Thought the old heads were full of it about burning wire, then I watched a 2 inch jet eat through 40 feet of rust in one shift

Phoenix Baker · 2026-09-17T18:30:03.969776+00:00

I always figured the guys preaching about keeping your heat turned way up on the cutting torch were just showing off, because I learned on a cool flame and got clean enough cuts on thin plate for the small dock jobs around Anacortes. Last month we had to pull some pilings with heavy scale and I fought that torch for two hours making nothing but slag and ugly gouges. My tender finally grabbed the tip, cracked the oxygen another turn, and that same pass dropped through like butter while I just stood there holding the handle. I still run it cooler on anything under a quarter inch, but I was flat wrong that low heat was always the safe play. Curious what you all do on really thick, dirty steel, do you just commit to the hot flame and deal with the washout?

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Thought the old heads were full of it about burning wire, then I watched a 2 inch jet eat through 40 feet of rust in one shift | Commercial Divers - Babble Community