ArtMetal

janice don't buy anything, yet.

the basic tools are incredibly easy to make.
most of them are quite dull.
old chisels, punches work great, reground.

they are all about pushing metal around.

They vary mainly in scale.

smooth transitions in surface help.

Generaly start with big ones to rough in a shape and then work progressively smaller towards detail.

It's basic Engineering Physics the sharper the curvature, the more the stress is focused at that point. Sounds like a weird statement, but a practial application would be if you make a sharp bend in a sheet and then do lots of pounding and forming out in the middle of the sheet, you go to install the thing and find that there is a hairline crack in part of that original bend.

dang, you never touched that. . .

or did you?

every time you hit the sheet, part of the blow went down where you wanted it (we hope) and part of it propagated out in all directions. When it hit the corner, it got caught, it vibrated and work hardened the corner and sent a tiny portion on around the bend. And you hit it, again, and agin and aggggh , finally the bend gets so tense it has a breakdown.

Don't put sharp bends in till you have to or as final details in a finished section.

Gene Olson
Sculptor
Elk River, MN