Max Sievert blow torch

Raymond

likes to play with old motorbikes
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Well, it was certainly a most unexpected Christmas present. I haven't spoken to her yet, but Mrs' daughter for some reason hit on the notion of giving me a Max Sievert blow torch.

I'm possibly not the easiest person to buy a gift for, so I usually tell family that anything I can eat or drink won't go far wrong. But my guess is that because I spend a lot of time in the garage, plus another workshop for tinkering in, she must have thought that I might like something old and mechanical to, uhm, tinker with? As I opened up the present on Christmas morning, I was certainly intrigued. The brass tank carries a lot of writing - Max Sievert, made in Sweden, beware of imitations, etcetera.

PICT0572.JPG


I don't know anything about it. Clearly, seen better days. But it's all there and looks like it would not take a lot of work to make it run. Obviously, the first thing to do is take it apart so I put some drops of 3-in-one oil on the threads, left it for a few hours and sure enough, it comes apart.

PICT0568.JPG


Seems to be all there, even the leather pump fitting seems to be in good shape. Whole thing could do with a bit of cleaning up. The fine nozzle might be blocked but then again I might even have a Primus stove pricker somewhere.

No idea how old it is. Quick Google search brings up plenty of pictures of Sievert blow torches. Looks like there are loads of models made over a long period of manufacture. Already biased, I like the one I have.

Yup, clean it up, bit of meths to pre-heat the burner, 1/2 pint of paraffin - kerosene for N Americans - and it should go.

And you know, thinking about it, I could just occasionally do with a source of heat in the garage.

Happy Days!
 
Were the common american blow torches gasoline fueled?
Just one of the things I don't know is what fuel it uses. But having watched a few clips of people restoring and testing these old blow torches, it seems that most people, in Europe anyhow, run them on paraffin aka kerosene. But I have heard tell of Americans using petrol aka gasoline? So I'm kinda like, can probably use either but seems a lot safer to me to run on paraffin.

The pre-heated burner tubes also seem to point that way. The pressurised fuel goes through a little matrix of four pipes that hold the burner element which I guess is to turn the liquid paraffin into vapour. Sounds like a good way to lose ones eyebrows to run gasoline through there . . .
 
Yes Sir
I have also been trying to get these to work
I believe I have 5
+ 2 Camping stoves

That company sold me Parts years ago
A quick look and it looks expensive

http://www.fogas.se/fotogenreservdelar/brannare/index.html

I also have camping stoves with the same working principle.
It can be tricky to get them starting. Perhaps i have the wrong type Kerosene
And I believe there are 2 different types burners one for Gasoline and one for Kerosene.
I don't think it is possible to use with the wrong fuel for the type it is.

Rumor has it that the Gasoline type can explode but I don't know for sure.
Camping stoves for gasoline are rare here . Of the same reason I believe.
And boating sailing people don't like having Gasoline in their boats.

I have seen one person trying to use gasoline for starting a fire. Having wet wood.
He poured it on and it evaporated I believe and all of a sudden it ignited with a big ball of fire.
Like a movie scene.
He wont try that again
 
Yes Sir
I have also been trying to get these to work
I believe I have 5
+ 2 Camping stoves

That company sold me Parts years ago
A quick look and it looks expensive

http://www.fogas.se/fotogenreservdelar/brannare/index.html

I also have camping stoves with the same working principle.
It can be tricky to get them starting. Perhaps i have the wrong type Kerosene
And I believe there are 2 different types burners one for Gasoline and one for Kerosene.
I don't think it is possible to use with the wrong fuel for the type it is.

Rumor has it that the Gasoline type can explode but I don't know for sure.
Camping stoves for gasoline are rare here . Of the same reason I believe.
And boating sailing people don't like having Gasoline in their boats.

I have seen one person trying to use gasoline for starting a fire. Having wet wood.
He poured it on and it evaporated I believe and all of a sudden it ignited with a big ball of fire.
Like a movie scene.
He wont try that again
I have a Coleman camp stove from the 1960s. I've always used Coleman fuel. I believe the alternative is "white gas." When I was a child, I understood "white gas" to mean unleaded. Unleaded was not easy to find in the 1960s or 70s. The Coleman fuel does not resemble kerosene. My stove is designed to run on gasoline. BOOM!

1672239992940.png
 
Here is a link to the history of the 3 Sievert brothers and their endeavors.
https://maxsievert.se/history/
Thank you - interesting history.

I have an old Primus stove on a shelf in the garage - also Swedish, also runs on paraffin, also meths pre-heating. Haven't used it for years but today checked and found it still has the pricker.

It was Mother's and I can recall we used to take it on motorcycling trips to make a brew. For them as don't know, that's making a cup of tea. So Mother would carry the Primus stove in it's own little metal box, small bottle of meths, small kettle, small canister of loose-leaf tea, small bottle of milk (for the tea) and a couple of plastic cups. Oh, she must have carried matches too. Eh, we used to have such fun in them days . . .
 
