Posted by Chris Ray on August 14, 1997 at 15:48:08:

We are always looking for different shapes all the time when we are doing chasing or incising work, right? No matter how many tools we have made up and put in our collection, there is always one other shape that we need and don't have.

Well, how about if we had a source of good, no I mean great steel, on hand that we could quickly grind into the shape we need. All pre cut to length, hardened and ready to use. Want to know where to find this material? Look in your drawer or elsewhere and find that old letter or number punch set that no longer matches or with missings pieces. There it is right in front of your eyes, well, maybe not if you keep old stuff around like I do. Another source are used tool bins at flea markets. Those old punch sets are useless for their intended purpose but just great if converted to another. You can pick these things up for practically nothing.

I've kept quite a number of these mismatched letter sets around for years, never sure where they came from in the first place, but there they always were, too good to throw away but absolutely useless. Well, not anymore.

Chris Ray

http://members.aol.com/crocusdes -the sculpture site

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