alcohol is the same as Methanol
Is that considered safe for use inside?
I’d feel safer with standard Ethanol thogh admittedly it is quite scary if it catch fire as the flame is invisible.
Since the compressed air from the bellows goes into the fuel container, I am assuming that the tube delivering the air goes to the bottom of the fuel container and then bubbles up through the fuel. The combined fuel vapor and air then go to the torch to be burned. The same thing could be accomplished with an aquarium air pump. What confuses me is that there is one hose going to the torch but there appears to be two tubes, one small one large, in the torch handle with the valve on the larger tube. My guess is that the small house is a pilot light since it is not valved. You can find the same torch on amazon. I would want to run this torch outside until I had some experience with how it operates…Rob
If Methyl Alcohol isn’t safe to use indoors all the catering companies and their chafing trays are in big trouble. That’s what they use, or denatured alcohol, which might be the same thing. It comes in either a gel or a liquid. Gel is obviously the safer choice if you have rowdy dinner guests, LOL! I also use methyl alcohol for use in an HOO welder because the methyl alcohol adds a blue colour otherwise invisible flame of the HOO welder. https://www.riogrande.com/globalassets/knowledge-hub/instruction-sheets/quick-start-up-guide-for-welder-l80-is.pdf HOO welders are very safe as there is no stored (compressed) gas. But they are terrible for melting anything except for maybe head pins as the flame is very focused. They don’t work with .925 silver, but are fine with Argentium because soldering is spot focused and the piece does not require diffuse heating in order for the solder to flow.
Rob, that’s exactly my thoughts as well. Gas as a liquid doesn’t burn, it’s the vapour that burns and I’m guessing the bellows aerate enough of the gas and is then pushed through the fuel lines. I’m a bit of a tinkerer and I will likely explore the mechanism of the torch thoroughly to begin with, I have a drainline camera that I can snake into the vessel and see what’s going on in there. If anyone is curious I can post a video on Youtube, but it sounds like a lot of you are familiar with this type of torch and may not be a curious as I am. Myself, I am very intrigued and I suspect my 91 year old “McGyver” dad will be even more so!
This torch is new to me and I suspect many others. Let us know when you have posted your video and at least I will take a look. Thanks…Rob
You bet!
Methanol is very poisonous. If taken internally (ie if you drink it) small amounts can cause blindness or even death. I also believe that it can be absorbed through the skin as well. So it must be handled carefully, just like many of the chemicals we use in the studio. The good news is that when methanol burns, the products of combustion are harmless, water and carbon dioxide. I keep a 4 liter bottle of methanol in my studio. I use methanol mixed with boric acid for preventing fire scale. I treat it with respect, just as I treat hot pickle and bottles of propane with respect, and have used menthol without mishap for over 30 yrs
Hi Sonja,
I used a Little Torch with propane and compressed O2 many years ago. The only way I could get it to do any kind of decent melt was by purchasing the larger rosebud tip. Ultimately, I gave up on the Little Torch after trying a friend’s Meco and never looked back.
For the Meco, I use a rosebud-style tip that’s 5mm wide for general silver work. I also have a smaller tip, around 3 mm, that’s great for general gold work. To clarify, I don’t use the concentrator for melting metal—I switch to bottled O2 for that. The Meco also works without a tip if you want a broader, more generous flame. While there are single-point tips available in various sizes, I haven’t used them in years since I prefer the rosebud style.
My concentrator has a 5L output, which sounds similar to yours. However, because I use a 5 psi relief valve to prevent the beeping alarm if I forget to open the O2 valve on the torch, the effective output is reduced to about 3L. I could squeeze a wee bit more out of it by shutting off the relief valve, but it doesn’t make enough of a difference for melting metal to bother. For melting, I just need more O2 pressure, which is why I switch to bottled O2.
If you want to use a concentrator for melting metal beyond very small amounts, you’d need a more powerful 10L model, like the ones glassworkers use.
Let us know how the Chinese torch works, especially with the methyl alcohol. I might just have to get one myself—in case of the apocalypse! LOL
~ Be well.
I just got a second oxygen concentrator. After the winter rush I want to try to gang them together and use the rosebud tip for melting…
Just to clarify, you can melt metal using the Meco with both a 1lb propane and 1 pound O2 tank using the rosebug tip on the Meco? I do have a rosebud tip for the Little Smith, but as you mentioned there isn’t enough pressure to get the tip to work properly with the concentrator and the disposable propane tank, or with the disposable O2 and 1lb propane. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge.
That sounds interesting. Have you ever done an energy assessment on the cost of running a concentrator? I don’t think I would ever go that route myself personally, but I really admire the ingenuity and your thought of possibilities. That’s what keeps the profession evolving!
I think the main benefit is safety. Compressed oxygen is a little bit of a danger. I really like not having to go buy oxygen every month or so. So for me, there’s no comparison in cost considering the cost. I got the oxygen concentrator at. It kind of feels like free money to turn the little humming machine on 
They can’t cost more than a few bucks a month to run.