Raymond, I think that is an absolutely brilliant gift! 😃 I love the brass and classic antique tool look of it. I’d polish that up and display it proudly in my garage art wall! 👍🏻 Here’s a great vintage article on them,


http://blowlamp.co.uk/MY WEBS ~ Leaflets etc/C & L Torch Pointers - 1941.pdf
23E7F490-6D9D-4ED2-94C3-70D820448190.jpeg

A Norman Rockwell painting from 1921, showing a man using the first patented blow torch To repair a tea kettle.
04E9953B-3338-4AD5-87D0-E6296D1CF3C1.jpeg
 
Well, it was certainly a most unexpected Christmas present. I haven't spoken to her yet, but Mrs' daughter for some reason hit on the notion of giving me a Max Sievert blow torch.

I'm possibly not the easiest person to buy a gift for, so I usually tell family that anything I can eat or drink won't go far wrong. But my guess is that because I spend a lot of time in the garage, plus another workshop for tinkering in, she must have thought that I might like something old and mechanical to, uhm, tinker with? As I opened up the present on Christmas morning, I was certainly intrigued. The brass tank carries a lot of writing - Max Sievert, made in Sweden, beware of imitations, etcetera.

View attachment 232766


I don't know anything about it. Clearly, seen better days. But it's all there and looks like it would not take a lot of work to make it run. Obviously, the first thing to do is take it apart so I put some drops of 3-in-one oil on the threads, left it for a few hours and sure enough, it comes apart.

View attachment 232767


Seems to be all there, even the leather pump fitting seems to be in good shape. Whole thing could do with a bit of cleaning up. The fine nozzle might be blocked but then again I might even have a Primus stove pricker somewhere.

No idea how old it is. Quick Google search brings up plenty of pictures of Sievert blow torches. Looks like there are loads of models made over a long period of manufacture. Already biased, I like the one I have.

Yup, clean it up, bit of meths to pre-heat the burner, 1/2 pint of paraffin - kerosene for N Americans - and it should go.

And you know, thinking about it, I could just occasionally do with a source of heat in the garage.

Happy Days!
What a wonderful gift. I hope you enjoy it.
 
Were the common american blow torches gasoline fueled?
All that I'm aware of used kerosene...aka white gas.
I had an ol' Coleman camping stove in my youth. White gas (kerosene) was what it was supposed to use. I admit to using gasoline on occasion... and it burns just fine. The problem is that a kerosene leak just makes for a mess. A gasoline leak makes for a potential fire/explosion. :yikes:

I'm older and wiser.... I wouldn't run gas in 'em.
 
Sievert made (and still make) some decent stuff. I have a couple of their propane torches.
There were a lot of petrol fuelled blowtorches in the UK market, not just paraffin.
There were also plenty of people who found out that it wasn't a good idea to get them mixed up.
The wrong fuel in one of them is likely to be safe enough, but the other way isn't.
 
All that I'm aware of used kerosene...aka white gas.
I had an ol' Coleman camping stove in my youth. White gas (kerosene) was what it was supposed to use. I admit to using gasoline on occasion... and it burns just fine. The problem is that a kerosene leak just makes for a mess. A gasoline leak makes for a potential fire/explosion. :yikes:

I'm older and wiser.... I wouldn't run gas in 'em.
That's not consistent with what I found. Kerosene won't work in my stove AFAIK. "WHITE GAS" is not the same as gasoline, but dangerous to put in a kerosene heater.
Coleman fuel on Wikipedia:
Historically called white gas, it is a liquid petroleum fuel (100% light hydrotreated distillate), composed of cyclohexane, nonane, octane, heptane, and pentane.[1] White gas was originally simply additive-free gasoline. This formulation is now rarely found. Coleman fuel, and its white gas copies, contain additives for inhibiting rust, ease of lighting, and fast burning. It is also cleaner than the original white gas.[2]

Interestingly, I used WHITE GAS to prime my model airplane engines in winter before girls brought an end to my hobby.
 
That's not consistent with what I found. Kerosene won't work in my stove AFAIK. "WHITE GAS" is not the same as gasoline, but dangerous to put in a kerosene heater.
Coleman fuel on Wikipedia:
Historically called white gas, it is a liquid petroleum fuel (100% light hydrotreated distillate), composed of cyclohexane, nonane, octane, heptane, and pentane.[1] White gas was originally simply additive-free gasoline. This formulation is now rarely found. Coleman fuel, and its white gas copies, contain additives for inhibiting rust, ease of lighting, and fast burning. It is also cleaner than the original white gas.[2]

Interestingly, I used WHITE GAS to prime my model airplane engines in winter before girls brought an end to my hobby.
Maybe I misremembered from my youth? Coulda swore from youth that we treated white gas and kerosene as interchangeable.
Wouldn't be the first thing I misremembered... :rolleyes:
 
Just one of the things I don't know is what fuel it uses. But having watched a few clips of people restoring and testing these old blow torches, it seems that most people, in Europe anyhow, run them on paraffin aka kerosene. But I have heard tell of Americans using petrol aka gasoline? So I'm kinda like, can probably use either but seems a lot safer to me to run on paraffin.

