Firing Up An Old Blow Torch! | Restoration

[@stevelucas2117]

The engineers who made things ages ago that can still be used today should be really proud of themselves. Glad to see you breathed life back into the blow torch! Nicely done Dom!

[@DominicChineas]

It was a good feeling getting jt working again! Thanks for watching

[@gmmooseblaster]

That takes me back. I can remember using one of these back in the 60's. Remember not getting something quite right and ending up with a flame thrower which ignited the skirting board at the opposite side of the room.

[@millomweb]

30 min video on lighting a blow-torch. Sounds about right :)

[@DominicChineas]

Cheer up!

[@oberdiah]

Hi Dom. I have a Primus No 632 under my bed which has been gathering dust for years. I think it belonged to my grandfather. I’ve never had the guts to investigate and get it working but this has ‘fired up’ the courage. If you hear reports of a small explosion from Buckinghamshire later this week then you know it hasn’t gone well…😂

[@Edward-rv2bu]

I have one of those, I bought mines because I used to watch the 3 Stooges and they had one so I have found the exact one that they had at a vintage/antique swap meet. I've had it for about 40 years I've never used it I'm going to restore it now you've just motivated me.

[@johnsholian4318]

I came across mine today and remembered your video. I remember my dad using it decades ago and it used kerosene for fuel. I thought I’d watch this again for a refresher in the event that I have a go at reviving it. Lots of stuff to do on my ‘71 MGBGT so this will no doubt be put on the back burner, so to speak.

[@DominicChineas]

I hope you get it fired up, let me know how you get on

[@BunnyKins1970]

Fantastic job, as always! Also, so pleasing to see someone giving all the fire precaution warnings before lighting the blowtorch in between the open containers of meths and paraffin! Exactly what I would do, so relatable!! 💚🐇🐴💚

[@oscartango64]

Great job on the torch. Being a Navy guy I would have polished the brass. Lol.

[@xoxo-yu1gp]

hi man in a shed i've got my dads old max sievert blow lamp beautiful bit of kit look it and look on in awe at the quality of the engineering like i said a thing of beauty

[@johngardiner6800]

Good vlog Dom, but as a plumber who did my apprenticeship with these blow lamps you needed a few more pumps to get a really hot flame. You showed the correct procedure for lighting it but going from job to job we never carried meths we rapped what was in those days asbestos string around the the well, then we would tip it up with a thumb over the outlet, pump it so the paraffin hit the thumb and ran into the wick then release the pressure and light it. We would then prepare the burst lead pipe by which time the blow lamp was hot and ready to pump up.

[@martinhaskell376]

I’ve never really understood how those old blowtorches work. Until now. Thanks Dom!

[@joeldday]

Always wondered how my dad's one of these worked! Great video Dom, this is the level of detail and time spent I would love to see on every Repair Shop item :D

[@wilkybarkid]

I honestly didn't watch this at first because I thought, what's so interesting about an old torch... then I watched it end to end and now want to buy and restore one myself. Well done Dom as always!

[@DominicChineas]

Haha, glad I convinced you!

[@wilkybarkid]

@@DominicChineas honestly dude, I've got a paraffin heater somewhere that I want to rebuild once we've moved house and I've got the workshop up n running! If you're ever "home" gimme a shout :)

[@Liam1H]

I always wanted to know how those old blow torches worked. Thanks for the bit of education, Dom. You know, between all the changing camera angles, great background music, clear commentary, and fascinating subject matter, your videos are some of the best on the web and seem much more like they are the product of a highly skilled team. I don't know how you find the time but I sure appreciate the fact that you manage to just the same. Brilliant!

[@rjs1304]

I have three Burmos lamps, I replaced the pump washers with 5/8” leather cup washers bought on EBay. Also picked up a vintage service kit and many spares for little money. My Dad was a plumber and told me that many cold rooms where he worked were heated by his trusty blow lamp 😁

[@RonvanRutten]

lovely to see how these work.

[@markmurphy3578]

I love seeing this old kit being revived. It’s proven technology that still works when it’s looked after. I wouldn’t mind one myself!

