Can I get gas in any other size than the squitty little bottles? They seem a bit overpriced.

Yes you can and should do, as those little bottles are a waste of money.
I rent a large bottle from Engweld in Hull, with refills for that about £40 nowadays.

There will be plenty of discussion on that forum which should help you to find an alternative, with pub gas (as long as it's pure CO2) an option I've used in the past with the smaller welder which I use on bodywork.
Rapid turnover of landlords/tenants at the pub next door has put a stop to the pub gas option recently, but the new fellow seems promising, so I might pop in there this evening...

ken

Our local welding shop has a bottle which you buy for about £180 then pay £40ish for refills (not strictly a refill, they just swap your bottle for a full one), if you only do a little bit of welding now and again it works out cheaper than paying a monthly rental from them. I might have made up all of those prices but I think that's what the guy said.

I just swapped my bottle from boc for one from hobbyweld.co.uk. I think it cost £80 which is then yours to keep. Don't know how much a refill is.

Maybe it was £80 and not £180....

Spat my coffee out and came over all touretty when I saw 180 notes mentioned. 80's reassured me!

Alastair, you know where I am-I have a brand bew regulator and a spare (empty) bottle from Jawel paints (up by Avoncroft/Morrisons) if you want to borrow them.......

That's a very kind offer, Jon. I'll be in touch about them in the next week or so. Thanks!

So, today I finally got back to doing something on this van! Ground and cut out some bad bits, and then set to sorting through box after box of spares and extra bits that came with the vehicle, so that I know just what I have, and where to find them during the months of rebuild to come. All very satisfying.

Buried in amongst the tat and treasure I came across a very interesting looking padded envelope, dated 1989!

What piece d'origine treasure lay within?
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Stripping off a load of rust from the various detachable parts. Got cheesed off with scrubbing and sanding, so I went to my local horsey supplies store, and bought 5 litres of molasses.
Mixing this stuff at 1:8 with water is meant to create a magic rust-stripping mixture.
So I dumped 2 litres of molasses (which tastes great, by the way) into a tub and mixed it up with the required amount of water, cackling like a witch as I stirred.
Next, collected the rusty bits...
... and dropped em in

I've now left the bucket full of rust to fester in the shed for 5 days or so.

Watch this space. In the meantime, here's a tutorial from an Aussie fella.