Ed, until I read your post I thought I was the only one she treated this way.
Other than trying to contact her, I never tried to do anything about it out of respect for Gene, who was a great friend.
During my knifemaking years, I bought or made several belt grinders, including the top names. I got rid of all of them and kept the SW. So I've probably made hundreds of knives and folders using only the SW. I still have it and use it regularly.
I have an air/acetylene torch. It is designed to suck in air automatically and mix with acetylene. No oxygen bottle. It just hooks up with the small acetylene bottle. I fabricate silver jewelry with this. Melting point of silver is around 1800 IIRC. Silver solder melts at 1400 degrees F.