[@bobrice3957]

Thanks Dom. I have finally got round to sorting my burner handed down from my grandad.

[@adrianrevill7686]

I learnt how to use one as a kid lighting the aga. I also used a primus stove to melt lead to do sand castings. Of course that was before lead was toxic.

[@stephendriver5853]

Wow, what a journey. Great restoration, thanks.

[@Mally.B]

Loved the Blow Torch Resto, When you're pushed for time, would like to see more short restos (they're just as enjoyable).

[@DominicChineas]

Thanks for watching, I’ll try to do more

[@jsof2]

Great video Dom, I particularly loved the way you fired up the blowlamp - completely unfazed by the proximity of a container of meths on one side and a pint of thinners on the other! Great job!

[@DominicChineas]

Haha brave or stupid! Thanks for watching

[@garysmith4717]

Hi Dom …when I was a young man I remember my dad having one… it would be interesting to see how many of your subscribers had one or still got one

[@tamsinlouisadungey3643]

as a kid I learnt to use one to burn off paint with my dad ... he was a painter... fabulous in cold weather!!

[@dilihopa]

My father likely used one of these! Nice to see you restore something of your own! Great video!

[@DaveCurtis-b3u]

I love how you show your successes and failures. Great video keep up the good work.

[@tonywaghorn3164]

My brother in law has one belonging to his grandfather. Definitely going to restore it.

[@DominicChineas]

Good luck with it! Let me know how you get on

[@mopar4656]

Never used one. Always wondered how they worked. Thanks for the lesson. Cheers.

[@chrisflemington819]

Hi Dom, Thanks for that lesson I’ll now go and get my blow torch out and see if I can get it working. I only used it once as it belonged to my late father in law who was a plumber so this is taking me back. Thanks very much 🤗

[@rikblak996]

Thanks Dom, I really enjoyed this video, one of your best!

[@richardforster9816]

Well done Dom. I have spent many hours behind one. Good for winter mornings stripping paint. I do not know if you can still get them, but there was a "Nozzle Cleaner"as well, known as a "Pricker". This simple device is/was used to insert a needle in the jet when it was blocked without disassembling it. Gold star as well as thumbs up!

[@ThePillenwerfer]

You can get them but a bristle from a wire brush soldered to some sort of handle works.

[@GamingDad63]

D.C. - Making the history about an everyday thing interesting :) Nice one

[@deanwellerassociates]

Great little project Dom, yep we have one on display in our Den...time for flame on !

[@h9rae]

perseverance makes perfect

[@mikemckinley5796]

Excellent vlog!! Those bell torches came in three sizes, with the smallest one being the size of a can of beer. cheers!!

[@johnhicks913]

Many years ago I purchased new a paraffin blow lamp, cheap to run & did a great job stripping paint. But it was heavy to use, I would use gas today, but the old lamp is a great stand by. You are a great presenter, enjoy watching !!

[@davewilson7762]

Hi Dom, yup I'm another of those guys who's dad had one of these, I remember him replumbing the shop we moved into in 1962, fantastic at jointing into the old lead water feed pipe, had heat to spare. I used it a couple of times and remember the fiery paraffin jet that would start if you failed to leave the pressure relief valve open 😱. Heaven knows what happened to them, gas's blow lamps became so much more convenient to use 🤷.

[@manchia34]

Hi Dom, I have an old blow lamp that uses petrol. Never seen another one, but it was my dad’s from about the 1940s. He used it for removing paint when decorating. Love your channel, the enthusiasm is infectious.

[@michaelbarton4787]

I inherited one of these from my grandfather, he passed away in the mid '70s. Always wondered how you go about using one of these things ! Many thanks for the guide :)

[@stuartlockwood9645]

Hi Dominic 😊 I remember plumbers in the old days prewarming the vaporiser whith a piece of old rag soaked in paraffin from the the lamp , they wrapped it around the airtube part and set fire to it, this was done outside of course, I think it saved them carrying meths in their tool kit. This was early 1960s, when a plumber carried a Bass Bag over his shoulder suspended on a large ball pien hammer, sorry if you already knew this, good job on the lamp, it would have looked good polished, painted though,lol, cheers mate great video, stay safe, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart uk.

