Metal smithing, lesson four: playing with fire.
Soldering with big scary torches. Acetylene.
Yes, they still scare me even after the other class I took. Don’t get me wrong–I can use one, but I need a seriously Big Brave Facade in place to do it.
Instructor: I thought you said you were afraid of fire?
Me: Oh, I am. I definitely am. I just don’t want this highly combustible combination of flammable gas and sparks to figure that out.
What scares me about it the most? It’s not the 1200 degree flame, oddly enough. It’s the hinky flint and steel strikers we use to light the torch. It feels like the gas is on forever before it finally catches. Yes. Flint and steel.
Just like cavemen, except they didn’t have steel.
PS: on the left, we have a butt joint, and the smaller piece on the right features a lap joint.