Which do you use? Torch lighting question..
 

hello all! as some of you know, i go to school for scientific glass technology at salem community college in NJ. we're learning alot about lab safety and things along that line. just curious, so i'm posting a poll to see what beadmakers use...

how do you light your torch???

I use a BBQ style lighter, nearly empty.. Just enough to spark to light it.. Store it away in a drawer

BBQ lighter also, put away after use.

and if you're answering, "something else i'm not thinking of" post it! i'd like to hear other methods too. :biggrin:

I use a welding torch striker. It gives off enough sparks to light the torch. I feel that it is safer than a lighter. I have used lighters though. I have also seen them blow up. So that is why now I've learned to use a striker.

I'm a match girl. I hate strikers, and I'm too big a chicken to try my bic! LOL!

That's what I use, but mine is completely empty. The spark comes from the flint, but there's no butane left and therefore no risk.

I hate those sparker/striker things - none of mine gives me as consistent a spark as my used-up long empty butane thingy. Besides, we use the long butane lighters at the restaurant to light our candles, so I'll never run out of empty ones...

Oh, and it is NEVER on my bench, just in case. I keep it on top of a rolling cabinet underneath my bench.

Barb

Well, as a long term silver fabricator I have always used the striker across the ridged metal surface thingie. Older people I note find it easier to use the battery operated strikers. I consider these the safest to use as there is no other fuel around. I have to say I feel the most comfortable with my hand held striker ...

I wouldn't want a butane lighter close by, or matches for that matter. It's easy to use the striker imho...and safest.

sadie

I purchased a striker when I first started and noticed it left crap on the face of my torch. I decided to just use a basic lighter and put it on a shelf out of the way after I light up.

Aim-N-Flame (bbq lighter!)...it's the only thing I can keep lit long enough to light my hothead outside--it's windyish & I'm ususally chasing the gas around trying to get it to light :roll:
Once it's lit I put the lighter back inside the house...so no chance of blowing it up with flying glass...

We use wooden matches. As an added bonus, I like the way they smell when they burn.

The strikers we've gotten are a PITA. Seems like you have to work it forever just to get it to light the torch. I'd rather get RSI from something a little more fun than a sparker.

I use a plain old Bic lighter. I put it away in a drawer after I light the torch, though. I would never leave it out on my work bench.

I use just a bic lighter or a bbq lighter. hey normally go on my lap or to a side shelf.
Irene

I use wooden matches, and store them away after the torch is lit.

I use a Bic lighter, and put it in my back pocket after lighting.

Hey Ali...I use my bic lighter and it sits on the table next to me.

I use a zappo lighter it has a nice little stand that came with it. I tried for a year to use the flint striker you get when you get your set up and it worked half the time. The zappo has a steal case and I put it over on the other desk when done so it is not near the torch area. I know this is a big no no but I just got totaly sick of trying with the other thing.

Tracy

a propane torch

battery operated striker

I use a metal housed - gas filled barbecue\oven lighter.

I'm not a fan of the plastic lighters - they can be nasty if breached by something hot.

And I dont like most of the piezo lighters around as they have plastic housings.

I justify the metal one in that hopefully its less likely to go off if an accident occurs.

BBQ lighter that is kept on a shelf away from the bench

Striker here, but used a lighter for the HH.

I use a welding striker. They're $2 at the welding shop and refill flints are something ridiculous like 10 for 79 cents, one flint lasts a year, and I like being able to keep it with my other tools on the workbench without worrying about blowing myself up, LOL!

I have a sparker, but I don't know where it is. I use a long bbq lighter most of the time. It lives across the room from the torch in a ceramic flower vase with extra mandrels. I do always walk over there (about four steps away) and put it back in the vase before I torch.
I also use long wooden matches sometimes.

I have used the spark lighter, zippo, matches and plastic BIC lighter.

I HATE the spark lighter. It rarely strikes the first time, and by the time it does, there's such a buildup of propane I get a real big "woosh" and a giant flame. Scary!

I have taken some CE classes at Salem CC and Carlisle School of Glass Art in Millville, NJ, and use matches. I prefer WOODEN matches to the cardboard ones because my fingers are farther away from the flame, and they seem to light easier.

My good friend gave me a Zippo lighter, which I love. It's all metal, and I feel safer with this than the plastic lighters. I always place it on a shelf under my steel worktable as soon as my torch is lit. It's good to know that when the butane is all used up, I can still use it with just the flint. I didn't even think of that.

When I use the plastic lighter, I also place it out of harms way as soon as the torch is lit.

This actually brings up another question...

For those who don't use a sparklighter, do you light your lighter/match first, place it under the torch, then turn on the propane? Or do you turn on the propane first, then light your torch?

I light my lighter first, then turn on the propane. That way I don't get a huge "woosh" when it lights up. But I know people who really like that "woosh".

Just wondering...

I like the woosh, i turn on propane, light it, bic, turn on oxy, stick the bic in my bra, or on the other side of the table..
seems to me by the time you get a match lit, or the striker going youve got alot more propane built up?
I use stick matches to when i cant find a lighter..

striker.

I have a huge box of wooden matches that I carry in my 'bag o stuff'. Don't know why but I love boxes of wooden matches.

I use a bic lighter.... when I get my studio done and upgrade.. I plan on using a striker ...

I'm a Zippo gal.... Metal housing, zippo fuel and not butane. MUCH safer. I couldn't STAND the striker thingies. I can never get a good spark, and the big Whhosssh scares the bejeezus out of me.

I light the zippo first, turn on the NG, and then light it.

Barbara