Hi,
I’m always adapting tools for one purpose to another. I actually started my jewelry business with my carpentry tools! Should’ve seen me out on the patio with a plumbers torch, finishing hammer, scroll saw, whatever to get it done. I’m doing more wood working now and occationally stumble upon a jewlers tool to use with wood that I wouldn’t think about. Machinist tools go both ways as well. Dial indicators, squares, scribes, inside mics., outside mics., calipers. The precision instruments make it all a bit easier. I Found some Starrett Inside Telescoping gauges that are perfect for checking a mortise Throw the dial calipers on the tenon and you can cut with machinist precision. I have a few machinist tools about and it can make the wood shop life easier. I wanted to adapt the monster splitter that came with my TS to something smaller and used my bech shears to cut the 1/8″ steel in seconds.
From the jewelry trade I find the saws great for delicate work. Files are good but clog a bit easier. Needle files are the best you can get. German hammers, Swiss tweezers, Italian mandrels all find themselves in the woodwokers half on my shop at one time or another. Not to mention having a torch handy can help with hardware problems. I’ve made some cabinets where I made my own pulls from brass and copper.
Check this out:http://www.riogrande.com/ I’m not sure their entire catalog is on line but they have some great tools as does http://www.ofrei.com/index.html. If you like the best quality tools available you may find some intersting things here.
What have you found?
N
Replies
Greetings!
The tool that proved useful to me was one used in the upholstery industry. It is a hollow needle mounted on a hollow handle which holds upholstery thread. A hand stitching device that someone gave me as a gift many years ago, and just this past year found a good use for it.
I made a curved panel divider screen. The curved pieces of wood provided the frame over which I stretched very sturdy and artful fabric from an upholstery fabric specialty store here in the DC area. In the frame members that were of Jatoba (sometimes called Spanish cherry) I drilled 1/8 inch holes every 3/8 inch along a recessed surface of the legs. I stitched the fabric onboth sides in the same process using the tool. It would have been most difficult to do it with only a carpet layers needle.
I connected the two curved panels with Soss 'invisible' hinges and it was a winner.
Now If I can find time to make one of them for me.
Ted
I have the Rio Grande, Gesswein and other catalogs for metalwork and jewelry. My metal work was on a larger scale. More like architectural jewelry. Our shear only cut .062 so I was cutting all kinds of brass and non-ferrous on the tablesaw. I've cut brass up to 2" thick. It's similar to wood in a way but has it's own quirks. Being able to work metal and wood opens up a lot of options. Having a torch, mig welder, angle grinders and a plasma cutter is a plus for jigs and fixtures. Have you seen Metalsmith magazine and American Craft Magazine? Metalsmith specializes in metal jewelery.
http://www.snagmetalsmith.org/metalsmith/default.asp
Check out http://www.artmetal.com
http://www.artmetal.com/village/links/links.html#Top
Lots of great metalworking links here. I'm interested in casting metal and machining as well. Done bronze casting and know some folks who are setting up an iron cupola.
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/mcguirk/patslinkspage2.html
I carry a set of stainless shish-kebab skewers in one of the buckets in my truck. Don't use them too often, but picture having to move a light fixture, or locate a hole in a ceiling, or what have you, and you need to go thru drywall and who knows how much insulation and find the mark. They're about 20" long, so I can plunge it all the way thru, get above it, and find the mark easy. Good for probing walls around boxes to see which side the stud is on. Anything where you wish your fingers were slivers.
" We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita . . . "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." - J. Robert Oppenheimer
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