Flaying makes better scarring, I think, if you're going for branding of some kind. Plus the body can take more before passing out. Could lead to amputations if done mindfully, as we learned from George R.R. Martin. And vegetable peelers are harder to trace, too ubiquitous. Clerks are more likely to remember a woman buying a torch.

You're not going to get the dopamine hit when you brandish a vegetable peeler though, so there's that. He's going to immediately know what the torch is for.

All in all, a good read. Thoroughly enjoyable.