My questions aRe: What are fellow orchidians using? Propane or
acetelyne? What is your experience with both? Are you using the
little torch for everything - including annealing?
Sarah, when you light a little torch with acetylene, you get soot
floating around. The bigger the tip, the greater amount of soot.
This doesn't happen with an acetylene/air torch because the fuel is
mixed with air in the correct amount prior to lighting. When
lighting a little torch, or any other gas/oxy torches, you light on
the pure gas, then add the Oxy in to obtain the correct flame. You
will get a little too much Oxy and get a small explosion, a lot POP.
Not damage done but to your nerves the first few time. A last
point on the acetylene, it burns much hotter than propane. This can
be either good or bad, depending on what you are doing.
I have both in my shop. I use propane almost always, but there are
the big pieces that need the kick of the acetylene and I just switch
red hoses and I'm off to the races. The funny part is that you some
times need the additional heat at both ends, IE larger pieces and
the very small ones. With the little torch, you can use a #1 tip
with acetylene and get an extremely small and very hot flame.
Don
