Minor Burner - Nortel

This torch is perfect for soft glass or small boro. I have worked 19mm heavy wall pretty easily with this torch. For a little more heat and oxy efficiency upgrade to the Mega Minor.

This was my second torch if I count my Hot Head. I love it! It's a great beginners torch and it's very simple to use.

The Minor torch is a workhorse for the price! While there are certainly lots of other choices in torches today, I don’t think there are many with the same value-to-dollar ratio with all the necessary features I require in such an important tool of my trade. I am able to achieve all the necessary types of flame that I use in my work, from small, hot pinpoint flames, to large, wide, bushy flames, and of course everything in between. A rumor that I hear sometimes is that either the Minor is incapable of a small pinpoint flame, or that it is bad for the torch to run a small pinpoint flame. This is not true. I make all sorts of glass art using this torch, from simple beads to blown ornaments. All my work whether large or small is very detailed, so I appreciate being able to adjust my Minor easily to many different flames while working on a single piece. I also like the fact that this torch is NOT an oxygen hog. I can get the variety of proper flame types I describe above using propane and a modest oxygen concentrator that runs at a 5-lpm capacity. Getting oxygen tanks to where I live is almost cost-prohibitive, so I greatly appreciate this feature of the Nortel Minor. Finally, I have had almost no problems with maintenance on these torches. I believe over the last 17 years, I’ve sent my original Minor off to Nortel only once because the center oxygen hole had become worn down over the course of about 5 years. They completely refurbished the torch for free and sent it back to me at their expense. While that Minor was out for maintenance, I bought another. That one has never had any problems, and I have been working on it almost every day for at least 12 years. The Nortel Minor in my experience has delivered the functionality required for me to consider it a very good torch for the professional studio glass artist at a price that is palatable to a beginner, including every angle from flame flexibility to economic oxygen usage.

I love this burner. I used a hot head torch for years then when I stepped up my set up the colors of the glass is so much brighter in my the beads and sculpture.

Great for bead work and any other smaller works. Its not the finest in flame chemistry but it is extremely reliable. I used it for boro pipe making and pendants

A great torch. Totally capable of getting the job done with boro glass. But u may as we'll spend the little extra and get the mega minor. Pretty much the same but better output and it looks cooler lol

The Minor was my first torch and is a straight up workhorse. It has an amazing flame range and more than enough power for anyone wanting to learn some fundamentals of Flameworking. Mine had been through 3 previous owners and took a beating but still performed great. I had to chop the cone off of the front with a hacksaw because it had slumped in front of the burner and its still kept on blasting like band new. I learned how to make implosion pendants and marbles as well as hundreds of shrink one hitters and spoons off 20mm. Another Great thing about Nortel torches is the ability to replace the valves and seals with ease due to being exposed unlike the GTTs. I highly recommend this to any flameworker who is new to the game.

The Nortel Minor torch is my first lampworking torch and I could not be more pleased with it, I mainly work with thicker borosilicate rods and it has no trouble getting those up to temperature. It is quite fuel efficient which is great for those of us who are starting off using tanked propane and oxygen. Overall I would highly reccomend buying this torch if you are interested in learning lampworking.