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Merle White
is editorial director
of Interweave's
Gem & Jewelry Group
and editor-in-chief
of Lapidary Journal
Jewelry Artist.
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Everyone Loves Tools
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A "third hand" tool makes jewelry-making easier by leaving both hands free. |
I love exploring a good hardware store. Even when I'm looking at tools I will never use in my life, I'm fascinated by how many different kinds of corkscrews or screwdrivers there are. I admire the precision of their manufacture, and when someone explains to me what this particular model was designed for, I'm often amazed at the ingenuity of the inventor. The inventors of jewelry making tools are no less clever. The straightforward name of the third hand says it all. This simple device holds your work for you, leaving your two hands free.
Learn the Basics
If you look at a jewelry supply website or catalog, you'll quickly discover that there's no shortage of jewelry making tools and equipment on the market. There must be a hundred different hammers or mallets alone! If you're new to jewelry making, you might not know where to start. Even if you have some guidance or have been making jewelry for a while, it's always helpful to have another explanation of what the basic operations are and how each kind of tool helps you perform them. For instance, a chasing hammer has one flat face for striking other tools or smoothing (planishing) metal, and another for forming and riveting. And an embossing hammer has two rounded, differently sized faces and is used for a variety of metalworking operations.
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| A chasing hammer is used for both smoothing and forming. |
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An embossing hammer can be used for a variety of jewelry-making techniques. |
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| Sometimes hammers strike the metal directly; at others, hammers are used to strike punches that affect the metal. |
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What No One Ever Told You About Tools
It's one thing to know what a tool was designed to do and another to find out what a real pro actually does with it. Here's just a little of what jeweler Andy Cooperman has to say about making jewelry with hammers: "I have several ball peen hammers that I use for many, many tasks. I forge with a flat peen . . . I also use it to strike dapping punches. I use another old ball peen that belonged to my grandfather--it has a rusted and pitted surface--to lay down a base layer of texturing." In jewelry making, everyone's constantly tinkering with the way things are done and looking for new ways to put tools to use.
Your Guide to Jewelry Making Tools Awaits You
Whether you're just getting started with jewelry metalsmithing or have been at it for years, you'll find the illustrated eBook Jewelry Making Daily Presents: The Illustrated Guide to Jewelry Making Tools a valuable reference you'll turn to again and again. It describes over 30 kinds of jewelry-making operations and more than 125 different tools designed to perform them. We've included more than 25 pages of tool information to help you succeed as a jewelry maker whether you're shopping for jewelry tools for the first time or returning to your studio for the millionth.
This Unique Tool Guide Can Be Yours FREE!
Download your free copy of Jewelry Making Daily Presents: The Illustrated Guide to Jewelry Making Tools today. Then share what your favorite tool is and how you use it with everyone else on Jewelry Making Daily--and discover what valuable tips and tricks other members have figured out and are happy to share with you. Feel free to forward this email to your friends so they can download their own free copy of this valuable jewelry-making resource.