The pre-heated burner tubes also seem to point that way. The pressurised fuel goes through a little matrix of four pipes that hold the burner element which I guess is to turn the liquid paraffin into vapour. Sounds like a good way to lose ones eyebrows to run gasoline through there . . .
Dad had one very similar to your gifted one Raymond. He always used paraffin and told me it was safer to do so. Fumes are less volatile I guess.
 
Well, I'm a bit clearer on fuel now. Gonna ignore the subtleties of petrol, gas, white gas, unleaded and run 'er on paraffin. Plain old kerosene.

Things like paraffin and methylated spirits were readily available and not outrageously expensive when I were young. An early memory is being sent to the corner shop near our house to buy a gallon of paraffin for the kitchen heater - I were so young I could only just carry a full one gallon can, which I clearly remember cost 2/6d - the equivalent of 12.5p in modern money. Selling an inflammable liquid to a child just wouldn't happen this century . . .

But now? Mrs suggested that it might not be possible to buy methylated spirit these days, at least not without going to a specialist supplier and possibly need a licence to handle the stuff. Fortunately, it's not quite that bad and I have been able to buy a 2 litre bottle on-line - had a good read at the advert and it seems to be actual methylated spirit and not some substitute. Two litres will give me ample, just need about a tablespoonful - enough to fill the trough around the top of the torch, ignite it to pre-heat the fuel tubes.

And I have some paraffin in the garage. My neighbour cleared out a plastic gallon can of paraffin when he was tidying his garage and he let me have it for cleaning. That's worth repeating - he let me have the gallon of paraffin! This neighbour never gives anything away, he never even thows anything away.
 
Well, I'm a bit clearer on fuel now. Gonna ignore the subtleties of petrol, gas, white gas, unleaded and run 'er on paraffin. Plain old kerosene.

Things like paraffin and methylated spirits were readily available and not outrageously expensive when I were young. An early memory is being sent to the corner shop near our house to buy a gallon of paraffin for the kitchen heater - I were so young I could only just carry a full one gallon can, which I clearly remember cost 2/6d - the equivalent of 12.5p in modern money. Selling an inflammable liquid to a child just wouldn't happen this century . . .

But now? Mrs suggested that it might not be possible to buy methylated spirit these days, at least not without going to a specialist supplier and possibly need a licence to handle the stuff. Fortunately, it's not quite that bad and I have been able to buy a 2 litre bottle on-line - had a good read at the advert and it seems to be actual methylated spirit and not some substitute. Two litres will give me ample, just need about a tablespoonful - enough to fill the trough around the top of the torch, ignite it to pre-heat the fuel tubes.

And I have some paraffin in the garage. My neighbour cleared out a plastic gallon can of paraffin when he was tidying his garage and he let me have it for cleaning. That's worth repeating - he let me have the gallon of paraffin! This neighbour never gives anything away, he never even thows anything away.
So...you're neighbor's a Scotsman?
 
Well, it was certainly a most unexpected Christmas present. I haven't spoken to her yet, but Mrs' daughter for some reason hit on the notion of giving me a Max Sievert blow torch.

I'm possibly not the easiest person to buy a gift for, so I usually tell family that anything I can eat or drink won't go far wrong. But my guess is that because I spend a lot of time in the garage, plus another workshop for tinkering in, she must have thought that I might like something old and mechanical to, uhm, tinker with? As I opened up the present on Christmas morning, I was certainly intrigued. The brass tank carries a lot of writing - Max Sievert, made in Sweden, beware of imitations, etcetera.

View attachment 232766


I don't know anything about it. Clearly, seen better days. But it's all there and looks like it would not take a lot of work to make it run. Obviously, the first thing to do is take it apart so I put some drops of 3-in-one oil on the threads, left it for a few hours and sure enough, it comes apart.

View attachment 232767


Seems to be all there, even the leather pump fitting seems to be in good shape. Whole thing could do with a bit of cleaning up. The fine nozzle might be blocked but then again I might even have a Primus stove pricker somewhere.

No idea how old it is. Quick Google search brings up plenty of pictures of Sievert blow torches. Looks like there are loads of models made over a long period of manufacture. Already biased, I like the one I have.

Yup, clean it up, bit of meths to pre-heat the burner, 1/2 pint of paraffin - kerosene for N Americans - and it should go.

And you know, thinking about it, I could just occasionally do with a source of heat in the garage.

Happy Days!

Now that is a pretty cool gift Raymond!

....in sort of a hot way.....
 
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