Your laugh for today

[JDgreen227]

I just read a story in the local news that described a recent project where the state transportation department here used, quote:
"Blow torches to to break the walkway from it's supports on both sides of the avenue..." The walkway was a 15 foot high, 60 foot long pedestrian bridge spanning a four lane main road and the picture in the story shows several large trucks and a crew of six men cutting away part of the structure. WOW !!! I ran out to my garage and got MY blowtorch...just imagine the projects I have lined up for it when spring finally arrives...:laughing:

 

[bikerdib]

I'll bet it took the workers a LONG time to cut steel with their "blowtorches"

You still use yours for anything? Those things weren't the safest tool in the garage but they did what they were designed for.

 

[RoMad]

When I was a kid my dad used to have me climb in the crawl space under our house and thaw the pipes with a blow torch . I thought it was fun.

 

[Bird]

When I was a kid my dad used to have me climb in the crawl space under our house and thaw the pipes with a blow torch . I thought it was fun.

I never did that myself, but I think that's about the only thing my Dad, and his Dad, had blow torches for.

 

[Trials]

Dad taught me to solder eves trough with one of those ...I was 6 years old;
I applied the muriatic acid to the galvanized steel, heated the draw iron with one of those torches and feed the lead wire into the seam all on my own :thumbsup:
I also used to enjoy cutting pipe threads, cleaning out the steam boilers, cleaning the animals cages, running the sign printing machine
... you know Dad was a pretty smart fella making me think all that crap was fun wasn't he

 

[JDgreen227]

I'll bet it took the workers a LONG time to cut steel with their "blowtorches"

You still use yours for anything? Those things weren't the safest tool in the garage but they did what they were designed for.

Have never used mine for anything except a display object, if I need a portable heat source I use a propane torch. I sent the writer of that story in the paper an email with the same attachment shown here about his goof telling him "THIS is what a blowtorch is...." :laughing:

 

[k0ua]

Dad taught me to solder eves trough with one of those ...I was 6 years old;
I applied the muriatic acid to the galvanized steel, heated the draw iron with one of those torches and feed the lead wire into the seam all on my own :thumbsup:
I also used to enjoy cutting pipe threads, cleaning out the steam boilers, cleaning the animals cages, running the sign printing machine
... you know Dad was a pretty smart fella making me think all that crap was fun wasn't he

Not only was your Dad pretty smart for making you think those tasks were fun, but he was also pretty smart for letting you build a whole bunch of good memories of you and him working together.

James K0UA

 

[cqaigy2]

Not only was your Dad pretty smart for making you think those tasks were fun, but he was also pretty smart for letting you build a whole bunch of good memories of you and him working together.

James K0UA

:thumbsup:

 

[burnieman]

When I was a kid my dad used to have me climb in the crawl space under our house and thaw the pipes with a blow torch . I thought it was fun.

If you sent a kid under a house now with a blowtorch to do anything, you'd prob get a visit from child protective services. They'd take your kid away from you and put you in jail. Your wife would leave you, you'd lose your job and you'd end up sleeping under a bridge turning tricks for your next meal. Too much political correctness these days

 

[kw22614]

If you sent a kid under a house now with a blowtorch to do anything, you'd prob get a visit from child protective services. They'd take your kid away from you and put you in jail. Your wife would leave you, you'd lose your job and you'd end up sleeping under a bridge turning tricks for your next meal. Too much political correctness these days

Not under a bridge - somebody might cut it down with a blowtorch!:laughing:

 

[vtsnowedin]

We are showing our age here with this. You can't fault the reporter if he or she just repeated what the DOT told them they were doing verbatum. You have a lot of young people at work today that have never seen an old fashioned blow torch and don't realise there are two types of torches. When they hit the oxygen lever on the cutting torch it blows out the molten steel from the cut hence the name. Most guys running a cutting torch have little understanding of the chemistry going on down in the cut.
Some of these "Young folks" have been on the job for fifteen years or better and are now the foreman or super and if he calls it a blow torch all his crew will call it a blow torch.
I still have a hard time keeping a straight face when dealing with a young super with rings in his ears and tattooed biceps. It's just hard to take them seriously, especially if the problem we are discussing is a small one that would not be a problem if the super had read the plans correctly or the spec book.

 

[crash325]

We _( Grandad) had 2 or 3 of them. Only real job I remember using them for was sealing up cast iron pipe.

I thought it was great fun to light them. Hope to find at least 1 in treasure hunt. (Trash & Treasure thread)

Had lots of fun as a kid, also great fun to crank the old forge. When Grandad wasn't looking I'd really wind that thing up.

AH the good old days.
Jim

 

[crackerjack222]

My dad had two blowtorches that he used to heat the glow plug on a single cylinder diesel engine. The engine drove a water pump thru a long flat belt. The engine was high up on the river bank and the pump was down next to the normal water level. The blowtorch would heat the glow plug to cherry red, then he would start to spin the flywheel by standing on a spoke. He had two blowtorches because sometimes it took more than one fuel fill of the torch to get the plug hot enough. Once the engine was running it would blow smoke rings out the exhaust.
That was back in the 1940's before we got electricity. I now have one of the blowtorches on the shelf in my office. My son has the other one.

 

[Soundguy]

Have never used mine for anything except a display object, if I need a portable heat source I use a propane torch. I sent the writer of that story in the paper an email with the same attachment shown here about his goof telling him "THIS is what a blowtorch is...." :laughing:

our local paper covered a police story one time and mentioned the officer had to change the clip in his revolver 2 times.. etc.

I wrote the editor on that one though it did not get printed..

blowtorch.

hmm.. something about pouing gasoline into a container.. pumping it up and lighting it that makes me feel a tad unsafe..

 

[Reyer Farms]

Very funny.

 

[crash325]

our local paper covered a police story one time and mentioned the officer had to change the clip in his revolver 2 times.. etc.

I wrote the editor on that one though it did not get printed..

blowtorch.

hmm.. something about pouing gasoline into a container.. pumping it up and lighting it that makes me feel a tad unsafe..

it was not the gas in the pumped up container you had to worry about. Under the nozzle was a small cup that you filled with gas to heat it up so that the torch would light and stay lit.

 

[crash325]

our local paper covered a police story one time and mentioned the officer had to change the clip in his revolver 2 times.. etc.

I wrote the editor on that one though it did not get printed..

blowtorch.

hmm.. something about pouing gasoline into a container.. pumping it up and lighting it that makes me feel a tad unsafe..

it was not the gas in the pumped up container you had to worry about. Under the nozzle was a small cup that you filled with gas to heat it up so that the torch would light and stay lit.

 

[vtsnowedin]

our local paper covered a police story one time and mentioned the officer had to change the clip in his revolver 2 times.. etc.

I wrote the editor on that one though it did not get printed..

blowtorch.

Perhaps the cop was using speedloaders where the six rounds are indeed held in a clip.
http://www.safariland.com/DutyGear/duty/speedloaders.aspx

 

[Thomas]

We use to call cutting torch the flaming scissors years back.

 

[Shield Arc]

We use to call cutting torch the flaming scissors years back.

We use to call them fire axes. I've asked a lot of guys over the years after seeing their cuts with an oxygen acetylene torch, what brand of chain saw did they use to make that cut. :laughing: