Alcohol/spirit Lamp/burner For Heating Leather Crease Tools?

[Tannin]

I gather that an alcohol fueled "spirit lamp" is the preferred method for heating leather creases. I wondered if the more experienced hands agree? If so any recommendation as to preferred model/design features or any other heating tips?

[veedub3]

It's what I use after seeing it referenced in a leather worker book. I actually made my own, for less than $3. I already have denatured alcohol in the shop that I use to dilute my die. I picked up a small glass jar with lid from Hobby Lobby for like $0.74, then I purchased a wick with a glass adapter from Hobby Lobby as well and used a 40% off coupon. I used my drill press to drill a hole in the jars lid to place the wick and glass adapter in, poured the alcohol in the glass jar, screwed on the lid and lit the wick, and it works just like they said it would in the book.

Here is a link to the wick: http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/5-replacement-wick-with-3/4-glass-adapter-864769/

Karina

[cgleathercraft]

wouldn't chafing fuel work? can get it at most big box stores.

[RStevenson]

Would a candle flame work?

[TinkerTailor]

Alcohol is best as it does not leave soot on the tools. I made mine with a mason jar. I drilled a hole and set a grommet into the lid. For a wick I use braided garden string. About 18 strands in a 3 part braid. Get rubbing alcohol at any drug store. My burner cost me the cost of the grommet. I salvaged the jar and string

[karlpv]

I've used one a fair bit with another hobby. They generate a nice low to medium heat, depnding on how your wick is set up. If you burn the rubbing alchahol mentioned above, try and find the 90% type with its lower water conent and better burn. The yellow bottled gasoline additive, Heet, sold in cold country during the winter, can be found cheap at times too. A metal cap for the burner of some sort, is a good addition to snuff the flame and slow evaporation.

Edited May 22, 2015 by karlpv

[TinkerTailor]

I forgot to mention i use a thimble as a snuffer/wick cover...

[Tannin]

I am impressed by the range of ideas so far. Hadn't thought of candles, I have several large ones in my workshop already - long relegated from the house & looking for a use. In winter I have used the top of my woodburning stove but not really practical this time of year.

Veedub3/Karina, that sounds ideal but finding wick/grommet kits in the UK will likely be be tricky/expensive.

TinkerTailor, what sort of grommet did you use - rubber/ceramic/...? I noticed a small glass jar with a metal screw cap in a cupboard this morning that might do. Alternatively I have an old 50cc aftershave bottle made of thick glass that might do. Although I am a little hesitant to make my own in case it spills burning fuel & starts a fire. Would probably use outside as a safety precaution.

I had to look up chafing fuel on wiki - looks great if you have access to them. In the UK they can be cheap in bulk but can be expensive individually. I'll keep my eye out for them.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Tannin

[Tannin]

Anybody use one of those glass jeweler's spirit lamps (~£8 on ebay) that have angled sides so that you can lean them over (and/or perhaps so they are stable & safe if they fall over)? Is that a useful feature? Or the very cheap, simple £3 Chinese ones from ebay (or the £8 Japanese variant).

Anybody use one those shiny metal (stainless steel?) dental spirit lamps (~£6-£8 on ebay/Amazon)? One model just has one hole/cap with wick. Another has a second cap (vent/filler?).

Is wick adjusting wheel worthwile or just an unnecessary gimmick?

Anybody tried one of the vintage medical/dental tool sterilizing burners? They often take the fold of a rectangular box with a foldout lid. Often they have a flip-up tool holder - presumably to support the tool handle away from the flame while the tip is steralized - which seems like a handy feature. Some are sold as expensive antiques but I have seen a couple of cheap ones.

How do you support the tool when heating it - do you just hold it? When I used my woodburner, I just propped the handle up on a log which sat on the stove top & let the head sit on the stove top.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Tannin

[TinkerTailor]

I just used a brass grommet the same type you use on leather. the goal was to give the wick a tight hole but still let it slide. I used a 125ml (2oz) mason jar like the one on the picture because they are good with heat, low, stable, and hard to break. Plus easy to fill without spill. I just hold the tools in my hand to heat. If i were to need a stand for heating a tool, i would bend one up from a coat hanger. Look at pictures of diy solder iron stands for ideas.

There you go. Worked for me a long time, no fires yet.