[@roydavies260]

I did enjoy the video. Thanks Dom. Best wishes

[@manfromthepru]

Oh my goodness; You have just taken me back to times spent with my Dad in his garage in the 1960’s! Wonderful presentation Dom.

[@jojorengers5368]

Loved the video. Greetings from the Netherlands 🌷

[@jannerkev]

Nice one Dom. Remember my Old Dad and Grandad using them regularly. Grandads brass was always polished regularly. Dads was every 3/4 months.

[@tedf1471]

So odd to look at something I used as a kid now treated as a museum piece! I used to scavenge old lead water pipes and melt them down to make soldiers from a split metal mould. Very satisfying! Any surplus was poured into an old yorkshire pud tray, creating lead 'biscuits' with a shell pattern on. I still have a few!

[@damienpurcel7244]

That was great, so enjoyable, thank you.

[@craigpadley3535]

Ive got one in shop bèen threatening to strip it down for years ! Ill give it a go.😊

[@bobnorman4730]

Fascinating, and ingenious. Tidy job bringing it back! Now back to the 356 please!

[@joannaraphael4459]

Your workshop reminds me of my late dad's garage and papas shed they had everything. I can remember seeing a old blow torch like yours

[@lesives5542]

As a aged plumber these were the tools of my trade wipeing a joint on a lead pipe the leather washer for the pump was called a cup washer and could be bought from the local hardware store. Best soaked in oil for best result Les

[@chrisabraham8793]

There is a primus tin that you could buy in the old days that came with spare washers and a pricker tool that poked the small vents if blocked.

[@terrytopliss9506]

Well sorted out Dom.👍👍

[@gerrycassidy8591]

Fantastic. I have one and didn't know exactly how to work it. Another project for the list, now. Thanks again.

[@stephenrice4554]

I prefer these , if only for the smell and the ritual of lighting them . Great video 👍🇬🇧

[@bencaddey6574]

Really interesting that Dom! I’m sure i have a few kicking about which i’m going to have a go at restoring thanks to that video 😃

[@jamesboulton2722]

Cool. I’ve got exactly that same one. Now I know how to get it going.

[@DominicChineas]

Give it a go!

[@kevinthebespectacledpilgrim]

Just cleaned up my old dad’s blow lamp. He was a plumber and he used lead. A lot of plumbers were traditionally also glaziers - most tradesmen had two related skills.

[@brianroscoe239]

O.M.G.it's a long time since I got one of those going, and yes they can be very temperamental, Great video Dom.

[@Ian-Hall]

Dom, I have 3 in a box which I bought off ebay about 15 years ago. Your video has given me the inspiration to fix them. Cheers and loving the channel.

[@malcolmbale9566]

Remember messing about with one @ an old friends place, his dad had one in an old farm building, quite fascinating thing to see going when I was a young lad!!

[@tonystamp2708]

I was a bit late getting to this video this week but wow was it worth the wait. I walked past one of those blow lamps at a car boot sale. Man, am I regretting that now. Brilliant video this, Dom. Many thanks. 👍

[@samrogers2997]

Champion Dom! That certainly brought back many happy memories with my Dad.

[@stephenblaze4571]

Cheers I will be looking at mine now

[@paulbeckwith5981]

My grandad was a painter and decorator all his working life, he used one of these paraffin blowtorches to strip old paint. It had a little flat silver metal handle with a thin wire at the end, he called it a pricker and it was used to clear the hole in he jet.

[@geoffreyrowland979]

Hi Dom I learned how to use one at BR training school. I'm sure i have instructions for one. I'll dig them out and forward them for you to see. You basically did everything right.

[@DominicChineas]

That’s good to hear! Thank you

[@nickmassey9104]

Great lil video, how many ppl have these lamps and dont use them .I tried to fix mine but didn't have any leather for the plunger only had a brake kit so use a slave cylinder rubber cover cut down ,it still works years later .made to last years

[@KendalSmithy]

Oh, the memories, Dom. You should have called me and I would have told you to sort out the piston first. My dad is now 97 and I bet he's still got the blow lamp that, as a teenager, I took apart all those years ago.

