Charlotte Tattersall: Tool Review

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Tool Review! Letter Stamps

Tool Review!

2.5mm Letter Stamps

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My dad picked my set up for me from machine mart as they were considerably cheaper than other places. They are made from steel and come in a case. Although I was looking for 1.5/2mm for the sake of 1/2mm (and some money) I opted to go for the 2.5mm

Machine Mart:

£9.59 Inc VAT

www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/range/guid/85169F65-D6BD-49E3-B69F-74868E7B0ED9?da=1&TC=SRC-2%2E5%20letter%20stamps

eBay:

I found some for £11.95 but to be honest they looked cheap and bad quality so Ill leave the link for some others which are slightly more expensive

£16.99

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RDGTOOLS-JEWELRY-LETTER-STAMPS-2-5MM-NEW-STOCK-/290401586730?pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Welding_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item439d488e2a

Cookson Gold:

Now Cooksons don't stock 2.5 mm they only do 2mm which are here

£13.91 Inc VAT

www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/2.0mm-Letter-Punches-A---Z-prcode-997-3605

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Ive had great joy with using these, they are good quality and so easy to use.

Id highly recommend buying a steel bench block (review to come next week!) to stamp on with these as you get a much better defined stamp on the metal.

With silver I found them to stamp with ease but using on harder metals such as copper (which I use to sample on first) you need a bit more force when hammering to get a good indentation.

I use a small standard hammer that you would use for household DIY (I 'borrowed' mine from my dads shed) I found this to be perfect for stamping as due to the size and weight you don't end up over stamping the metal.

These do take a bit of practising with as when stamping words it is hard to try and figure out how close / where you should align the next stamp but after a few trial and error goes on copper you should get the hang of it. I tend to use a permanent marker to mark out spaces or where the centre should be etc this burns off as soon as heat is applied so don't worry!

The only downside to these is that each time you go to stamp a letter you have to check the stamp to make sure you've got the stamp the right way otherwise youll have a backwards / upside letter.

TIP!

If you do happen to spell a word wrong (its happen to me more times that id care to admit) don't worry and think you have to scrap your work and try again. All you have to do is take some easy solder and solder over the letter, buff away using a emery stick and carry on like it never happened!

Tool Review! Curved and Straight Burnishers

Tool Review!

Curved and Straight Burnisher

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Sutton Tools:

Curved: £3.20 exc VAT

www.suttontools.co.uk/curved-burnisher-with-wooden-handle.html

Straight: £3.20 exc VAT

www.suttontools.co.uk/straight-burnisher-with-wooden-handle.html

Cookson Gold:

Curved: £11.38 inc VAT

www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Curved-4-Burnisher---With-Handle-prcode-999-AJL

Straight: £8.29 inc VAT

www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Burnisher-4-Straight-With-Handle-prcode-999-CJE

eBay:

Curved: £3.75 inc VAT and P&P

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Curved-stainless-steel-burnisher-jewellers-tool-/300455939566?pt=UK_Crafts_JewelleryMaking_GL&hash=item45f491cdee

Straight: £3.75 inc VAT and P&P

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Straight-stainless-steel-burnisher-jewellers-tool-/300375470087?pt=UK_Crafts_JewelleryMaking_GL&hash=item45efc5f007

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Now as you can see there is a bit of a price difference between all 3 and from looking at the ones on eBay they have the same packaging as the ones I bought from Sutton so they are exactly the same. It pays to do your research!

My main use for these is when I'm stone setting cabochons.

Ive found that I favour the curved one more as the straight is awkward to use and doesn't really do what I want it to do.

The curved one is perfect for when you are pushing the metal over the cabochon as it shaped to the stone but doesn't scratch or damage the stone in the process It is also ideal for getting a high shine.

The stones I work with are usually quite small so I find that the Curved is easier to use.

Ive had both of these for almost 3 years now and Ive rarely used the straight one, but its always handy to keep when the curved cant quite cut it.

They are both of really good quality and the curved smooth wooden handle is comfortable to hold.

Overall If your going to buy one, go for the curved and get it off eBay!

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Tool Review! Emery Boards

Tool Review!

Emery Boards

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Here we have a review of Emery Boards, which I know is more of a consumable than a tool, but they are something I use pretty much constantly whilst making Jewellery.

I wish someone had introduced these to me sooner during university, my sandpaper days would of been long gone! I cant imagine making any thing without these, they are pretty much an essential to me now.

These come in a variety of grades from fine to coarse so you can work your way through them to achieve your desired finish, they also come in different shapes which are the best things ever!

They come in flat, round and triangular.

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The Flat:

The flat are great for pretty much any aspect of sanding. Depending of the job I usually start with a Red stick working my way through to a dark grey stick and then a lighter grey stick for finishing, occasionally I skip out the red stick as this is really coarse and sometimes isn't needed.

(I realise that this probably isn't the 'proper' way to do it but I don't really pay much attention to the grades, I just go with my instinct which seems to work)

The Round:

Next we have the round ones. These are life savers when it comes to making rings/bangles, it means you can get to the soldering join with ease without over sanding

(which I found happened quite often when using a file or sanding paper and a split mandrel in my Dremel) These make life 10x easier and I don't know what I'd do without them now!

The Triangular:

And Finally we have the triangular ones. These are a recent addition to my tools. I found this one to be really useful for getting into angles/corner of joins, I don't tend to use these as much as the other two as I find the flat ones tick most of the boxes for my requirements, but when I do stone setting these are good for sanding the join between the setting and the ring.

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Overall I highly recommend these and I don't know what I'd do without them. If you don't already use them, what are you waiting for!

I don't live too far from Birmingham, so whenever I take a trip to the Jewellery Quarter I tend to stock up on these I buy them from Sutton Tools as they are slightly cheaper then Cooksons.

If your ordering offline I suggest ordering from Cooksons as thats mainly where I buy 99% of my things from and they often have free postage.

By the time you've done a separate order on Sutton tools and added the postage on it works out about the same price

They range from 95p - £1.90 exc VAT on Sutton Tools

http://www.suttontools.co.uk/emery-sticks.html

And range from £1.10 - £2.14 exc VAT on Cooksons Gold

http://www.cooksongold.com/category_select.jsp?query=ermery+sticks

Flat Sticks

L-R Fine, Very Coarse, Coarse

Round and Triangular

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Tool Review! Disc Cutter

Tool Review!

Disc Cutter

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So here is my first review of 2014!

Set of 7 Disc Cutter, 6mm-16mm

After contemplating buying one of these for a while I recently purchased this from eBay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-7-CIRCULAR-DISC-CUTTER-CUTTING-TOOL-6mm-16mm-/290578928191?pt=UK_Crafts_JewelleryMaking_GL&hash=item43a7da923f

The one I bought was £17.99 which was more in my price range compared to a similar one from Cookson Gold which came in at £34.30 Inc VAT

http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Disc-Cutter-7-Hole-prcode-997-3603

When this arrived in the post I was a little disappointed as it was covered in oil, but after cleaning it up it was fine.

Disc cutters are really simple to use, you place your sheet metal in the centre under which size hole you desire, you then put the punch through the hole and hammer until the punch has cleared through the cutter.

You do get a slight bit of excess metal which can easily be filed off. I do recommend oiling this from time to time to make sure it works as smoothly as possible.

I dont recommend this if your cutting copper, I tried and found the copper was too hard of a metal and it works better with soft metals such as silver.

If your looking to make masses of circles or just want them to be uniform each time I highly recommend this product, Although I haven't personally tried the one from Cooksons I cant see there being much different between the two, as at the end of the day this has given me the uniform circles I want. For someone on a budget such as myself this item was perfect.