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Parent Category: Projects from Journal Back Copies

Category: Projects 2005

Dorothy Cockrell

Not every beginner wants to invest in a kiln straight away. Those of us who remember ‘the old days' will have heard of home made, torch fired kilns constructed from whatever inexpensive non-flammable material came to hand; some may even have one. The main difficulty with such kilns is in finding a sufficiently strong source of heat. Butane is not hot enough; some propane torches will do, but you need a big powerful one.

Two years ago I attended a torch firing workshop in the States where 'Mapp Gas' torches were used. They were like the ones filled with butane/propane gas which you can buy in our DIY shops, but Mapp produces a much hotter flame. We torch fired quite large pieces of copper, melted holes in it (sometimes on purpose) and were shown really big pieces of torch fired work done by our tutor. You can imagine my delight when I found 'Mapp Gas' recently in my local B&Q. The canisters are yellow and the 'Bernzomatic' torch head (which costs about £40) comes in a yellow pack. Heat output is indicated on the pack by little blue 'flames', they have a minimum of 4 to the normal torches 2 or 3. These torch heads have spark ignition and various safety features, which accounts for their cost.

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