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

[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

[awharnessshop]

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