OMG stop free-handing your torch cuts!

  Once, I was a lowly and frustrated torch luser, just like you.  My torch cuts looked like a very unhealthy goose had left them behind.  Now, my torch cuts are nearly as good as a pro who does it all day long and has arm muscles like an orangutan.

 All I had to do was take a tip from a professional welder on YouTube, like this -->

 Don't mess around measuring the distance of the angle iron guide from the cut line - just eyeball the distance and make sure it's parallel to the cut line, because you can easily angle the torch tip left or right to put it on the line.

 If the angle iron you've got handy doesn't result in just the right torch heigh, try slanting the torch a bit.  Works for me.

 With this, two of the three axes of movement you formerly had to control doing it freehand are now controlled by the guide, and all you need do is focus on drawing the torch smoothly down the line.

 Two important tips I learned about myself from watching YouTube torch cutting tips:

• most people - even pros - use more preheat than they need
• most beginners cut slower than they should

 Addressing those two mistakes and adding the cutting guide means I no longer consider cutting thick steel with a saw when I want the cut to be clean and not require an hour of grinding or machining to finish.  I use SO much LESS gas now, too!

 NOW I understand why metal workers enjoy the speed and convenience of using a torch all the time!

(I'm pushing sixty, I've been bodging metal as a hobby since my teens... I've owned a torch for ten years... sigh, oh well - it's never too late to learn.)

 <-- here is an example cut from 10min ago, ignore the slag still clinging to the bottom.

 I am cutting out 3" x 3" plates from 3/16" cold-rolled; parts for a 15" tall riser base for my shop air compressor, and for the first time in my life since I bought my torch, I am enjoying it.