Sounds odd. But would a toaster work to hook up to burner/chop feathers? I'm sure it would heat up a 20-22 gauge stainless wire
An electric soldering gun will work as a power source.
Yes. I'm not na get to fancy or I'll just by one. But soldering iron might be prerry easy and safe if it gets hot enough. I'll try it before I go back to work for few weeks. If it doesn't I'll maybe buy the real thing.
I'm pretty sure someone had a DIY rig powered by a Lionel train transformer (O gauge)