Short answer: Both the Herbert Arnold Big Arni and the Bethlehem Bravo are two-stage, surface-mix bench burners priced close together in the middle of the market, and both handle soft glass and boro at a small-to-medium scale. The practical split is supply chain and fuel flexibility: the Bravo is a US-made torch with broad support and runs on propane, natural gas, butane, or hydrogen, while the Big Arni is a precision German import our catalog lists as propane plus oxygen, built by a quartz-glass specialist but harder to source and service in North America. If you value multi-fuel flexibility and easy support, the Bravo is the safer buy. If you want the German engineering and can accept the import logistics, the Big Arni is a serious production tool.
If you are still deciding between torch designs in general, start with surface mix vs premix torches; this article zooms in on one head-to-head.
The two torches side by side
Both are surface-mix designs, which keeps fuel and oxygen separate until at or just past the face. That separation is what gives surface mix its backfire and backflash safety margin versus premix, and it is the same principle behind nearly every bench burner in our catalog.
| Spec | Herbert Arnold Big Arni | Bethlehem Bravo |
|---|---|---|
| Mix type | Surface mix | Surface mix |
| Mount | Bench | Bench |
| Jets | 15 | 18 (6-jet center + 12-jet outer) |
| Stages | 2 (2-zone flame adjustment) | 2 |
| Fuels (per catalog) | Propane | Propane, natural gas, butane, hydrogen |
| Oxygen (estimate) | Not published | ~30 LPM at full flame (tanked, ceiling estimate) |
| Price (reference) | ~$1,095 | ~$1,171 |
| Typical work | Beads, small handicrafts, glass to ~40mm | Small-to-medium soft glass and boro |
Editor’s note: figures come from the manufacturers’ own pages and manuals where we have them, and are labelled as estimates where they are ours. Prices mix list and reference captures and move over time. Oxygen numbers are estimates, not minimums (see the fuel section). Confirm the current spec with the maker before you buy.
Herbert Arnold Big Arni: what it is and who makes it
The Big Arni is a 15-jet surface-mix bench burner from Herbert Arnold, the Weilburg, Germany firm founded on 1 October 1950 and run in its second generation by Wolfram Arnold since 1984. Arnold is not a lampwork-only shop: the company is among the world’s leading makers of burners, tools, machines, and turnkey systems for glass and quartz-glass processing, fibre optics, semiconductor, and lamp industries, with more than 170 employees and worldwide exports. Its special-burner line uses gas-leading parts of electro-polished stainless steel with jets and heads made of quartz glass, a design language developed for the highest purity in the quartz-glass and fibre industries.
For the flameworker, the Big Arni is aimed at production of beads and small handicrafts and is designed for glass working up to about 40mm diameter. Herbert Arnold publishes concrete figures for it: a 28mm head diameter, an 11.7mm jet-ring diameter, a pre-pressure of roughly 50 mbar on gas and 0.5 to 1.0 bar on oxygen, and a two-zone flame adjustment that the company says produces a solid, homogeneous flame. Arnold frames the surface-mix system as giving safety against backfire, with the separate gas execution guarding against backflash. That is the manufacturer’s own framing of a real design property, not a substitute for the flashback protection your setup calls for.
Our catalog lists the Big Arni as propane plus oxygen. We do not list natural-gas support for it, so do not assume it; if you run house gas, confirm compatibility with Herbert Arnold before buying rather than inferring it from another torch. The catalog price is a reference figure of about $1,095, which places it in the mid band.
Bethlehem Bravo: what it is and who makes it
The Bethlehem Bravo is a two-stage surface-mix bench burner from Bethlehem Burners, a division of Bethlehem Apparatus Company in the US that states it has manufactured surface-mix glassworking torches since 1950. The Bravo is the improved successor to the popular Barracuda, which it replaced.
Its face carries 18 jets on a 1-inch face: a 6-jet center fire inside a 12-jet outer fire. Bethlehem describes the output as whisper-soft surface-mix work with a razor-sharp center for fine detail, and the torch ships in stainless-steel construction with a swivel base and scroll pedestal. A notable convenience is that the Bravo comes standard with four independent valves controlling both the center and outer fires, so you get real flame control without adding a separate quad-manifold.
On price, our catalog records about $1,171 as a manufacturer-page list figure, which lands the Bravo in the high band by our current thresholds even though it sits only modestly above the Big Arni. If you want a more focused center flame, Bethlehem also offers the Bravo Sharp Flame variant (about $1,284) with a sharper center fire on the same 18-jet layout.
