I’m curious about what type of crossfires people learned (are learning) on? I was taught using a 5 point crossfire, which is also what I use now in my studio and my preferred style. But in between my initial training and opening my own shop, I worked bending wholesale neon for sign shops, and they were mostly equipped with knife fires. That was where my tubebending skills really developed. We did a lot of 13mm and 15mm and were expected to produce a certain amount of tubes in a work week, and the knife fires made it easier to heat the glass hotter and faster. If I had the space in my studio, I think I would add a set of knife fires to use sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I love my 5 point crossfires! They allow me to heat the glass in tight spots, and work bends very close to one another. I also work at a relatively relaxed pace and like to take my time heating the glass (which is probably just me pushing back against all the years of trying to bend as fast as I can) and the 5 point is nice for that too. But having a set of knife fires for when I am doing larger bending (or really just to have a choice of fires) would be cool. I had my training and learned the basics on 5 point fires, but I also think my learning process was slow. I don’t know if it was slower than typical, but I feel like it took me longer to get the skill level I was striving for, and after I started bending regularly using the knife fires my skills went to the next level. Of course, it could have also just been all the repetition! Anyone else learn using a 5 point crossfire?

For me, the first ones were a secondhand set of Hyde 5 points that I purchased when I was 19.  I still have them and they are still my usual go-to for most purposes.  In the decades since then, I have had the opportunity to use and/or own a variety of others-- cannon and knife fires, 3 points, 7 points, etc....as well as a range of vintage torches from the late 1920s through the 50s.  I have found that each excells in some uses and not in others and if your type of work varies you may well need more than one style or size available in your shop.  When I did a lot of 15mm work, I found the cannons to be handy....but being more familiar and comfortable with the 5 points, I find that the 7 points (which I did not have at that time) would have given me the additional btu output while not being as "different" as the cannons were.  These days, most of my work is smaller diameter and smaller in scope and so the trusty old Hyde 5 points are continuing to soldier on for me.

Also, I should mention that if you wish to add a set of knife fires and feel that your shop space is too limited to accommodate them I would say two things:  One, you likely do have the space--even if you must push them into a corner when not actively in use......and two, you can always fit your stands and burners with a quick swappable mount plate and just change them out as the project at hand requires.

Thanks Robert! I appreciate your comments. And it got me thinking...I do have a set of 6-point crossfires which I bought from another neon person a couple of years ago and I have been lazy about trying them out because I thought I needed to change some of the fittings on the 5-point that I am currently using, but realized that I have some silicone tubing that will stretch enough over the larger pipe stem of the 6-point, which makes it very easy to swap them out. I'm going to give the 6-points a test drive later this week when I have some time to switch them. I will report back on what I think about them! :) And, I was also thinking about what you said about space in my shop and the idea to just "push the extra set of crossfires out of the way", which made me decide that I want to put castors on my ribbon burner so I move it around easily, which I would find very helpful! I'm pretty sure I already have a set of castors in my basement that I can use. 

I definitely learned using the BMT7 (knife fires) and I still use them. While in Art school at Alfred, I never touched the crossfire, using only the ribbon burner and hand torch. Bryan Riehl made sure that I learned to use those knife fires when he hired me as an apprentice. It took time, but eventually I could double back 15mm border tubes with them. 

Knife fires are my favorite crossfires to this day- and are what I have on my torches at work. Urbanglass (where I usually teach these days) has a knife fire setup for each student (about 10 of em). I feel like they give the best of both worlds. In terms of "painting the heat onto the glass", you can turn up the gas a little and get a 2 inch chip brush for big heats, and then dial the gas back for fine point detail brush for welds or tight heats.

I like a really hot flame, so I generally just give them as much air as they can take (or I can get out of the blower) and then leave the air setting alone from there. Economizer "puffy flame" from the ribbon burner takes care of my preheats.

I  have used some super precise 5 pointers before. FOCI had a 5 pointer that was nice an hot. I liked using a 7 pointer at Alleson's studio once in Seattle. Those round cannon head crossfires are a little bushy for my welding taste, but gosh the heat area is huge- if I only had those when learning to make the 15mm doublebacks... I wouldn't have learned as much- but I would have gotten it quicker :)

I definitely agree with James about the S21N cannonfire heads...I do have a set, but unless working large diameter tubing, they are too diffuse for most of my purposes, especially when welding--I prefer a more focused heat for that.  The BMT7 knife fires are a great all-around burner, especially for those who are just starting out.  They still provide a relatively focused heat like the crossfires but allow for more vertical play in the positioning of the tubing...and while the btu output is lower, they are still sufficient for most work up to 12 or 15mm unless you are in a hurry.  Sometimes I regret selling the last set of them that I had because some days it would be a better option than my 5pts.  (I also have a set of 7pts, a 3pt, and even a couple of older crossfires with individual shutoffs on each tip so you can have as many or as few as you want.)

No matter which you choose, you can learn to do good work with it, but at the same time, each has their pros and cons for a given purpose, so I generally recommend trying out multiple types until you determine what works best for your purpose and working style.

I learned on knife fires and they're still the only crossfires that I have spent meaningful time on. I have a set of 5 finger fires in the corner of my space that is ready to use but I just haven't put much time on them as there's always something that seems more pressing that playing around with different fires.