Austrian Beginner Introduction

[Phönix]

hi everybody,

I am from Austria and iam looking forward to become the best glass pipe blower on earth (just kidding)

I am thinking of it since two years but I didnt have the financial elements but since 3 months i have a well payed job with no risk of getting unemployed and earned 3000€ since beginning with nearly no cash disbursements.

Siriously i am thinking of buying an Arnold Zenit 40mm + auxiliary equip like pressure reducing regulators and so on. I would pay for one 20liter 200 bar oxygen tank 20€ + 90€ rental fee per year

The only thing i do not know is which tools/sizes of tools i need,..therefore i have to read a lot more in this forum. Surely i´ll make my own progression thread when everything is ready...


Hope you don`t criticize me for my bad english..

[Riley]

welcome, from across the pond!

a herbert arnold 40mm is a great choice. i'm not sure how much 20 liters of oxygen is, but it's my understanding that oxygen is pretty pricey, and the 90 euros rental sounds like alot.

use the search feature on top for anything you might be needing answers for and if you can't find it feel free to ask. there is a plethora of information here, and alot of helpful folks.

welcome to the community, and i'm looking forward to seeing your progression thread, austrian styley.

[Phönix]

hi riley

i am still scared if the herbie is not a little bit too difficult to handle for me (a other glassblowers opinion, he also said i should not start with boro - glass)

a 20 liter tank at 200 bar contains 4000 liters of oxygen. the herbie has got maximum consumption of 3,5liter per minute...for my starting work i guess the consumption is like 2liter or so..10-13 hours burning time for me..
I also think it would be better to own my own (?) tank but "linde gas" only offers rental tanks and its the only one company where i can purchase oxygen in my town..
i would like the big 50liters tank but with 80kg they are a little bit to heavy to carry for me.

[Swampy]

Hi from sunny Belize :o)

There is someone else on here from Germany, I can't remember who but hopefully they will see this and you two will be able to share suppliers.

Lauscha soft glass manufacturer isn't too far from you, I think they do courses...

and welcome.

[Phönix]

you mean steak...hes the guy who told me not to start with boro ^^

[Riley]

the herbie is an easy torch to use, essentially there is one knob that controls everything, and another just to sharpen things up. it runs with compressed air as well, to save gas. if you can afford it, it's a great torch. i think most people would like a gtt (glass torch technologies) and a herbert, they both have their strengths and are the best of the best. well i should speak for myself, i've been planning for some time to mount a gtt on the side of a herbie. like a delta on the side of a 65mm herbie.

i think boro is fine to start with. soft glass moves very quickly and is quite difficult to work with aside from small things like beads. that's my experience anyhow. i guess it's also a joy when doing furnace work, you can work the glass longer, so it's an entirely different experience.

i think lauscha glass is even softer than soft glass ? boro stiffens up quickly so it's a pleasure to sculpt with and the optical properties make it ideal for marbles. of course the boro color pallete is quite limited compared to soft glass. there are so many colors boro people, like me, wish they had.

anyhow, go with the herbert, get a little soft glass and boro to play with and see what you like. if it's pipes you want to make then it's boro all the way.

[Phönix]

thank you, i will go with the herbert, but there are so many questions for me, and iam reading a lot in this forum until late night...there so much technical terms where i have no clue what it means and its hard to absorb as much information as i can in a foreign language.

I would like to start a thread where the users can help me how i have to set up my torch room/ which tools are realy aquired/ which tube dimensions and so on but i am afraid of getting answers like "use the search function" or somewhere in this forum might be an answer to your qestion on page xy somewhere in the middle...i mean its hard for me to find definitivly this information what iam looking for..the forum is too big

regards from Austria !

[PyroChixRock]

welcome! your english is fine, don't sweat it.

boro is fine to start with. i work all kinds of glass and i think boro is the easiest.

hope to see some of your pics soon.l

[steak351]

man you can start with boro but soft glass like moretti is much ceaper to get an insight

maybe get a phoenix torch from armin stauber, ist a cpoy of a small herbie, i had one and made slides spoons and pendants with it

ruf mal den armin stauber an von glasspower de


der hat eine arnold kopie eines kleinen arnold brenners im angebot der für den anfang sehr gut geeignet ist

der 40mm aus dem hag forum der ist gebraucht und kostet neu ja nur 400 euro mehr als er haben will außerdem isses nicht der 65mm große den man dann ja haben will, und nicht den 40mm....schau auch mal rüber zu nortel, ich hab den red max z.B. der ist super

best bang for the buck und hat auch ne 400 dicke monsterflamme, auch bei gunnar haag (ebay) gibt es brenner die günstiger als der mercedes herbie ist....

my 2 cents

und ich hab 33 l propan und die 50l sauerstoffflasche nur so falls es interessiert

start little and work your way up

fang klein an und arbeite dich hoch erstmal vielleicht nur mit rods dann mit röhren,..usw

wenn du gleich groß anfängst gehts daneben, wenn du was klein kannst kannst du das dann auch etwas größer

und vergesse bitte die sicherheit nicht das ist sehr sehr wichtig ventilation , abluft, augenschutz usw..

mfg

[Swampy]

Wahrscheinlich gibt es nur zehn Menschen, die diese verstehen können :o)

[Riley]

steak,
do you have a link for the armin stauber "phoenix" ? i was having problems finding it. i am not in the market for a torch but am intrigued to see a small herbie "knock-off" . and chances are someone around here is interested as well.

[steak351]

http://www.glas-stauber.com/html/shop.html

that should be it

[steak351]

http://www.glas-stauber.com/html/shop.html

that should be it

[Riley]

steak,
thanks. i was already there, that site has no pics of any kind, and for whatever reason google can't translate it. if you have a pic of the torch you had that'd be sweet, i really just want ot see it, and don't need specifications nor ordering info. sounds like a sweet little torch from what you've said and i'm guessing with the exchange rate it'd be a little over $300. which would be very cool.

[steak351]

there are pics of the torch ón the site

and ithink there are another 2 mini arnolds from isibeads wich can un on a cocentrator

kind regards

im looking if i have a pic of mine

[hashmasta-kut]

look under werkzeug, i got lucky first try.

[steak351]

yes
werkzeug
then
perlenbrenner

[Phönix]

thank you steak for your advice, but i will take the herbie, i have enough money and i am absolutely determined to do this, because i hope that one day i am good enough to make enough money for a good life just with making costum-pipes...moreover i think i have good chances because here in austria the only one percolated pipes you can get are weed star pipes....
And i hope Roor will never start their percolater production...

[steak351]

the herbie is nice ill get mine til the weekend i think

then i decide if ill sell my other two torches

making enough money only with pipes is very hard

[The Madhatter]

And i hope Roor will never start their percolater production...

hahaha! I don't think they'll ever get that big....