You must be fun at parties.
No, I did the restore job for display purposes only - as a conversation piece. I've heard too many stories about accidents with these things, and I don't want to risk it. Besides, I'd have to heat up the manifold to fire it and then it'd get all black and sooty again.
Nice! About a month ago I drug home the one that was sitting in my dads tool box since I was a kid. Not sure what I will do with it, aside from hang it on the wall as garage art.
Just like any other tool, or collectible, there are lots of low value examples, and then there are the uncommon to rare ones, and the ones with a good story or history behind them. I've had blowtorches that I ended up giving away sitting next to one I easily sold for $65 at my garage sale, and I have a friend who collects blowtorches like some of the GJers collect tool boxes, wrenches, etc.