[@neilgoodall1768]

Great video. Really enjoyed it 😁

[@keithsquawk]

Flame coming out of a torch -- always brings Dom's biggest grin

[@markwatters6875]

Great job mate.

[@nickcockerill239]

Hi. I had forgotten about the meths. My Dad used to have one, from the 50's.

[@busterboy7505]

That was flaming good 👍.

[@mrcogginsgarage7062]

Growing up we used to have an old Fordson Super Major Tractor,which was a right so and so to get started in the cold weather, have been known to warm up the intake manifold with one of these lamps, works a treat....

[@dord1954]

I stripped mine a while back and cleaned it up it’s ready to reassemble but I’ll need to make a new leather seal too. I used these around 50 years ago they’re very very useful 👍😀

[@daz41262010]

Dom's pimp my blow torch :) excellent video to watch you service and repair and get working I might add :) a really old blow torch :) cool thanks for posting Dom look forward to some more of your videos as I have caught up again now :)

[@jwioo]

My dad had a Monitor blow lamp just like yours. It came with a circular wick with a wire handle, you soaked the wick in meths and fitted it over the blowlamp nozzle and lit it. After a couple of minutes you pumped up the pressure and it would burst into life.

[@bimble7240]

Back in the day (until the '70s when gas lamps came out) nearly all plumbers had these. The rest used a different type which ran on petrol instead. These could be distinguished by having a horizontal burner instead of an inclined one, and no heating coils inside. They could be started (ignited) a lot quicker as they didn't need to be warmed up but I imagine they were more dangerous. My Dad was a builder and as a 10 year old I used to spend my school holidays playing on the site, "helping out" the various trades and generally making myself a nuisance with the never ending "why do you do that?" and "what is this for?" questions. On one occasion I was walking past a house where a Plumber was working and I heard a loud warning " LOOK OUT!" followed a second later by a fireball flying out of the upstairs window, (in those days they didn't glaze the houses until just before the painters came in, so no glass in the frame). The fireball touched down about 20 feet away and promptly exploded, but luckily I had fast reflexes and managed to get out of the way, and no one else was close. It turned out to be a misbehaving blow lamp, and I was a bit shaken up and I forgot to ask if it was a paraffin or a petrol one, although my guess is the latter. Kids eh, never ask the right questions! 😀😀.

[@samrodian919]

I'm pretty sure I have at least one of that size in my shed, and I remember my dad had a much larger one in there too. I must get out there and se if I can find them lol. Great video Dom!

[@DanT1111]

Another brilliant video Dom!

[@chisdalton9652]

Just bought a Swedish optimus no 406 from Elsecar heritage centre Yorkshire missing baskets and leather washer thanks for talk through I will get it working in the near future Thanks

[@mickcooper8605]

Be careful when undoing the valve to turn it off, do it slowly otherwise it can release a parafin "mist" which will burn. I once accidently caught the valve on something I was working on and ended up with a fireball. Great Video.

[@fransgeers7400]

Great video Dom. Especially if you compare it with some of those other 'restoration' video's which make it better then new but loose all authenticity.

[@jamesboots437]

So much like a Tilly lamp👍

[@mythreestars61]

great job looks great..

[@karenferns6160]

Wow Dom. You're a great tutor. Loved the lesson & seeing the literal nuts & bolts of the intricate engineering. Oh,& that Escort looked greeaat fun🚀..!!!

[@nickhorne5135]

Another great video Dom, would love to see similar with an old Tilly lamp.

[@andrewmarch7891]

The pump washer is often made of leather with plenty of Vaseline worked into it, mine is an original Sievert Swedish made. Brilliant!

[@whatdoyousaymrwilson]

I've got a blowtorch just the same as that, I'll put the restoration on the list, got a trailer to restore two tractors and an old mini to sort out first!

