Which do you use? Torch lighting question..

[Just Nancy]

I use a bic that is housed in a metal casing. That way I can replace the lighter without refilling which I always spill.

I either put it on a stool by my drink or in my pocket when I'm done. When I build my regular bench I'm going to have a shelf under my work surface for it.

I've seen an electric starter (or something without a manual striker and if someone mentioned where to get one I'll be checking it out).

Edit: I finally got the link loaded for the electric striker. Some day I will switch. My thing about not using the striker is a hand/arthritis thing. It is a motion my hands don't do. Honestly I'm not too worried about my bic.

[melissabeads]

I use a welding striker.

[MrBooger]

I haven't seen what I use. A hunk of flint and an old hunting knife. There is a big whoosh when it gets a spark on it. I tell you it's better than rubbing those two sticks together about drain the proprane before I would get it lit!
Bic lighter then in the pocket.
Have A Great Day!

[AlivELampworK]

Originally Posted by MrBooger

I haven't seen what I use. A hunk of flint and an old hunting knife. There is a big whoosh when it gets a spark on it. I tell you it's better than rubbing those two sticks together about drain the proprane before I would get it lit!
Bic lighter then in the pocket.
Have A Great Day!

mr booger i you! give cheryl a big hug for me.

[Dasi]

I saw Patty Walton use the battery operated lighter from Glasscraft. A year later I had extra money and bought it. I love it!!!! I thought $30 was a lot. That is why I held off. I am so happy with it now!

[pandora]

I answered something else...but use a bar-b-que lighter ("Plastic butane lighter" made me think of those little ones...that would be dangerous!)
Aloha,
Elise

[AlivELampworK]

Originally Posted by pandora

I answered something else...but use a bar-b-que lighter ("Plastic butane lighter" made me think of those little ones...that would be dangerous!)
Aloha,
Elise

its just as dangerous as a bic.

[rusticstudio]

Wooden matches and sometimes a BBQ lighter, but I'm not very coordinated with those things!

[LouiseI]

Matches here, and I make sure it's lit before I turn on the gas - I want to know I have a flame! I'd be panicky with a sparker thinking it wasn't going to spark, and a bic or barbecue lighter would just make me nervous -- two things to worry about lighting then!
I guess I have an irrational fear of the room filling with gas in the space of a second or two and then exploding around me

[Kevan]

I use a magnifying lens and the sun.


Or a 17th century tinder pistol.


I like to keep it old school.

[AlivELampworK]

after all, old school is the safest way to go. a magnifying glass and the sun.... thats a good one.

[judi]

I buy a box of wooden matches and cut of the stricker pad. I tape that down to my desk so it's always convienient. Keep the matches away from the torch in a bowl. I learned this from my teacher and find it the best for me.

[NLC Beads]

Started with wooden matches, but switched to a striker... Because they're more fun to play with, sparks in the dark when I'm bored.

[fyrsmith]

My daughter Zora gave me a Zippo for Christmas. It ALWAYS works, unlike any of my other lighting devices. I have even learned that trick of snapping it open and lighting it with one hand!

-Don-

[Michelle Walsh]

Originally Posted by Kevan

I use a magnifying lens and the sun.


Or a 17th century tinder pistol.


I like to keep it old school.

~Michelle

[WeeMary]

I use one of those kitchen sparkers, no battery, no fuel, no flame. It's plastic, so is deteriorating, but I can't get the hang of welding sparkers.

[AlivELampworK]

Originally Posted by WeeMary

I use one of those kitchen sparkers, no battery, no fuel, no flame. It's plastic, so is deteriorating, but I can't get the hang of welding sparkers.

one of the magic wand lighters.. you'd light a BBQ grill with?

[Janice]

I've been looking for a BBQ lighter that does not use fuel...I could have sworn that they used to exist, but I have not been able to find one anywhere! So I didn't imagine these things did exist at one time?

J.

[Crazy Woman]

ELECTRONIC LIGHTER/ STRIKER

2 "AA" batteries power this automatic torch lighter, making it safe to set on the workbench. Pressing the igniter creates an electronic spark to easily light your torch. Measures 3" W x 3" L x 2" H

http://www.glasscraftinc.com/product...m?part_id=6971 to see photo! I love mine and won't ever go back to a manual striker.

