oxy-acetylene torch

Since glassblowing is on topic here, especially if one doesn't necessarily mean scientific glassblowing, I have a question about preparing for that activity. There are no glassblowing courses I can take but there is an art course on welding that, among other things, would teach me how to use oxy-acetylene torches safely. So, I'm wondering whether that exposure to the use of oxy-acetylene torches would be sufficient preparation for using an oxy-acetylene torch for glassblowing (apart from the glassblowing techniques themselves). Or is the way one uses an oxy-acetylene torch for glassblowing one of the things they would explicitly tell me not to do in a welding course?

I've seen someone sitting in the middle of a lobby with an oxy-acetylene torch and glass rods and tubing making lots of little sculptures. So, that's why I have this in mind as an added benefit of possibly taking the welding course. The only exposures I've had to glassblowing are: (1) a single class I took once several decades ago in which I used a bunsen burner; (2) the chemists at Tata Institute were nice enough to let me do some glassblowing and to give me some instruction and I did this once or twice a week for a couple of weeks until I stupidly picked up a hot piece of glass and got a big burn on my thumb, which put an end to the activity. This also used a bunsen burner.

There is no way I am qualified or allowed to set up a bunsen burner for myself in any that I have access to, so acquiring the knowledge, under supervision, to provide myself with suitable flame for glassblowing is of interest to me. Once I can do that, I can in principle experiment on my own with simple glassblowing projects, although finding a suitable venue for this would still be a problem.

Reply to
Allan Adler
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I think you would be wasting your time. There are glass blowing schools all over the world.

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Jack

Reply to
nJb

All the safety rules are the same, but you wouldn't want to use acetylene. It is to hot and to dirty. Most people use propane/mapp because it is easier. Or you can use natural gas. Problem with natural is that your standard house pressure is lacking to operate a bench burner correctly.

Good luck,

Randy Hansen SC Glass Tech San Diego, CA

Reply to
Randy H.

Reply to
Moonraker

There is far to many do and do not do in this field to start anywere else than by learning. Tips and triks for this field is most often based on good tools. You have to be able to focus on what you want to do. Not invent the wheel to get there.

You should ask around in your nebourhood. You will be surprised how many glassartist is around. If you are bold in of to ask qustions here I am sure this artist will help you to get trough the first steps and help you get on your way to developing your own handcraft.

If there is a will there is a way.

Reply to
bragijoh

It is not just that propane or natural gas is easier, oxy-acetylene is too hot and also discolors some of the glasses used in lamp working. A welding outfit usually produces a small precise flame while lampworking torches produce a larger flame. Take a proper class or start by buying a good book like Contemporary Lampworking by Dunham which you should be able to get on Amazon. Ignore some of the dummer comments on this newsgroup, some people need their fingers tied.

Reply to
Mike Firth

necessarily

for that

there is an art

to use

exposure to

preparation for using

glassblowing

torch

me not to

oxy-acetylene

sculptures. So, that's

the welding

used a bunsen

do some

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put an end

burner for

knowledge, under

glassblowing is

experiment on

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My actions and

near Boston.

A.A.:

Approximately where are you located?

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Reply to
Edward Hennessey

I assume you're asking because of one of the following two reasons: (1) You are considering offering to teach me glassblowing, in case that would be geographically convenient. (2) You think you can locate glassblowing classes I could take if you know where I am located.

As regards (2), I was incorrect my original statement: I just did a google search and found, contrary to what I had thought, that there are a few places near me where I can, in principle, take a glassblowing course. From the prices I've seen, the courses are pretty expensive, definitely beyond my discretionary capital at the moment, but there are indeed courses.

As regards (1), approximately where are you located?

-- Ignorantly, Allan Adler

  • Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
  • comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.
Reply to
Allan Adler

I just found an article by C.L.Stong in the Amateur Scientist column of Scientific American from the 1950's in which he explains how to do glass blowing. He shows a setup using a propane tank. I'm under the impression that this would only be good for soda glass, not for pyrex. I haven't used mapp gas but I'm under the impression that it is used exactly the same way as propane but burns hotter and can be used with pyrex. Are these impressions correct?

Unfortunately, I don't have any place I can actually do any of this. Stong doesn't talk about safety except for advocating the use of asbestos! My apartment is definitely out of the question and it is probably illegal to do it on the streets without some kind of permit.

Reply to
Allan Adler

Interesting. I know someone that used a bench torch here in Minnesota and it seemed to work fine off the house system. Does this vary by location?

