Recently I saw this little guy and thought "oooh, how fun! I need one of those!" I know I haven't yet used it to it's full extent - so this may not be a great review in those terms... but at least will introduce it to you and let you know that it exists!
I haven't used it as a mini-torch, only as the flameless heat blower. :) It is like a super tiny, super hot hair dryer! Beware - it IS hot. And because it is so tiny, you do have to take a little care in to totally melting out a section of wax. Once you get the hang of it though - it is really amazing.
I use it to lightly melt out finger prints or little imperfections that aren't meant to be there.
Now, you may be thinking, "Well, I use my alcohol lamp for the same thing. How is this any different?"
It isn't A LOT different, but it is. Only having the heat w/o the flame makes for a much more subtle and controlled way of warming up a wax or smoothing out an area.
In the winter when the wax is harder to work with, I use it just a little to get the wax all warmed up before rolling it out or working with it. A lot of my wax work is with soft waxes, so it is great for getting it to a warmer temperature where it is more malleable.
It is always a great way to melt a little wax on to something like... the back of a leaf - won't catch the leaf on fire like the lamp!
A couple of downsides (and maybe someone that has one can tell me?) Refilling the butane is a PAIN! I'm not sure if I'm doing it wrong, but I have yet to figure out a better way to do it. The connection just isn't that great, so I have to wear gloves or the super cold butane sprays out on my hand. And it is a little difficult to tell how full it is.
Overall, I definitely think the pros outweigh the cons and I would recommend it to anyone who does wax work
You can find it here on the Rio site.
5 comments:
I JUST used this tool at the Kate Wold wax carving workshop! It is AWESOME! There is a less expensive one the market by bernzomatic: http://www.amazon.com/Bernzomatic-19132-Micro-Pencil-Torch/dp/B00176IQFW
oh cool! Did you get a chance to refill it?
I am totally agree with Danielle Miller-Gillliam.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for the tip.
I have the Iso-Tip Micro-Therm Flameless Heat Gun which is great for smoothing waxes in a similar way. Refilling the lighter with butane is sometimes a bit of a mess, so I do it outside.
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