Weed Dragon Torch
By Paul Lapczynski
If you’re a pyro at heart, Flame Engineering’s Weed Dragon should get you fired up. Fed by a standard 20-pound propane cylinder, the Weed Dragon blasts out a roaring 100,000 BTUs — with that kind of heat you can kill weeds, melt ice, thaw pipes, sterilize animal pens, or remove paint.
You can drag the propane tank behind you, carry it in a backpack, or lighten the load with the help of a hand cart. Flame Engineering offers twelve different models or kits that include the previously mentioned carrying accessories and different heads and trigger assemblies.
The Weed Dragon starts at about $50 — seeing how much I spent on chemicals for my fence line last year, this might be a better option.
Weed Dragon [Flame Engineering]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Wasn’t there just a post a week or two ago about another one of these?
Thaw pipes? Like inside the house? Hold on, let me get out my phone and dial 9 and 1. Okay, go ahead.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
We have several sets of their Red Dragon roofing torches - can’t imagine wanting to use them on weeds.
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:29 pm
We use them to start piles of logging slash. They work great! They are also handy for reformatting hard drives…permanently.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 pm
When I read this post, somehow my eyes must have blurred and I combined the words “kill weeds” and “melt ice” to “kill mice” and I freaked out about the idea of barbecuing mice with a portable torch.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:36 pm
They don’t really kill weeds. I have one and the weeds I’ve got are immune to both flame and vinegar. Gasoline works but is wrong on so many levels.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:46 am
I’ve had a weed dragon since a few scant weeks after it’s last mention here at TM almost a year ago (http://toolmonger.com/2008/04/09/weed-a-pocalyspe/). I have to say, it works as advertised on my Texan weeds.
First off, this is not a precision instrument. It kills any cellulose-based life form that comes under it’s flame. Great if you’re hitting the cracks in the patio, but hitting the weeds right next to your wife’s prized petunias is going to get you in trouble.
The trouble with this vs. a chemical application is that it only kills the weeds that are alive now. Weeds come back since the flame doesn’t stick around. On the other hand, my kid doesn’t burn himself three weeks later when he’s eating that burnt dirt. I can’t say I’d feel the same if he was eating a handful of weed ‘n’ seed.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Or you can pick up nearly the same thing at Harbor Freight for 16.99