[cgleathercraft]

Candles will leave soot on the metal (from my experience). I suggested chafing fuel as a ready-to-use option that is cheap. But - after reading the comments, I have some glass baby food jars with metal lids that could be made into one much cheaper using alcohol than buying something ready to use.

[Tannin]

Good point cgleathercraft, need to keep things clean, soot-free.

TinkerTailor, that looks great. I was picturing a much taller jar, that looks nice & stable. The relatively wide metal top should help keep things safe too. BTW Mason jars are usually called Kilner jars or preserve jars in the UK. I lived near Seattle for a while, there we had Kerr jars, which I think are named for the English TV chef Graham Kerr (better known in the UK as "the Galloping Gourmet"), who lived somewhere nearby in WA, USA.

I'm guessing your Mason jar is probably a US half pint size. Looks like you can get half pint Kerr jars in the UK too. Actually, I think we might already have some...

BTW I like your signature - that is v. much my philosophy too

Edited May 22, 2015 by Tannin

[smirak]

Good point cgleathercraft, need to keep things clean, soot-free.

TinkerTailor, that looks great. I was picturing a much taller jar, that looks nice & stable. The relatively wide metal top should help keep things safe too. BTW Mason jars are usually called Kilner jars or preserve jars in the UK. I lived near Seattle for a while, there we had Kerr jars, which I think are named for the English TV chef Graham Kerr (better known in the UK as "the Galloping Gourmet"), who lived somewhere nearby in WA, USA.

I'm guessing your Mason jar is probably a US half pint size. Looks like you can get half pint Kerr jars in the UK too. Actually, I think we might already have some...

BTW I like your signature - that is v. much my philosophy too

I grew up on about 4000 acres in central Mississippi that was family land for quite a while (~200 yrs). We canned everything from meat to vegetables. We used all kinds of jars, but to set the record straight...

Kerr Jars

Alexander H. Kerr founded the Hermetic Fruit Jar Company in 1903 and among the first commercial; products were the Economy and Self Sealing jars. The Economy jars were among the first wide-mouth jars, and thus, were easy to fill. They also incorporated aspects from two 1903 patents held by another inventor, Julius Landsberger: a metal lid with a permanently attached gasket. This made the lids easy to use and inexpensive.

Mr. Kerr later (1915) invented a smaller, flat metal disk with the same permanent composition gasket. The lid sealed on the top of a mason jar; a threaded metal ring held the lid down during the hot water processing. This allowed re-use of old canning jars together with inexpensive and easy to use disposable lids. The jar we know today was born! This two-part lid system transformed home canning safety and is still in use today.

Kerr also made the first wide-mouth jars, which Ball was quick to duplicate.

Edited May 22, 2015 by smirak

[Tannin]

Ah, so it was not Graham Kerr - just a coincidence that we re-discovered both at the same time in Seattle! My apologies to all. (I just put a strike line through that bit of my earlier post to avoid future confusion.)

BTW This is the kind of thing I meant by "Dental spirit burner":

And this is the glass jeweler's variety mentioned:

The v. cheap (£3) HK version:

The "Japan" version (used in schools?):

Vintage medical/military sterilizing (with tool-holder - possibly for sterlizing syringe needles?):

Edited May 22, 2015 by Tannin

[barra]

My low cost creaser heater. Much like Tinker, I just use an empty salsa jar with a grommet in the lid for the wick. From my experience denatured alcohol/methylated spirit/metho evaporates while the jar is on the shelf so I just use lamp kerosene. Yes it gives off a bit of soot but a quick wipe with a rag before the creaser touches leather and all good.

[billybopp]

I ended up buying one of these: http://www.amazon.com/American-Educational-7-000-104-Diameter-Capacity/dp/B005QDP42K/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1432340820&sr=8-3&keywords=spirit+lamp

I was afraid that I'd manage to break or tip over one of the glass ones. I liked the wide base, handle, adjustment screw, and the snuffer that doubles as a reasonably tight fitting lid to help prevent evaporation when not in use.

Bill

[Tannin]

Turns out we do have a couple of small Kerr jars but the metal lids are all missing - wife threw the lids out because they went rusty!

