u/Prozart

I recently ordered the racing green T2 (basically the only color in stock) and have since seen the silver on Mad Heaters' website. It looks great but it's out of stock and a bit expensive so I've been trying to strip my green heat shield without a lot of success. I tried mineral spirits and some other kind of stripper that's a gel and neither did anything. I've removed most of the green sanding with 120 grit, but it's been slow going and I'm having a hard time getting in the crevices.

Has anyone stripped the heat shield or had experience stripping aluminum in general? I've seen in certain places online to use drano or oven cleaner, but these both use lye, which reacts with aluminum, so I'm nervous to try that.

I have a buffing wheel I need to get set up in the garage and I'm planning on using that for polishing, but would that be able to take off the remnants of the paint or do I need to get it completely silver before buffing?

To preface, I have searched and looked at the wiki but I haven't been able to find what I'm looking for thus far.

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I recently got a T2 and picked up a Ronxs torch based on recommendations here. It's fine and I will likely use it at home most of the time, but I'm putting together a travel kit and I'd like something a bit more premium I can count on to last a very long time.

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As some background, I am a tobacco pipe smoker so I have a lot of nice soft flame lighters, my favorite being the IM Corona Old Boy. I'm essentially looking for something similar but with a torch flame. I've seen a lot of nice cigar torch lighters, but I'm not sure how well they'd work with the T2. Just want to get some recommendations from this community before I drop a lot of money on a lighter.

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Ideally it would be something built to last and relatively compact, although it doesn't have to be pocketable. I'd also like for it to have some way to see the level of butane in it. I also assume, based on what I've read about the T2, that it should have a double or triple flame.

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If I'm overthinking this and should just get a well rated cigar lighter let me know. 🤣