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Tool modifications from a land down under

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<h2>Tool modifications from a land down under</h2>

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In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing.

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I just returned from Australia where I shared foldforming and keum-boo lessons at a few schools. While I was in the country, I visited several jewelers’ workshops in Brisbane, Sydney, and the Gold Coast, where I picked up a number of ideas and tricks I felt were clever and worth sharing.

I just returned from Australia where I shared foldforming and keum-boo lessons at a few schools. While I was in the country, I visited several jewelers’ workshops in Brisbane, Sydney, and the Gold Coast, where I picked up a number of ideas and tricks I felt were clever and worth sharing.

<h1><img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/Drawbench.jpg" alt="drawbench" width="750" height="424"></h1>
Many things are more expensive in Australia than they are in North America, including basic tools and books. Therefore, jewelers make or adapt tools for their workshops. One example is Wendy Hearn of Sydney who mixes Mod-Podge (an all-in-one glue, sealer, and finish used by artists and scrapbookers) with graphite powder to produce conductive paint that she uses for electroforming. This is much cheaper than buying the commercial versions of this product, and it can be used to coat non-conductive materials, such as wax or plastic or sealed baby boots, to grow metal on their surfaces.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/CLB-ATB-Drawbench.jpg" alt="Homemade Drawbench" width="350" height="350"> <img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/winch-under-drawbench.jpg" alt="under drawbench" width="350" height="350">
Sel and Lorraine Pilgrim have a shop in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast that is full of similar innovations. The drawbench for making wire and tube is homemade, with a vise to hold the draw plates and an altered pair of pliers that grip the wire end better than standard draw tongs. Some of the alterations they made to the pliers include smoothing off the teeth in the jaws so they grip better and do not damage the wire point to be drawn. The handles of the pliers have also been heated and bent back so that they can hook into a large steel ring that is attached to the 3/8-inch steel drawing cable. When the drawbench is in use, the bent handles automatically tighten the plier jaws onto the wire. An electric boat winch powers the drawbench. To operate it, a wire is placed in the drawplate, the pliers clamped onto the protruding wire tip, and the switch for the boat winch is used to start drawing. The cable winds up into the housing of the boat winch.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/rolling-mill.jpg" alt="rolling mill" width="350" height="350">
Sel has converted a hand rolling mill into a powered version using automobile transmission gears and a belt-and-pulley system in order not to have trouble with the gears under strain. This decision was a financially savvy one, as a powered mill in Australia would have been 10 times more expensive than the hand-operated mill he converted into a powered one, which saves his shop much in time and labor costs.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/hydraulic-press.jpg" alt="press" width="350" height="350">
I met many jewelers with homemade hydraulic presses in their studios. Hydraulic presses are used to form metal, to cut out sheet metal shapes, to make bracelets, and even to do fine detail work such as coining. Commercial presses for jewelers start around $800 and go up from there. This homemade one has about $30 in parts plus an ordinary hydraulic car jack. No welding is used in making it. The press consists of two pieces of steel U-channel with holes drilled in them, a piece of steel sheet in the middle with holes, four 1/2 inch-thick threaded rods with matching nuts, and two springs hooked into smaller holes in the top and middle plates. The jack pushes the middle steel sheet down, compressing and forming objects placed in the lower part of the press.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/tool-island.jpg" alt="island" width="350" height="350">
A great island I spotted was made by Barbara Heath in Brisbane. She constructed it using a very heavy Australian wood that is many times harder than most North American woods, which adds to its stability and ability to last longer for metal shaping. She and her goldsmith use the island for flattening, hammering, stamping, and shaping metal on stakes that she can mount on it.

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<h1><img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/Drawbench.jpg" alt="drawbench" width="750" height="424"></h1>
Many things are more expensive in Australia than they are in North America, including basic tools and books. Therefore, jewelers make or adapt tools for their workshops. One example is Wendy Hearn of Sydney who mixes Mod-Podge (an all-in-one glue, sealer, and finish used by artists and scrapbookers) with graphite powder to produce conductive paint that she uses for electroforming. This is much cheaper than buying the commercial versions of this product, and it can be used to coat non-conductive materials, such as wax or plastic or sealed baby boots, to grow metal on their surfaces.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/CLB-ATB-Drawbench.jpg" alt="Homemade Drawbench" width="350" height="350"> <img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/winch-under-drawbench.jpg" alt="under drawbench" width="350" height="350">
Sel and Lorraine Pilgrim have a shop in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast that is full of similar innovations. The drawbench for making wire and tube is homemade, with a vise to hold the draw plates and an altered pair of pliers that grip the wire end better than standard draw tongs. Some of the alterations they made to the pliers include smoothing off the teeth in the jaws so they grip better and do not damage the wire point to be drawn. The handles of the pliers have also been heated and bent back so that they can hook into a large steel ring that is attached to the 3/8-inch steel drawing cable. When the drawbench is in use, the bent handles automatically tighten the plier jaws onto the wire. An electric boat winch powers the drawbench. To operate it, a wire is placed in the drawplate, the pliers clamped onto the protruding wire tip, and the switch for the boat winch is used to start drawing. The cable winds up into the housing of the boat winch.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/rolling-mill.jpg" alt="rolling mill" width="350" height="350">
Sel has converted a hand rolling mill into a powered version using automobile transmission gears and a belt-and-pulley system in order not to have trouble with the gears under strain. This decision was a financially savvy one, as a powered mill in Australia would have been 10 times more expensive than the hand-operated mill he converted into a powered one, which saves his shop much in time and labor costs.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/hydraulic-press.jpg" alt="press" width="350" height="350">
I met many jewelers with homemade hydraulic presses in their studios. Hydraulic presses are used to form metal, to cut out sheet metal shapes, to make bracelets, and even to do fine detail work such as coining. Commercial presses for jewelers start around $800 and go up from there. This homemade one has about $30 in parts plus an ordinary hydraulic car jack. No welding is used in making it. The press consists of two pieces of steel U-channel with holes drilled in them, a piece of steel sheet in the middle with holes, four 1/2 inch-thick threaded rods with matching nuts, and two springs hooked into smaller holes in the top and middle plates. The jack pushes the middle steel sheet down, compressing and forming objects placed in the lower part of the press.
<img src="https://mjsa-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016journal/August/tool-island.jpg" alt="island" width="350" height="350">
A great island I spotted was made by Barbara Heath in Brisbane. She constructed it using a very heavy Australian wood that is many times harder than most North American woods, which adds to its stability and ability to last longer for metal shaping. She and her goldsmith use the island for flattening, hammering, stamping, and shaping metal on stakes that she can mount on it.

Australian Ingenuity

Tool modifications from a land down under

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