Actually we do also have a couple of short (Doritos) Salsa jars in use in the kitchen at the moment - amazing what you can get in the UK these days , although Mexican food is still a bit expensive here

Hi Bill, that looks like a nice one, although haven't seen that model for sale "this side of the pond". I know what you mean - almost everything glass that I have taken into my garage workshop has soon ended broken on the floor.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Tannin

[Tannin]

<p>Home made spirit lamp  - another variant: <a data-ipb="nomediaparse" href="http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-an-alcohol-lamp-for-home-microbiology-/">http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-an-alcohol-lamp-for-home-microbiology-/</a></p>

<p>Useful tips for modifying/fault-finding a spirit lamp (I kid you not!): https://www.mccrone.com/mm/how-to-makemodify-and-use-an-alcohol-lamp/</p>

<p> </p>

Edited May 23, 2015 by Tannin

[awharness]

I just use a propane torch. You get the feel of it pretty quick!

[Tannin]

FYI I was pleasantly surprised to win the medical sterilizer alcohol burner pictured on the previous page on ebay. It is smaller than I expected (which is nice) - just 3" long x 1.5" wide x 1" deep when closed up, 6" long when opened out. I've ordered some standard 1.5"/38mm flat lamp-wick for it, after taking advice, which should be a very good fit. Will probably need to fill it using a syringe, mini-funnel or similar device - fortunately I already have both, left over from previous projects.

Not sure yet whether it will be good for heating leather tools: 1.5"/38mm might be too much heat or too long of a flame and/or it might burn too much meths too fast- TBD. However, the built-in tool rest is perfect for supporting my cheap but good Chinese/Asian screw crease, supporting the end just above the wick holder. However, not quite so good with the deeper curve of my heavier, Joseph Dixon crease, which almost touches the wick holder - but it should work well enough with with both.

I was going to buy some round wick as well, so that I could try making my own preserve/salsa jar lamp but the wick seller advised against it:

"wick... needs to be a tight fit to prevent Flame creep, for the same reason the wick needs to be long enough to fill the reservoir, you don't need Meths fumes in there. I would not advise making a spirit burner out of Glass, Meths burns very hot and the vapour is invisible if it builds up inside the jar !!!, this is why the Tank on your burner is small and Shallow."

I opted to heed his advice.

awharness, you just reminded me, I have a propane gas ring on the side of my propane gas BBQ which I could use. Possibly overkill/wasteful fuel but conveniently situated &still probably cheaper than meths :D.

BTW If I were to buy a new spirit burner now, I think I would go for the £7 stainless steel dental burner with 2 screw caps: metal to avoid breakage risk (& possibly subsequent fuel fire), two holes to allow venting/refilling without need to mess about with the wick, & caps to allow adjustment/sealing/extinguishing of the flame.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Tannin

[Tannin]

BTW I also came across a small, vintage, German spirit burner on ebay - normally used for keeping food warm I think but listed as "possibly" medical. All metal, it had a long tube with holes in for the wick & included a lever-operated snuffer cylinder that slide up the wick tube; it also included a separate metal cap. Will try to find an image, interesting design.

Also, just came across this rather novel tiny/minimalist copper spirit lamp with filler syringe on ebay:

[TinkerTailor]

I was going to buy some round wick as well, so that I could try making my own preserve/salsa jar lamp but the wick seller advised against it:

I opted to heed his advice.

I used a really small grommet and had a hell of a time getting the wick it started. I used a small low jar for stability and keep it full to prevent air space. I chose mason jars cause they are designed for heat and pressure. (at least as much as can be created by 4-5 cubic inches of alcohol vapour).

I do alot of stuff that may be dangerous. As a kid, i dont even want to think about it.... My little jar of fire is the least of my worries....DON'T TELL, BUT YESTERDAY I RAN WITH SCISSORS......SHHHHHH.

[Art]

Or you could just go "old school" like many bespoke shoemakers; put a candle on a board and bang some nails in to hold the tool. Keep the wick trimmed so you don't get too much soot.

Art

[fivewayswelshcobs]

I use a small gas stove one of the newer type like a single gas hob as it is possible to put the crease down during heating, I started using a blow torch but realized it was like using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut. I also tried a small burner but didn`t find it very effective.

[Tannin]

TinkerTailor :D Yes, you are the Evel Knievel of leathercraft! Having asked the seller's advice (he specializes in wicks & paraffin lamps), I thought it would be disrespectful to ignore it - and tempting fate! My record with glass jars in my garage workshop is bad. Actually I wouldn't dare use a spirit lamp in there - too many petrol/gas cans & the like nearby. However, one of the above links shows a glass-free homemade spirit burner, which uses a metal shoe polish tin - might be worth a try.