Jewelry Torches for Beginners

What’s a good jewelry torch for a beginner?  If you are interested in metalworking but aren’t ready to invest in an oxy-actylene torch, read on.

I just received an email from Teresa of Carolina-Treasures.com. She asked me about torches and I thought I would share it here for any of you that are curious but confused about torches.

Here’s the message I received:

I stumbled across you while ‘googling’ for copper sheets. I admit up front I don’t understand blogging, so I hope I’m reaching the right person. The page I found was:

I loved what I saw (the copper earrings) and it made me more determined than ever to give it a try.

I’ve been beading and doing wire wrap for a while now and I’ve begun acquiring tools to try my hand @ metal work. After hours of searching, I’ve finally found liver of sulfur and stainless steel shot, but I’m lost about which torch to start out with. A jeweler friend is telling me propane and oxygen tanks, etc. and that totally intimidates me. If you have time, any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Here was my response:

I started out with a regular propane torch from the hardware store and that worked for balling silver wire and basic annealing. It was really tricky for soldering though and I didn’t get great results, but it was doable. Then I bought a bernzomatic torch that was like a little pen that burned butane (from the hardware store as well) and that worked about as well as the larger propane torch but didn’t have much power. It was really easy to aim though. After that crapped out on me I bought a Blazer Micro Torch that I loooove. It burns butane as well, has a push button igniter and is super easy to use. I have used it for balling wire, soldering, and annealing with good results. It heats to 2500 degrees so that should do everything you need.

Cheers, Christine

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