Hand annealing. Good idea?

Question

Ok so I want to start blowing glass and don't have a lot of money to fund this. Mostly not much for a kiln. Is hand annealing a good idea? Or can you give me insight on the hand annealing process? And what would be a good\cheap torch to start off with? Maybe hot head torch? Thank you all.

Answer 1

Although glass is not my forte' (I am a metalsmith) I have worked with glass.

Even though you are not wealthy, you can certainly build a wood or coal fired kiln which will be more than suitable.

The main issue with glass is not so much the temperatures, per se, but rather the temperature changes.

If you're going to use a torch, I would suggest an LP (propane) and oxygen type. Oxy/Ace will prove to be too dirty and will get too hot too quickly. LP without oxygen would probably be good enough, but LP is very expensive now. And so to achieve the required amount of heat will require using more LP than if you also added oxygen, of course oxygen is expensive too and the heat may come too quickly.