Top Ten (or so) Favourite tools

To know me is to know I love tools! If you don’t know me, then I love tools! There that’s settled. I had this idea to write about my favourite tool but favourites are fickle. As I looked over my workbench I kept debating over what is my most loved tool. I couldn’t settle on any one tool. Instead of putting myself through any more this silliness I decided to pick ten favourites. Problem solved. Well sort of. I’m going to start with my tenth favourite and work my way up to the one I feel I can’t do without.

10. Small plastic sieve – I know, sounds weird right? But if you’ve ever struggled with picking up something flat or small from the bottom of a pickle pot you will understand why it’s on my list.

9. Split mandrels – Another very small item but these mandrels can make your life so much easier when you need to sand the inside of a ring shank.

8. Cutting pliers – Specifically, a pair made by Eurotool. Because I work with primarily heavier wire I need something that will cut fairly easily and stay sharp. If you are working with finer wire and doing wire wrapping then I suggest an inexpensive pair of side cutters. I use the ones made by Grobet. They cut beautifully right to the tip and will stay sharp unless you use them on heavy wire as well.

7. Texturing hammer – I mentioned this previously in my post about the Fraser Valley Bead Show. They are made by the guys from Just Screwing Around and they're fantastic. You get three screw-on texture heads. I have to admit they are an expensive item but to me they were worth it because of the number of textures I’m able to create just by changing the angle of the hammer and how hard I hit the metal.

6. Ring Mandrels – Technically this is two items but they are both ring mandrels so I’m counting both as one. My two favourites are a soft square and a modified soft square. Tough to describe but think of a square circle for the soft square and the same shape but squeezed at the bottom and wider at the top for the modified soft square. These ring shapes never fail to attract positive comments.

5. Pepe disk cutter – It’s made from top quality steel and cuts sheet metal up to 20 gauge easily and cleanly. The model I have cuts disks from 3.2 mm – 23.4mm (1/8” – 1”).  The bonus is leftover scraps which provide materials for another project…like water casting. 

4. 6” hand files - #2 and #4 cut – Filing is something like a Zen experience for me. It’s gratifying to see a rough surface slowly change into a finished one. I don’t try to rush the process but instead I let the file do the work – I’m only there to guide it. If I’m in a hurry then invariably I will put too much pressure on one side of the file and create a gouge or uneven surface which creates more work for me. When I travel with them to a workshop or class they are protected from each other. They are files…they will file each other. If I’ve sold you a file or suggested a type of file then you know how I feel about them. Keep them clean! It’s important to the life of your files and to the quality of your filing.

3. Rawhide hammer – Whoever said that size doesn’t count has not used this hammer! It’s 11 ounces of pure bad boy and will smack your silver around like it was nothing. I know, I know…I go from a Zen experience to brute force. Seriously though, when you are working with heavy gauge silver the weight of the hammer makes the process of shaping it much easier.

2. Flexshaft – Other than my torch this is my second-most used tool for me…okay I squeezed the digital calipers in between but picking the top three was tough. When you love tools it’s hard to confine your favourites to just ten but I thought that my top 50 tools would be a bit much.

1a. Digital Calipers – These were number one originally but were bumped to a very close second. I don’t know how I managed without them. It is essential to measure silver precisely to keep ring sizing accurate. I use them to measure stones that I want to set and the bezel wire to set them with. Mine are a small pair, four inches, but for most applications they work great and they are a little less cumbersome than larger ones.

1. Propane torch – It’s not fancy but then looks aren’t everything, right? It solders or melts everything my wonderful butane micro torch doesn’t. It gives me the freedom to choose almost any thickness of silver to work with. It gives me wonderful little puddles of molten silver to pour into water or brooms. It does have its limitations if you need a very tiny pinpoint hot flame but for the most part I love my Shark.

Okay well there you have them, my favourite top 10 or 11 tools. This list may change tomorrow or maybe even later today but for the moment this is it. Perhaps I could sneak in a few more that deserve honourable mention…like my Pepe Jump Ringer. And I love my tumbler!

P.S. Photos of the tools to follow but in the meantime check out the new images I added to the photo albums.

P.P.S. Leave a comment if you have any questions about the tools I've mentioned here and I promise to answer them.