Short answer: Both are single-stage surface-mix hand torches aimed at borosilicate and general work, so the real decision is configurability versus a known quantity. The Carlisle C-705 Hand Torch is a build-to-order, CC-style hand torch: its head angle adjusts from 1 to 90 degrees, you choose all surface mix or a pre-mixed center fire when you order it, and it runs an unusually wide range of fuels. The Nortel Red Max Handtorch is a fixed, stainless-steel hand torch that puts the Red Max bench burner’s 45-port flame pattern in your hand, with a catalog reference price of $445. Choose the C-705 if you want to specify the torch to your workflow; choose the Red Max Handtorch if you want a proven flame you can buy off a published page.
If you are still weighing hand torches against bench setups in general, start with bench vs hand torch; this article zooms in on these two models specifically.
The Carlisle C-705 Hand Torch: configurable CC-style head
The C-705 is a hand torch built to order rather than sold as a single fixed configuration. Carlisle lists it as a Surface mix, Hand torch, single-stage in our catalog, with a head angle adjustable from 1 to 90 degrees. That adjustable head is the headline feature: you set the working angle of the flame to suit how you hold the piece rather than accepting a fixed geometry.
Two things set it apart from most hand torches. First, the mix is a choice you make at order time: Carlisle can build the C-705 all surface mix, or with a pre-mixed center fire surrounded by a surface-mix outer flame. Second, the build itself is configurable. The torch is normally made from brass with a stainless-steel tube matrix, and Carlisle offers an option that keeps the handle brass while building the entire head from stainless steel, adds an ergonomic wooden handle on the feed tube, and can mount the valves at the base of the torch instead of routing them to a remote metering system such as a valve manifold. In practice that means the same model can be specified as a simpler torch or a more elaborate one.
The C-705 and its sibling the C-702 also use a push button that controls a set of solenoid valves for the outer fire. One push turns the outer fire off or on without touching any valve, so you can drop to the center fire for detail and bring the outer flame back for bulk heat without re-adjusting your settings. That push button is a running control; it is separate from the surface-versus-premix choice, which is fixed when the torch is built.
The Nortel Red Max Handtorch: a fixed 45-port pattern
The Red Max Handtorch takes a known quantity and puts it in hand-torch form. It is a stainless-steel Hand torch, Surface mix, single-stage, carrying the same 45-port flame pattern as the Red Max bench burner: a center ring of 16 ports surrounded by a ring of 27 ports. Nortel describes it as a large, concentrated flame well suited to borosilicate work, with a flame width that can reach up to 1.25 inches and a wooden grip.
Editor’s note: Nortel labels the head a 45-port burner, but the two described rings, 16 plus 27, total 43. We report Nortel’s own 45-port label and note the arithmetic discrepancy rather than inventing a center port to reconcile it. Confirm the current spec with Nortel before you buy.
Where the C-705 is specified to order, the Red Max Handtorch is a settled design: one flame pattern, one build, sold off a published product page. There is no head-angle adjustment and no build menu. What you gain in exchange is predictability. Its flame is a documented quantity, and it shares its port geometry with the bench Red Max, so studios that already know the bench torch know roughly what this hand torch will do.
Flame pattern and mix: surface mix, plus the C-705 pre-mix option
Both torches are surface mix in the catalog, and in the C-705’s case that describes its all-surface configuration. In a surface-mix torch, the fuel and oxygen stay separate until the gases exit the torch head; a premix torch blends them internally before they reach the surface. As a community and educational reference (ILPI’s burner tutorial and Lampwork Etc. discussion) puts it, surface-mix flames tend to be broader, softer, and quieter with less velocity, while premixed flames run hotter and more concentrated with higher velocity, which many artists favor for borosilicate detail work. Treat that as community knowledge about flame behavior in general, not a measured claim about either specific torch.
