[ChrisCamac]

That is a pretty good deal on a CC. Be careful about what shape its in. If its a freind, then I'm sure they won't mind letting you check it out. If the face of the unit looks pretty solid, and you don't see things like one row of tubes being shorter than another, and all the ports are nice and crisp rather than being rounded out, then this is probably a good purchase.

If there is a lot of damage, like mentioned above, the unit may require some work. Depending on how much work, this can vary in price from Carlisle between $120 up to $650 for a complete overhaul. So just make sure you check it out first.

As for some comments about soft glass from Cosmo, I would like to say that working soft glass on the CC might be a bit more difficult than something like the Bullet Burner or a Minor, but that doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't use it for soft glass. You see, the issue with soft glass and the CC is one of understanding the torch and the glass enough to know what flames to use and where in those flames to work. It is a bit trickier to do soft glass with a CC, but certainly not impossible and certainly I wouldn't say it is not recommended.

There are a few very well known soft glass artists that use the CC exclusively for their work. Such as Shane Fero and Paul Stankard, off the top of my head.

Paul Stankard in particular uses the centerfire of the CC to make all of his paperweight components. So when you look at one of his paperweights, which are very well known for high detail and exquisite use of color, you will see that the bumblebee that is sitting on top of the flower in his botanical paperweight were made on the CC using just the centerfire.

To me, this proves that the CC can definitely be used for soft glass. But I still would agree with Cosmo to the extent that it is easier to learn to use the Bullet or Minor for soft glass, where the CC will have a learninig curve with soft glass.