Fuel and oxygen supply
This is where the two torches diverge most.
The Bravo is genuinely multi-fuel. Bethlehem’s operating instructions list natural gas, hydrogen, propane, and butane. It can run on household gas at about 1/4 psi and on oxygen concentrators at 7 psi, and hydrogen is offered for high-temperature quartz work. That flexibility matters if your shop’s gas supply is fixed, or if you expect to change fuels later without buying a different torch. Bethlehem lists 6 LPM gas and 30 LPM tanked oxygen at full flame. Treat that 30 LPM as a full-flame ceiling, an estimate, not a minimum: it is what the torch can consume wide open on tanked oxygen, not a floor you must supply to light it.
The Big Arni, per our catalog, is a propane plus oxygen torch, with Herbert Arnold’s published pre-pressures of roughly 50 mbar gas and 0.5 to 1.0 bar oxygen. We do not have a published oxygen LPM figure for it, so we do not print one; where a maker does not publish a number, inventing one would be worse than leaving it blank. If oxygen throughput is a hard constraint for your setup, ask Herbert Arnold directly.
Whichever you choose, the flashback protection is design-specific and supply-specific. Surface-mix torches and premix torches are not told to use the same devices, and neither maker’s general safety note replaces the manufacturer manual for your exact torch and gas supply. See flashback arrestors explained for how placement actually works, and always let the manufacturer manual take precedence over any general rule.
Availability, service, and support
The honest differentiator here is not the flame; it is the supply chain.
The Bravo is US-made by a long-running domestic manufacturer, so parts, service, documentation, and replacement are straightforward for a North American buyer. That reduces the real cost of ownership in ways a spec sheet does not show: a torch you can get serviced quickly is worth more than one you cannot.
The Big Arni is a German import from a company whose center of gravity is industrial and scientific glass, not the US hobby and studio market. It is a well-engineered production tool, but US distribution is thin, and sourcing, lead times, shipping, and future service are real considerations. None of that is a knock on the torch or on Herbert Arnold; it is simply a factor to weigh if you are buying in North America and want support close to home. If you are in Europe, or if you already work with Arnold equipment, that calculus flips in the Big Arni’s favor.
Which one fits your bench
- You want fuel flexibility or run household gas: the Bravo. Propane, natural gas, butane, and hydrogen support, plus documented household-gas and concentrator operation, make it the more adaptable choice, especially if your gas supply is fixed or may change.
- You want easy US support and fast service: the Bravo, on availability alone.
- You value German engineering and can accept import logistics: the Big Arni. It is a genuine production burner from a quartz-glass specialist, with a 2-zone flame and a documented ~40mm work capacity, and it is priced slightly below the Bravo.
- You mostly make beads and small work: either torch does this well. The Big Arni is explicitly aimed at beads and small handicrafts; the Bravo’s razor-sharp center suits fine detail.
- You work small-to-medium boro: both handle it at this scale. For larger boro and pipe work, step up to a bigger burner and see the best torch for borosilicate.
- You want a sharper center flame: consider the Bravo Sharp Flame variant.
Both are honest mid-market surface-mix bench torches from makers who have been building glass burners for decades. For most North American buyers, the Bravo’s fuel range and domestic support tip the decision. The Big Arni earns its place for buyers who specifically want the German build and can handle the import path.
Related guides
- Surface mix vs premix torches
- Best torch for borosilicate
- Soft glass vs boro vs quartz
- Flashback arrestors explained
- Best beginner glass torch
Sources
- Herbert Arnold, burners overview: https://www.h-arnold.com/burners
- Herbert Arnold, company history: https://www.h-arnold.com/company
- Herbert Arnold, glass processing: https://www.h-arnold.com/glass
- Arnold Gruppe (Herbert Arnold GmbH & Co. KG) company profile: https://www.glassglobal.com/extended-profile/arnold_gruppe_herbert_arnold_gmbh_cokg-32344.html
- Bethlehem Burners, Bravo torch page: https://www.bethlehemburners.com/torches/bravo/
- Bethlehem Burners, Bravo operating instructions: https://www.bethlehemburners.com/resources/operating-instructions/bravo-operating-instructions/
- Bethlehem Burners: https://www.bethlehemburners.com/