Mike Beede

Reply to
Mike Beede

Depending on where you are, if you ever answered that, there is no particular reason you can't do it in your apartment or on the street. House natural gas in the US is normally delivered at 7 inches of water pressure which is 1/4 psi which is probably too low for a lot of torches. Working glass indoors requires reasonable ventilation, a fire proof surface for the top of the bench and a fire resistant panel for the wall (like a metal panel used behind a cook or wood stove) because the hot trail off the torch is typically aimed away from the worker and toward a wall. If you use a large

20# propane tank, don't keep it indoors when not in use, which may be a problem in an apartment unless you have a balcony since the tank is the same as a BBQ grill uses. MAPP gas alone, without oxygen, with a proper torch, more likely called a braising torch, will just barely make boro soften, but not really make it workable. Stop reading books from the 1950's and get something up to date like Contemporary Lampworking. So much has changed in torch work since then that books from back then (and I have a couple) are pathetically out of date. As one example, even 15 years ago, to have color with boro, you had to mix your own chemicals into the glass. Now there are several suppliers of colored boro. 20 years ago, there were perhaps 2 suppliers of scientific glassblowing equipment to the public - Wale Apparatus and ?. Now there are half a dozen or more makers of torches and a dozen or more major distributors and many many retail outlets. As a starting point, go to Arrow Springs
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if you haven't already.
Reply to
Mike Firth

Thanks for all the very helpful advice. I'll see if I can get access to a copy of Contemporary Lampworking. The list price is a bit steep for me. One reason I get old books is that often they are a lot cheaper used. Lindsay Publications is constantly reprinting old books because they feel the old books have a lot of good information in them. But I'm not slighting the more modern developments you pointed out, since that is also good information to have.

No balcony or fire escape. Also, I can't modify my apartment since I don't own it. That being the case, the main access I might have to a workspace for glass would be at a school while taking a course on it, and that would be one of the main reasons for taking the course, apart from the valuable information and supervision I would get from the course. It's too bad there isn't a middle ground, such as a glass cooperative that would let the likes of me use some work space.

Anyway, if there is no particular reason why it can't be done on the street, I'll go talk to the local fire department and ask them how they view the matter. Maybe they'll let me do lampworking at the fire station, where they can put out the fire the instant it happens or administer first aid as needed.

I'm not sure I remember right, or if I'm confusing you with someone else, but I think you posted a link to your own website. I saw one of the pictures of chicken wire briefly and it looked like it was being held in place with cement! I didn't have time to read it carefully but I'll go back to it as soon as I have access to a better computer again.

Reply to
Allan Adler

Well, since you raise safety issues, I was wondering about one thing that Mike Firth mentioned, namely the recent availability of colored borosilicate glass. I'm under the impression that pigments are often very toxic and one has to take extraordinary precautions in working with them. So, apart from convenience it is natural to wonder: are the colored borosilicate glass is entirely free of such risks when one does lampworking with them?

Reply to
Allan Adler

borosilicate

No, Dweezil, it wasn't "safety issues" that were raised. Your OCD "issues" are the ones that are running amuck. Do the folks in the white coats know you are playing on the computer, again?

First, you don't have a "place" to lampwork. You don't have the equipment. If you were to have the place and the equipment, you don't know "how". By your own admission, you can't afford books or lessons.

So, worrying about the "risks" of colored boro is not unlike obsessing about what brand of stitches the doctor might use when he performs your much-needed lobotomy.

Go take your meds and try to find something else to obsess about that is within your means.

Reply to
Moonraker

He rightly points out (although I do know a little about "how" and have done some acceptable lampworking in the past):

However, that is irrelevant. First of all, it is perfectly legitimate to ask about safety issues in crafts, and safety issues don't only pertain to the individuals who ask about them. If Moonraker doesn't know the answer to these questions, I'm sure someone else does. Secondly, I'm sure there are a lot of people who are interested in figuring out ways around obstacles to their being able to practice some craft. If such an individual has fewer material resources to devote to a solution, it doesn't mean that the individual then has less right to try to find one and to ask about it.

That aside, I'll be interested in competent comments on the safety issues I asked about.

Reply to
Allan Adler

One of the methods of protecting the environment from dangerous chemicals is to encase them in glass. It is generally felt that the chemicals that are poisonous when standing alone or used in pigments are relatively harmless when involved in the glass. Part of the reason for this is the changes that occur when the chemicals are incorporated - for example the carbonate or chloride changing to the oxide. I suppose it is possible to get the glass boiling/bubbling hot and out gas or burn off chemicals, but you would need a powerful torch and be bent on ruining the glass. As one extreme example, not used with boro as far as I know, lead crystal soft glass can be up to 35% lead oxide (vs 1-2% for colors). When they ran tests on finished glassware with acidic wine, they had to let it sit covered for nearly a month to get a measurable reading. The recomendation was that wine not be stored in lead crystal decanters which is on the duh level since it doesn't do the decanter much good.

Reply to
Mike Firth

If it's good wine, you drink it, if its not you pour it down the drain, why the hell would wine storage in a crystal decanter ever occur anyway.

Reply to
Javahut

Because people think an upright container with a stopper is a bottle and don't think of a decanter as something into which one decants wine from an aging bottle or barrel to leave the dregs behind. Heck, these people probably shake the bottle before pouring.

Reply to
Mike Firth

Reply to
Debbie Nelson

The problem is that people use lead crystal decanters to store whisky, brandy, port and sherry for extended periods. They should only be used for immediate consumption. Pour it back into the original bottle if you wish to keep it long-term.

Nothing wrong with passing the port decanter clockwise round the dining table. Just make sure that it is emptied by the end of the meal.

Reply to
Terry Harper

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