Farm Metal Dump Madness

Just got back from the welding store and they recommended acetylene for the type of cutting I would be doing. The guy didn't even mention propane, and I don't know if they service it. After having talked to a few welders I am leaning toward the acetylene becuase everyone has recommended it over and over. I see where you're coming from with the propane costs, but the fact that none of my friends have ever used it is making me lean toward acetylene. I can get a complete torch kit with nozzle, hose, cart, and two tanks, for $730. There were a couple people on Craigslist selling complete kits for $250, but the guy at the welding store said they won't fill 80cu ft tanks unless they are registered with a bill of sale. It is actually illegal for them to fill anything that big unless they sold it to me. I don't understand exactly how this works, but I guess it makes sense since the tanks are filled with highly combustible, explosive material.

2 more loads and you will have paid for the torch. Sounds like you are going to need one to do the job.

Propane would be the cheaper way to go, I've used it before in a shop setting but I don't think it would be good as a portable unit unless you could mount it permanently in the bed of a truck and have enough hose to reach your material.
That price seems very high to me but I must say I haven't prices a new setup in a long time. The way I got mine is at auction, I bought the regulators hose and handles and tips for $150 then leased the tanks $110 for 10 yr lease.

Still working on the farm dump job site. I took one load of 4,500lbs iron/steel this morning on the truck and trailer. That was a good one, but steel went down a bit over the weekend and I used a bit of O2 and Acetylene getting the machines apart. I have one ton on my dually right now and need to go get the torch tanks refilled and drop this load at the yard in the morning. Tomorrow should be warmer. Still have 75% of the metal remaining to cut up and get rid of. Found an electrical transformer box today and have that in the back of the truck. It's about 45lbs, and it appears to be full of wire. I hope that I can get some copper out of it. I also found a milk tank filling machine (very neat gadget), but a mouse was living in it and I couldn't bring myself to recycle it. It was only about 90lbs of steel, so I figured I could leave it as a house for the rodents.

My tractor's lift arm is having a hard time with this heavy stuff. I bent it a bit today, and I also lifted the front of the tractor at least a dozen times trying to move these combines and seed spreaders. Cutting everything is such an important part of the process, but it takes forever because most of this stuff is connected by super duty steel plates and rods. The sheer volume of these old machines is mind bending. I have never seen anything of this type of construction before. The Cats and Fuchs of the past 20 years don't hold a candle to the Fox brand equipment out here. This stuff is so heavy duty... it's unreal. One machine had six 1.25" steel rods connecting it, plus a hollow 9" steel axel tube made of 1/2" steel, and 1/2" steel plating over the front. It's virtually a military tank; you could literally shoot it with a common machinegun and unless you hit a chain or tire it would just keep going forever.