Has anyone used a weed burner?

Having pyromaniac tendencies myself (and weeds between paving slabs!) I looked at the possibility of buying a flame gun but wasn't impressed by most of the reports about them (they all used small gas canisters and didn't seem to produce enough heat to really nuke everything in their path.)

Hopefully yours is better - you're more likely to succeed with the paths, although even then it might take two goes at it.

Can't see there being any effect on the soil - equally I can't see deep-rooted perennial weeds succumbing very easily, as only the top growth will be burned off leaving the roots intact.

Sorry to be a bit negative - they are only my best guesses based on my research, not on actual experience of using one, so hopefully I'm being too pessimistic. 

We have the gas canister weed burner. It burns them, then they come back again.

my neighbour who is a local councillor used one, two fire engines, a row of conifers and a summerhouse later he said he wished he hadn't. Local press had a field day. He only had a few persistent weeds in a patch of gravel to clear but some were quite close to the summer house and so it started. Weed killer might have less environmentally damaging than all the smoke etc.
Please be very careful.
R

I've got (and use) both types. the big parrafin type is very good for clearing beds  etc. what you don't want to do is burn the weeds, when the flame is on them the leaves will collapse & change colour, THAT'S ENOUGH move on to the next. Over the next couple of days the weeds will die, even bindweed al though it nay take 3 goes before it stops putting up new shoots. The small gas wand is good for between rows & the cracks in slabs etc. Remember if anything starts to burn its to much just keep moving and watch for the colour change.
I use mine all the time, the only time i've set fire to anything was when i used it to light a bonfire  

Thanks for all the replies, I knew you'd be able to help.

It's only the small gas canister wand type so I guess i'll just be using it on the weeds between the paving slabs based on what's been said  Never mind at least that will be one problem solved 

Thanks for the warning R, I certainly plan to have a couple of buckets of water on standby as allol2learn suggested 

Less dramatic, but I saw people using a weedburner several times one summer on a plot - the weeds kept coming back after the top growth had been removed.

On their final visit, they were slightly careless and the beautiful lavender bush went up in smoke!