[MariJohnson]

Bic lighter and behind me on my plastic drawer thingy. ALWAYS. But for the students and the Open Torch nights, wooden matches. I hate strikers.

[WeeMary]

Ali, yes, something like this one, a piezo electric lighter.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Piezo-Electric...QQcmdZViewItem

[scouncil]

BBQ lighter which is then placed outside the ventilation "box" about 5 feet away. I have an old striker, but i can't reliably make it work and the woosh really scares the cr#p out of me. Visions of house fire.....

[MariJohnson]

The bad part about strikers is that some people can't get the hang of them. Attended a workshop where some were experienced, some were not. An experienced beadmaker who wasn't used to a striker kept trying to light her torch. Turned on the propane, click click click. Looked up at the teacher, all the while the propane is on. Teacher runs over, grabs the striker and strikes it, but all that propane was pooled and KA-BOOM! Teacher burned her hand.

I saw this happen.

So in my studio... small boxes of matches. Like Paula said, even if it went up, I'd pick it up with a set of tweezers and drop it into the water jar.

YMMV, but for us it's matches.

[Emily]

Originally Posted by MariJohnson

Teacher runs over, grabs the striker and strikes it, but all that propane was pooled and KA-BOOM! Teacher burned her hand.

Teacher should have known better. Teacher should have shut off the torch and let the propane disperse before trying again.

The place where I do Open Torch and take classes occasionally uses book matches that are kept in Altoid boxes. The Altoid boxes appeared after a hunk of hot glass caught one of the books of matches on fire.

I can't light paper matches. I bring my striker and usually my metal box with my wooden matches (because I can't get the torches lit with a striker after I've turned off the tank and am burning off what's left in the lines.)

[Norskiglass]

I use the good 'ol Striker.....the butane lighters I heard tend to blow up if you leave them around your bench

[Torch Singer]

I think there are a couple reasons why people get the scary whoosh when using a striker:
1) Holding the bowl of the striker in front of the torch face
2) incorrect squeeze technique
3) heavy-handed torch turnoffs

Holding the bowl of the striker in front of the torch face allows it to fill with propane before you strike, which inevitably leads to a scary whoosh and the possibility of burns (or at least singed knuckles). Better to hold the striker alongside the torch with the bowl (where the grooved metal and flint are) facing toward where the flame will be).

I find that holding the striker in my right hand like I'm making a fist, with the moving part in my curled fingers and the other side against the palm on my hand, allows me to squeeze with slight downward pressure on the flint, resulting in some pretty impressive sparks--every squeeze. Try it!

Finally, what I see over and over again in classes I've taken, is people who overtighten the knobs on their torches. They're so tight that to open the valve, they have to exert a fair amount of pressure and end up opening the knob further than they intended. This not only wastes fuel and oxygen, but also can damage the valves on the torches. You don't want to have propane leaking into the room but you don't need to crank down the knobs like the lug nuts on your tires, either! By being gentle turning your torch off, you can also just barely crack the fuel to light it, then turn it up and add in the O2.

Jood

[Dia-T]

a better link for the piezo lighters.
http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/details/cg_piezo.html

and an ewxplanation for why they work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectricity

[DesertDreamer]

Jood is right, I know I'm doing it wrong, but I can never seem to get it all right. I'll stick with my Zippo, turned way down and safely set out of the way after lighting.

[scoutycat]

Hmm, no one has mentioned my concerns with bics and matches...
1) keeping lighters in pockets can (in rare cases) cause a pocket (or bra) full of butane. A pocketful of butane is a bad thing around hot things like torches and kilns. Not a likely cause of an explosion, but it apparently has happened (so says my high school chem prof)
2) Items in a room where oxygen is used are often more flammable since the may become oxygen saturated and so burn more quickly. Using fire around them is a bad idea (so says my hubby, the firefighter)
3) Using matches to light your torch could result in very burned fingers if the oxy is on & the match burns way faster than you thought it would.

[Ed_Slawson]

We don't like sparkers, mainly because small bits of flint and steel wind up all over your becnchtop, tools and marver... if they are picked up by the hot glass, they leave an ugly bit in the finished bead. We use refillable butane lighters that are totally encased with metal. Lacking these, we have used metal zippos, the type that use lighter fluid.