[@MrSwajo2]

I’ve got one in my man cave. I lit it many years ago just to see if it worked - and it did. It’s still there gathering dust.

[@bobt3374]

We new you would get there in the end well done Dom & the wheel machine ready to go ended up a good day. Take care.

[@richardstevenson2727]

Dom the leather washer is a ‘cup washer’ it needs to be well lubricated and softened to work properly - I learned all about these whilst in the Scouts where we used Primus stoves and Tilley lamps. The leather cup washer is best lubricated with grease or Vaseline, which also aids the seal you need in the pump chamber. The very small hole or jet where the paraffin vapour emits in the burner is called the nipple it can easily be obstructed with soot (paraffin burning makes loads of soot!). You clean this with a ‘pricker’ - proper ironmongers sell these in packets of 3 known as ‘primus prickers’. If the hole in the nipple gets too big from excessive pricking (erratic burning) the nipple can be removed and renewed - you can get a special key to remove and renew it. Thank you you brought back any happy memories. One further bit of advice is to make sure that your paraffin is clean, Primus and Tilley Iamps have funnels with a very fine gauze to filter the filling. We used to empty the tank and filter at each use as muck builds up without you realising. Paraffin has a lot of water in it

[@richardstevenson2727]

Causing corrosion and rust to build up

[@rogerkirby6586]

Don't forget your pricker needle for your paraffin blow lamp, it is use to clear the jet if it gets clogged with soot from partially burnt fuel, loads on ebay. Paraffin is an oil and turns into a vapour when heated. that white fog that appeared at the start of run, Your plunger did work after you first assembled it but you then oiled it which stopped it sealing, in future just use paraffin for lube. Instead of using meths use you gas blow lamp to preheat, you can then move flame to catch on fire the vapours easier. Hope that helps.

[@MrShotlighter]

Spot on, oil rots these old rubber pump seals. If in doubt, use castor oil.

[@richardhintonracing]

I was using one 55 years ago and it will still be here somewhere .

[@sethbelson3539]

Dominic: just posted on Instagram about one of these I restored in the 1970’s before restoration was a thing! I got it going as per the instructions if an old Handyman book. I don’t think my parents were too impressed. I also had some jet prickers which were fine stubs of wire attached to a metal handle that you could put into the flame on clear debris from the jet while the thing was working. Sadly I don’t know what happened to the blow lamp but your video has got me looking on Marketplace and ebay! By the way, instead of chopping up your apron you could have got a bit of leather off Susie Fletcher. Couldn’t wait that long? Yeah, I’d have cut up the apron as well.

[@vincentneep4868]

I had several of these small ones and one very large one that was a 2 handed one gallon! Container that I believe was used to remove the old bitumen from canal barges. I never had it running. Way too scary. Nice work Dom.

[@ianbrodiesmith4085]

It hurts but remodeling is the best way. Move it all out and see what you've got. Could be a great we seriously interesting vid

[@diggerdelaney]

Great video like you I enjoy making things mainly from wood but have just started in metal. I also get a buzz when something I have repaired and saved from the tip comes back to life. It is just great to see you repair/restore something back to life from start to finish unlike the Repair shop where we only see snippets of the process

[@DominicChineas]

That’s the beauty of my own channel I can actually show all of the process and problems along the way! Thanks for watching!

[@thegentlemanmaker]

Crikey that’s hot looking! I’m going to have to find one of those.

[@4SafetyTraining]

Have a lot of the blow torches, even one that came withe box and never used form 1930s. They are fun..

[@pauliboo2]

I really enjoyed that, thank you. I always wondered how they worked

[@sarahstevens2905]

Another great video. You explain things really well, that even I can understand. thank you

[@zs1dfr]

We had one of these when I was a kid (as we did a Primus Stove - same principle), and we had a "pricker", a little flange of metal, with a stiff single stranded wire on the end for pricking open the escape orifice to make sure it wasn't clogged with soot, before firing up the blowtorch. Do you remember those, Dom? I think our plunger also had a piece of leather as a seal inside.

[@chrisfairbrother9197]

Yes, I was going to say leather as well 👍