A big Hello from HMBURNER

Greetings to all

I have been a heavy melt burner for the last thirty years and still going strong. My home is in Port Colborne,Ontario,CANADA but I have traveled far and wide on big scrap projects. There isnt much that I have not cut up and am presently cutting up a TBM (tunnel boring machine) out of Niagara Falls Ontario. I started out cutting ships and have progressed from there. I tend to take my digi cam on every jobsite ,so I will post some pics of the more interesting stuff that I cut up

so,hello again to everyone and glad to be here

Welcome from Southeastern BC, Canada!

You must be made of cast iron to have hacked 30 years of burning and still like doing it! I've only used a cutting torch for home farm stuff...trying to cut a straight line and minimize slag to reduce grinding.

I've always kind of felt sorry for the guys at the burning stations at the scrap yards...it seemed such a thankless job and had to be done in all kinds of weather...and you can't move around much so when it is very cold you better be dressed for it!! I tip my hat to you!!

Sounds like you have a few tales to tell, though. Some of that big stuff must be pretty interesting. I hope you will post a few photos.

Welcome to the forum.

Jon.

This is our second "pro burner" that is a member of the forum. the other is PistoneScrapProcessing and I've really enjoyed the tales and pictures of the big stuff his crew took on.

Welcome to the forum, hmburner.

Here's a couple of Pistone's adventures.
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/day-l...chanic688.html

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/day-l...chanic668.html

I was looking at mechanic668 s pics and he is cutting the same mill rolls that we cut. Brutal things to cut. I used to cut them with a thermic lance,but that was to slow. So I bought a #36 tip for our big Harris torch and went to town. These rolls are made of cast iron with and outer coating high in nickel. I thought we were the only yard crazy enough to cut these.
To sawmilleng: no,I am not made of cast iron,and at age 56 starting to feel the pain at the end of the workday. I have never been seriously hurt in all my years,but did get lead poisoning three times cutting ships. We used to take off asbestos insulation with fire axes and it was like a snowstorm in the engine room. No masks,just dive under a boiler and cut to get out of the "snow".......those were the good old days
When I was first trained as a burner in my early twenties,I was told that if I cant cut twenty tons a day,its down the road.Also,all burners get drunk on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Did that till I joined AA in 93. I am still uploading pics to photo bucket and will post some when I figure out how,till then just look up hmburner on photobucket to see what ive done so far
Got to go take my Bichon for a walk,so see you all on the flip side

We small timers have a great amount of respect for anyone that can turn and burn the volumes of material you guys do.
Here was another of Pistones projects, When they started they had a years worth of work just in these big tinker-toys.
Scrapping Locomotives - a set on Flickr

http://s177.photobucket.com/user/hmb...tml?sort=3&o=0

https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/...e3f7&zw&atsh=1

I don't check in to often anymore with work and a kid its hard to keep up with stuff. Yup mechanic I am still cutting trains. Union Pacific woot woot. I have got to be honest with you I spend way to much time on instagram. I have about 700 scrap pics from the last 6 months. Basically since I joined the service I have been posting pics but lately its been videos. It blows away all the other picture sites in my opinion.

I am a subcontractor only though. I can pretty much cut whatever. I see your using a victor torch with a lock in trigger for those nickel plated rolls. Good choice but still slow in my opinion. Two piece tips are a pain in the butt. I use an off brand jet torch. Its my only secret I don't share the name with anyone. Do you work with yards or demo companies mostly? Just wondering what others like me do. I just walk into places with huge torch piles and tell them I will make it disappear for a price per ton. I provide everything. I am also kinda young compared to most in the scrap industry. I am 32 and have been cutting since I was a toddler. JK. I was young though. Burn every **** day. living that #scraplife If you are gonna do something do it BIG. heres a link to the pics. Sorry about the pics of my kids and places I have been in the last six months. By the way Mechanic the bigger locomotives start to roll in next week. There is about sixty of them to do in the next 10 months. Woooot woooot!!!!! I scrap trains!!! I love being able to say I can do stuff that other scrapers can't even imagine. Seasoned Veterans.....

@pistonescrapprocessing - pistonescrapprocessing's Instagram photos | Statigr.am

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Originally Posted by hmburner

http://s177.photobucket.com/user/hmb...tml?sort=3&o=0

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http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r/IMG_0710.jpg
You have to use the direct link from Photobucket to imbed photos. :)

Welcome from Central Texas, you guys that cut up huge stuff like locomotives and stuff make me jealous!

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Originally Posted by hmburner

http://s177.photobucket.com/user/hmb...tml?sort=3&o=0

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http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/smf-s...rum-video.html

Thankyou very much for posting my pic.....I will get it right someday. This is a pic of the back of my 98 Freightliner with a Timberjack mounted on it,I use it a lot to load scrap and scrap cars into 53 ft tin scows. Next to my truck are big beckys side sheilds made out of 8 inch plate. We just shipped to our yard the scrap I cut on the jobsite today and the count was 253 ton shipped in one day on three trucks running back and forth. I have been cutting all day with the big Victor and my back and knees are killing me since holing onto a torch at 265# of oxy is like hanging onto a V2 rocket. I will try and post some pics at a later date,but right now I need to do a little green painkiller. Thanks again for all the help