[AT] Torch kit

[Greg Hass]

I personally would not use LP gas. I know they say its cheaper, but as 
someone else has mentioned, if using only one or two tanks a year it is 
not a big deal. My brother worked 17 years as a tool and die welder in a 
factory. Some times if I have a bigger part I have to heat with a 
rosebud, he tells me it is very important to heat it as fast as 
possible, because if the shaft or whatever you are trying to get it off 
of heats up to the part you are heating you have lost the battle and 
will not get it loose. That tells me that with a rosebud you want the 
hottest gas possible. I have a neighbor who used to cut up a lot of 
scrape into short steel. He used to tell me how he could go through over 
2 tanks of oxygen a day. Even on days when I used my torch a lot for 
repairs or building and heating I could not come close to even one tank 
a day. He used LP and I am thinking with the lower heat it took a lot 
more oxygen to cut. I can not say for sure that is the reason but it 
makes sense. Two and a half miles from me is a multi-million dollar 
scrape operation. Most things like farm machinery and cars they shear 
but things like plow beams, truck rear-ends and some huge factory 
equipment they cut with big LP torches. The difference with them is that 
they have a large liquid oxygen setup to supply that need. As for 
tanks,which I own, I bought the bigger size. The ones I leased were 
smaller and it seemed like one or the other was always  low. With the 
bigger tanks, they hold twice as much but are almost the same price. As 
for upkeep, the company I am with takes care of all maintenance and 
every 3 or 4 years I get a bill for around $16 a tank to cover the cost 
which I feel isn't too bad.
       Greg Hass