and she used to have such harmless hobbies

It all started with Lisa Claxton's 20-minute ring class, my first exposure to torching and hammering. We used a little microtorch, the little black one which is really meant for crême brulée. It was fine, but eventually I upgraded to the slightly bigger silver torch.

This one, too, is a butane torch. Nice, handy, easily controlled. Very suitable for soldering.

Last weekend, though, in Mary Hettmansperger's class we used a big torch, a propane torch. Bigger flame, hotter, faster. Of course, I had to have one. Today, I tried it for the first time at home. It works; it works very well. I didn't do much, gotta get used to it first.
Have to mention here that the blinds are down in the picture only for photography purposes, otherwise they are up as high as possible for safety reasons.
And to think that I used to have such lady-like hobbies: crocheting, knitting, sewing, quilting, embroidery, beadwork. All that changed when I moved to California. Now I go after metal with hammers and torches. And I like it.