which one do i need?

[totaly useless]

Hi all
Newbie here, my name is Kay & i am an artist, i have a project i have in mind and need some help.
i aim to create a sculpture using wood and 6" nails, when the sculpture is near complete i need to burn away some of the wood {as at this stage of construction it will be surrounded buy the nails and burning it away is my only option.
so my questions are: can anyone suggest the set up that would best suit my needs, in terms of what equipment i need to buy, and what gases i need to use?
most of the sculpture would only be around 3 feet wide at its widest point giving me 18 inches iether side to get the flame in through gaps between the nails. i also need any advise about methods to use so as to avoid cutting the nails. if i get the flame through the gaps and will rake away at the burnt timber with a metal home made rake.
i have never used any OXY ACETYLENE before so i am a complete novice here.
hoping to here some helpful advise and tips, and new friends.
thanks guys
Kay

 

[cumbriasteve]

Welcome to the forum.
Bit difficult to imagine what you have detailed, the nails would glow nearly white hot before melting..so as long as you keep them glowing no more than cherry red they will be fine.
One of the plumbers gas blow torches will heat wood enough to burn..depends how much you need to do I suppose.

 

[rtbcomp]

Sounds like a standard Calor (or similar) propane bottle would do the job. Torches are easy to buy. Oxy Acetylene would be overkill, very expensive and there will be insurance problems too.

 

[totaly useless]

thanks steve

hi steve
thanks for the reply, by plumbers gas blower do you mean a hand held portable gas blower that uses those little gas canisters you also use on camping fires?
if you do mean this type, then i dont think it would be sufficient, as i need to burn away around about 2" off the thickness of the timber all over so i imagine that this would be too weak? not sure !!!
thanks again steve

kay

 

[ChrisJohnsSculpture]

From what you describe I think you would be best off with Calor type a propane bottle and a screw in 'weed burner' type torch. eg : http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/fc108-gas-torch-with-nozzles

Propane bottles are pretty easy to find from all sorts of sources, if nothing else lots of garages will sell them as well as general hardware and farm supply stores.

Probably a 9kg bottle would be big enough for what you want.

There are (obviously) certain safety issues involved in doing this and using any flammable gas requires care.

I would suggest that you wear eye protection and a suitable respirator as well as non-flammable clothing (eg heavy duty natural fibres like denim or better still leather) and keep a garden hose close at hand in case things look like getting out of control.

Depending on exactly what you;re intending to do I would consider using foundry type protective equipment eg full leathers, hard hat and face shield.

I would also be very tempted to test out the process on a small scale before you set light to anything that has a lot of time and effort invested in it.

Also it may be worth checking the terms of your insurance as many policies have some specific exclusions for heat and flame based processes.

 

[totaly useless]

hi chris
thanks for your informative reply, will take on board your advise, and thanks for providing me the link too.

enjoy the weekend

kay

 

[totaly useless]

Sounds like a standard Calor (or similar) propane bottle would do the job. Torches are easy to buy. Oxy Acetylene would be overkill, very expensive and there will be insurance problems too.

hi rtbcomp
thanks for the advice

enjoy the weekend

kay

 

[cumbriasteve]

Hi Kay
Yes I meant the calor gas type with the hefty torch, just had a browse on ebay and there seems to be a few for sale at decent prices, new and second hand.

You will have to try and convince everyone Yyves Saint Laurent have brought out a new scent called 'Smokey Passion' because you are going to stink the high heavens after burning all that timber.

Hope we are going to see the pictures of this sacrificed work of art

 

[brightspark]

have u ever tried burning 2 inch of depth of a piece of wood ??even with a large burner u would be there forever, it would have to be burnt in layers and cleaned off why cant u just burn the surface and nail it afterwards or am i missing the point ??

 

[PTvor]

What's the sculpture made of apart from wood?

I agree with Brightspark, big lumps of wood take a bit of burning through.

Can't you just pack it with little bits of dry wood and build a fire round it and burn the lot?

I suggest you make a test piece first and see how practical any scheme for getting rid of the wood is. Oxy-acetylene is a serious undertaking.

Has it got to be wood, or all wood? Could the frame be plastic or bolted together metal bits?

 

[chunkolini]

All sounds very interesting.
Quality advice given above lets see what you are doing.
I love any sculptural nonsense.

 

[gaz1]

its cheaper to buy a plumbers gas blow torch/lamp and bottle

its a butane propane mixture you need

remember thoe blow torches can flare so you need anti flare blow torch

( flare in a jet of flame firing out from blow lamp old ones used to do it when turned upside down )

wickes and b&q do one

http://www.wickes.co.uk/butane-propane-mixed-gas-350g/invt/210422/

thats the cheaper alternative

other way is gonna set you back 80.00

 

[ChrisJohnsSculpture]

To be honest form the sort of scale the OP is describing I'm not sure that a little blow torch is going to be up to the job, if you;re aiming to burn through a couple of inches of wood in a controlled way then it's going to take a bit of time and a fair amount of gas. Those little disposable bottles are an expensive way to buy gas and it sounds like you will ideally want a bigger nozzle and a higher heat output for what you;re trying to achieve.

It will probably also speed things up if you keep scraping away at the surface to get rid of the charcoal and ash as it forms as this will insulate the wood underneath.

 

[Woody.v8]

Hi Kay To me it sounds like your complicating things, Could you not just build a bonfire around the sculpture and have a provision for extracting said item.

 

[keith19]

If you must use a blowlamp of any sort to burn out a solid wood structure, you must first riddle the wood with many drilled holes in order to allow oxygen access to the interior of the burning wood.
When it looks more like a skeleton of itself it should burn and fall to ashes quite quickly.
Otherwise if it is left solid only the surface will burn and probably turn to something like charcoal, and the job will take ages.
There must surely be an easier way to set this up in the first place?

 

[isambard]

burnning

Hi Kay some sound advice can you put some pics up or drawings so we can see what you are trying to achive