I bought a set of those for my 312 trackhoe and three of them snapped off on the second rock I hit. The cheaper ones I had before lasted way longer and actually stayed sharp. Total waste of money if you ask me.

And holding it steady doesn't change the fact that propellant can still spatter out.

That wet brick trick is the kind of thing you'd think would be common sense but somehow nobody tells you until you've already messed up three corners. My first few 90s looked more like rounded edges from all the mortar I had to scrape off and redo. Sounds like you've officially graduated from "the new guy" to "the guy who can handle a corner.

And then if you throw a little borax on right before the weld it really locks that heat in even better.

Not to be that person, but check if your express bus even runs the same hours as the local. Found out the hard way the 63X stops running after 7pm and doesn't run weekends at all. So you're stuck on the local those times. Just saying, don't switch completely until you know the schedule. Also, the express stops are way closer together near the highway, so if your stop isn't one of them the walk might eat up the time you saved. Still, 22 minutes is stupid good.