Best non jewelry use of a casting torch

Jewelry Discussion
21

Bugger I just bought a sandwich maker for my workshop kitchen.

We love the ideas presented for this topic.

Lunch has a new dimension!
Richard

22

Oh, well, I got a gas-fired burnout kiln before I got electricity at
my place, so rather than get the old wood stove going one day, I
baked a small pan of lasagna in the kiln. It came out fine, but I
felt guilty for burning up the gas instead of using our free (e?)
home-cut firewood. I now have a little electric kiln, but the gas one
is still available in case we lose our electric service for a while.

M’lou Brubaker
Minnesota, USA

23

OK here is another of my life time stories. I held off because I
grabbed my torch in anger, not to use it differently.

My now son in law was visiting before he married my daughter. It was
Christmas with them getting married the following fall. Remember
through this my name for him is Sh** Head. It was Christmas eve and
he was whining, (age of 26 supposedly an adult) about we were not
opening presents after dinner. Out of sheer stubborness I was not
going to bend on this. I kept telling him for days it would be
Christmas day. Now old ladies often take diuretics. Some of which
seem to work in the middle of the night.

Happens at 2 am I’m stumbling into my bathroom when I hear my
daughter heading into the hall bathroom. Well SH asked for it. I went
and got my stack of cast iron skillets, took them into the hall and
stood in front of my sons door where SH was sleeping. I dropped the
stack of 5 one at a time. It had the desired effect. By the time the
last one hit the floor, everyone in the house was in the hallway with
huge eyes and stunned faces.

Even the cats had taken to their favorite hiding places.

We opened the presents, and I went back to bed. When I got up the
following late morning, SH was griping about me buying a fancy multi
pot cooking pot for him, as an early household gift. It was just one
of many we gave him. My momma cat didn’t care for him much, and
choose that moment to get in the way of his feet. SH went flying
backwards, and planted his whinny As into the top of the multipot
stack. The lid being upside down and on the top. We all had a good
laugh at him struggling to get off the pot gracefully. Once off that
is when he discovered he had pressed the stack of pots firmly
together and nothing was going to pull them apart.

This set off a new round of gripes. I was being told I had to take
it back and get a refund. Well I finally snapped. I had all my
jewelry tools and torch set up in a little alcove room off the
kitchen dining area. I got up and grabbed my torch. Hauling it into
the kitchen, effectively blocking him into the family room, with no
way to escape except past me, I stood firm. Then i turned to the
freezer, and took out the tray of ice cubes under the cube maker.
With the torch head in hand and the ice cube tray, I advanced on him.
He paled a bit, but being from South America I can only think the
macho male in him would not allow him to back up. I shoved the gtray
in his hands. Reached down grabbed the stuck stack of pots. Then
pointed at the locked sliding glass My daughter knowing my moods ran
and opened it for him. We three with the rest of the household
choosing to stay inside, went out on the back porch.

Still not saying a word, I pointed at the metal porch table. he set
the ice cube tray down. I placed the pot near the cubes. The torch
had dutifully rolled along behind me on it’s wheeled platform. It
only took a few minutes to set up the ice in the top lid, and place
the pot more towards the middle of the mesh wroght iron patio table.
When I lit my acetylene torch, SH did jump backwards. I patiently
stood with the torch pointed upward under the pot. As the ice started
to melt, I figured it was a good time to try prying the pots apart.
It worked just fine. Not saying a word, I pulled the torch behind me
into the house. To this day, I’m accused of shouting at SH forcing
him to work hard to pull them apart. But my cats know better. It’s a
good thing they live in San Francisco, and I live in Florida.

Aggie the torch bearer

24

I’ve seen a vulcanizer used to grill a sandwich.

25

Here’s another one for the best use:

Yesterday I decided to try “roasting” the 4 Pablano Chilies I had
for ChiliRellenos. I took a rack from the kitchen, and a paper bag
into my wonderful Garage Studio, turned on the exhaust fans and
opened the door. Set eachChili on the rack and proceeded to "scorch"
the skins and blackened them. Put them in the sack and let them
cool. Saved the smell from my kitchen and was able to make a
delicious dinner.