The one structural difference in mix is the C-705’s optional pre-mixed center fire. Ordered that way, the C-705 pairs a premixed center with a surface-mix outer flame, which is a different flame character from a torch that is surface mix throughout. The Red Max Handtorch does not offer that option; it is surface mix, full stop. If a premixed center fire matters to your detail work, only the C-705 can be built to provide one, and only at order time.
| Carlisle C-705 Hand Torch | Nortel Red Max Handtorch | |
|---|---|---|
| Mount | Hand torch | Hand torch |
| Mix | Surface mix (or pre-mix center fire, built to order) | Surface mix |
| Stages | 1 | 1 |
| Ports / jets | Not published | 45-port pattern (16 plus 27; see note) |
| Head angle | Adjustable 1 to 90 degrees | Fixed |
| Price | Not published | $445 (catalog reference) |
| Oxygen | Not published | Not published |
Configurability versus a known quantity
This is the core of the decision. The C-705 is the more configurable torch by a wide margin. You specify the mix at order time, you can specify the build (brass with a stainless tube matrix, or the all-stainless head with wooden feed-tube handle and base-mounted valves), and you set the head angle anywhere from 1 to 90 degrees in use. If your workflow has a specific shape, or you want a hand torch that matches an existing Carlisle setup, that flexibility is the point.
The Red Max Handtorch is the opposite proposition, and that is a feature, not a shortcoming. It is a single, settled design with a documented flame pattern and a published reference price. There is nothing to configure and nothing to decide at order time beyond fuel. For a buyer who wants a proven boro hand torch without a build sheet, the settled design removes questions rather than adding them.
Neither approach is better in the abstract. A configurable torch rewards a buyer who knows exactly what they want and costs a buyer who does not want to make those choices; a fixed torch does the reverse.
Fuels, oxygen, and what the makers publish
The two differ notably on fuel breadth. The C-705 accepts a wide variety of fuel gases, and our catalog lists propane, natural gas, and hydrogen with oxygen. The Red Max Handtorch runs propane and oxygen or natural gas and oxygen; our catalog fuel list is propane and natural gas. If hydrogen is part of your plan, the C-705 is the torch that documents it here.
On the numbers each maker publishes, be precise about what we actually have:
- Carlisle C-705 Hand Torch: Carlisle does not publish a price for the C-705 in our catalog, which is consistent with a build-to-order torch whose cost depends on the configuration you specify. Carlisle also does not publish an oxygen figure for it. We show neither, rather than carry over a dealer or street price.
- Nortel Red Max Handtorch: the $445 in our catalog is a reference price, not a confirmed Nortel list price, so treat it as a ballpark. Nortel does not publish an oxygen figure for this torch either.
Because neither maker publishes an oxygen number for these models, oxygen is best treated as an estimate you size to the flame, not a spec you can read off a page. On pressures, follow the manufacturer’s manual for whichever torch you buy; we do not invent PSI, temperature, or flow figures, and the makers’ own documentation takes precedence over any general rule of thumb. For the wider setup, see how to choose a glass torch.
Which to choose
Choose the Carlisle C-705 Hand Torch if configurability is the point. It is the torch to specify when you want an adjustable head (1 to 90 degrees), a mix built to your preference (all surface mix or a pre-mixed center fire), a choice of build materials and valve placement, and the broadest fuel range of the two, including hydrogen. The trade is that you are ordering a torch to a spec and it does not come with a published price; you confirm the configuration and cost with Carlisle.
Choose the Nortel Red Max Handtorch if you want a proven, settled boro hand torch you can buy off a published page. Its 45-port flame pattern (16 plus 27, per Nortel’s label) is shared with the bench Red Max, its large concentrated flame reaches up to 1.25 inches wide, and it carries a catalog reference price of $445. The trade is that there is nothing to configure: one flame pattern, one build, surface mix only.
Both are respected surface-mix hand torches for borosilicate and general work. The honest split is not which flame is better but whether you want to specify a torch or buy a known one. For more on how surface and premix flames differ, see surface mix vs premix torches; for other Nortel hand-torch options, see Nortel Red Max Handtorch vs Twin Fuel Handtorch; and for scientific-leaning hand torches generally, see the best scientific glassblowing hand torch.
Related guides
- Surface mix vs premix torches
- Bench vs hand torch
- Best scientific glassblowing hand torch
- Nortel Red Max Handtorch vs Twin Fuel Handtorch
- How to choose a glass torch
Sources
- Carlisle Machine Works, C-702 and C-705 Hand Torches: http://carlislemachine.com/as_handtorches/702_705ht.php
- Nortel Manufacturing, Red Max Handtorch: https://www.nortelglass.com/red-max-handtorch/
- Nortel Manufacturing, Red Max: https://www.nortelglass.com/red-max/
- ILPI, “Burners and torches” (community/educational reference): https://www.ilpi.com/glassblowing/tutorial_burners.html
- Lampwork Etc., “Surface mix or pre-mix” discussion (community knowledge): http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-66482.html