 ArtMetalsocial networking for the metal arts |
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Unsung heroes of the toolbox
Will Jones -
Monday, November 16, 2009 - 2:35pm
Thought it might be fun to start a thread about favourite tools. Not big, expensive, high tech tools - on the contrary - I'm talking about the stuff you've picked up, made, or modified over the years and wouldn't want to have to do without....and yet rarely see in anyone else's workshop.....or it could be a tool that's in common use that you've found a completely new application for... I'll kick off with a couple of my favourites.... First, the needle descaler gun. Designed as a poor man's shot blaster, it does a fine job knocking the scale off arc welds, removing paint or millscale. But I use mine most often to blend in those smooth bits where I've welded then linished back while modifying or repairing old ironwork. Puts just enough texture back to make the repair pretty much invisible. You can adjust the power,and sharpen or blunt the needles to taste! Still come across folks with decades of metalwork experience who've never seen one. Secondly The double sided deburring tool. Ironically enough I've never got around to buying one of the normal wiggly ended deburrers that are particularly good for deburring around holes, but I'd hate to have to do sheet steel work without one of these. Cost me about £6.00, probably saved me a pint of blood and a heap of sticking plasters. And yet I almost never see them or sale, or in use anywhere else! What are you guys hiding away that I should know about ?  I buy old butcher's steels
bigfootnampa -
Monday, November 16, 2009 - 5:26pm
I buy old butcher's steels from antique malls and flea markets and then retooth them with a coarse diamond grinding wheel surfacer. I use them to remove the burr and burnish the edges on all my cutting tools that need to be very sharp... knives, plane blades, wood chisels, axes, etcetera. I find that I get better edges than I could from my buffing wheel and faster too. Also I can keep one wherever I am working so that they are usually handy. I do most of the resharpening with diamond hones but to get the fine sharpness I need to follow with the steel.  I've got several tools that
Rich Waugh -
Monday, November 16, 2009 - 7:38pm
I've got several tools that I couldn't live without. My little air chisel (muffler gun) that I use for upsetting, chasing, engraving and repousse" work, a decrepit old powered pipe threader that I use as a bar twister and heavy duty welding rotisserie to name a couple. Special tools
visitor -
Monday, November 16, 2009 - 10:04pm
Not really a too per se' but...... I use a lot of dental tools for wax work, mold making work and the like, and my fingers/hands used to get rather cramped holding onto the small diameter shafts of the tools for long periods of time. ALL such tools are now built up with a product I get from Douglas and Sturgess in San Francisco, CA called "Adaptit". It is a plastic (sheets or pastels) that become soft in hot water and are worked onto the tool as needed/wished while hot. Once cold, the material is like milk carton plastic. While hot, it can be formed, squeezed or ? to form what ever form you want. If it is a temporary application, it can be re heated in hot water and removed and or reformed as needed. I keep wondering what other uses this material might have............ Yup, this is getting
Will Jones -
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - 2:25pm
Yup, this is getting interesting already. Butcher's steels and Rich's rotisserie are going on the list. There's a little space on the shelf for the Rich Waugh big book of metalworking techniques when it comes out too! |
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ArtMetal
I have a couple of old
I have a couple of old automotive scissor jacks I use as adjustable height supports. I also tend to weld generic vice grips and C clamps to scrap to make specific holders for repeat items.
I also use a needle scalier for textures.