Time for another question. The tiny rosebud tip on my Smith Little Torch has gotten clogged with soot and whatever other residue you get from casting crucible work, so how do you clean the silly thing? The pin holes are too tiny to get even a sewing needle into, and I understand there’s a jewel inside that you don’t want to dislodge by poking anything in there. Looking online I get “solutions” that are all over the map, from soaking it in the pickle, ultrasonic, oven cleaner, using guitar strings (???), pipe cleaners, even firing it up and rubbing it against some wood to somehow dislodge the soot. Do you even try to clean out the pin holes or do you stick something inside the tube from the bottom end? Thanks in advance: I’ve gotten nothing but excellent advice so far.
I clean my #5 and #7 tip in the ultrasonic, never used the rose tip but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work as well.
I’d use an ultrasonic as well. But that assumes that you have one.
If you don’t have an ultrasonic then I’d use water, dish soap and a tooth brush, rinse it well with water, then blow it out with oxygen to free up the holes. Getting it wet won’t hurt it, but you want it to be completely dry before firing it up
I have used the rubbing the torch tip and flame against a piece of wood. For me, that’s a quick fix. It only kind of gets it clean.
Anyway, that’s what I would do. Maybe others have other ideas.
It should be a fairly easy thing to clean though.
Jeff
I second or third the ultrasonic or water, dawn and an old tooth brush. Be sure the shake out the excess water and blow it out with O2 before you try to light it. When I used an old prest-o-lite torch, I used to clean out the tips with the tang of a file. Good luck…Rob
Hi! I find a quick dip in a hot pickle a great way to clean up all my clogged tips! I keep the screw on collar part out b/c I’m pretty sure it would contaminate the pickle. Then maybe a couple of swipes of a softer brass brush.
Never tied pickle, but it makes sense…Rob