Rose Marie Christison

26

Thank you Marie for describing the wonderful way you scorched your
poblamo chilies. I just bought some for my Chili Rellenos and was
dreading using the oven to scorch them. So, it is off to my studio
with chilies in a bag. to be scorched for my dinner tomorrow.

27

I just laughed my ‘As’ off! I think SH was the name my dad gave to
my EX husband, lol!

28

Rose (and Mike),

you still have to cook them before stuffing, or else they remain too
crunchy and with too much of a bell pepper texture. May I suggest
that that after blistering, lay the chiles on a hot comal (griddle),
and let them rest there until they begin to relax and get flat. This
softens them up, brings out the chile’s heat, and makes them easier
to stuff. So, after torching and prepping them on the griddle, put
them in a plastic bag to sweat, peel off the blistered skin, open
up, de-vein and de-seed the innards, then stuff, dip in batter, and
fry.

The torch definitely makes the process go faster. Plus, the studio
smells divine! I’ve been trying to master chiles rellenos for
decades, and only recently realized that the crunchiness that
remains from the quick torch blistering can be eliminated by cooking
them on the comal.

29

Oh! I so forgot that Tim uses his torch during fruit fly season to
zap any annoying flies circling his bench.

Jo Haemer
timothywgreen.com

30

True Yleana. I had to put the chili rellenos in the oven to get the
pablanos soft. I hadn’t realized they were not soft enough. I
usually use canned chilies to stuff and naturally they are cooked.
The next time…on the griddle - need to find one at Goodwill to
use in the studio!

Rose Marie

31 
Thank you Marie for describing the wonderful way you scorched your
poblamo chilies. I just bought some for my Chili Rellenos and was
dreading using the oven to scorch them. So, it is off to my
studio with chilies in a bag. to be scorched for my dinner
tomorrow.

I, too, enjoyed Marie’s suggestion to scorch or blacken the poblano
chilies. I just made a pot of Pueblo Pumpkin Stew for the first
time, and decided to forego the scorching of the chilies, as the
broiler in my oven didn’t come with a shelf (go figure). The intact
skins added more fiber to the dish, but I may have lost a little
flavor by not broiling the peppers.

Linda in central FL

32

Hi everyone,

I’m a little late chiming on on this one.

Remember vinyl records?

One time a guy in our band (long story) brought by a record he
HATED…and wanted rid of.

…so we put a big coffee can on a stump in the yard, and I brought
out my acetylene torch. and we played the flame around enough to
slump it down the edges of the can, drip it a bit and made a really
neat hat. I had just enough torch control (and believe me, it was
hard to control since I was laughing so hard, my hand was shaking…)
to keep the label intact. I won’t mention the name of the band since
I don’t want to offend anyone.

I just saw this guy at a party last week and he was wearing the
hat… 25+ years later and we still cry with laughter.

Jeez he hated that band.

Brigit

Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for a jeweler’s torch for your jewelry projects? We recommend:

33

It, amazing what you can do with a torch. Even make Helenite.

34

Not a match in the house, and there they all were, several of our
friends. watching and waiting for me to light the candles on the
scrumptious, fresh strawberry birthday cake I had made for the
birthday boy! Now whate? Aha! Out I marched cake in hand and
birthday party in tow to my studio workshop where I proceeded to
ignite the Smith torch and with the most delicate of flaming kisses.
succcess! The candles were lit and the cake unmarred. Everyone had a
good laugh and cake and ice cream. And our friend got to blow out his
candles. Torches. good things!

Trudy

35

But it would have been even more dramatic if you had a big rosebud
for a candle lighter!!! Especially when turning it
off you made it “pop”!!!

I LOVE good, ripe strawberries!!!

john dach

36

Actually John, it was the Smith with acetylene and ambient air. a
very impressive flame and a lovely “pop” as the finale. I almost took
a bow…

Trudy

37

One time, I bought a very large jar of paste flux many years ago. By
the time I got 2/3" through the jar, the flux had become very hard
and lumpy, even with water added to it. In exasperation, I put the
flux in my mom’s blender, added water, and pureed the flux to a
smooth consistency. We never used that blender after that. Joy

Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for an electric kiln for your jewelry projects? We recommend: