Bruce Lancaster
Member Emeritus
"...how do you use the patches?..." hot patches consisted of the actual patch, protected before use with a bit of wax paper or such, stuck to the bottom of a little tin pan containg a chunk of flammable stuff. Tube was cleaned and prepped, then the tool clamped that whole assembly against the patch's new home. You lit the fire, enjoyed the billowing toxins, and lo the patch was permanently fused to the tube!
There must be more of a story than the modern lack of interest in fixing anything...you can still find most kinds of repair stuff if you hunt. Maybe the fumes were too toxic, maybe the fire stuff was a relative of the also-discontinued military stove fuel (I think that was Hexane??) that is prominently featured as a starting point in all the do-it-yourself explosive making manuals...
There must be more of a story than the modern lack of interest in fixing anything...you can still find most kinds of repair stuff if you hunt. Maybe the fumes were too toxic, maybe the fire stuff was a relative of the also-discontinued military stove fuel (I think that was Hexane??) that is prominently featured as a starting point in all the do-it-yourself explosive making manuals...