Great Deals and Tips #2, The Portable Bench

In the last year or so I've started doing more metalwork.  I found that I needed a surface to work on that I didn't have to worry about getting scratched or beat up.  I don't have a lot of room for another table so  I got one of these at my local Wal-Mart:

I got the 29 inch tall one and my friend Billye got the 24 inch one for her studio.  It works nicely for heavy duty hammering on the bench block, and I can take it outside when I'm working on things that have to be repeatedly annealed.  I can clamp my vise on it, or clamp a bench pin on it.  When it's not in use as a jewelry workbench it's in the kitchen.  I frequently sit on it while cooking. Well, truthfully, it's in the kitchen a lot when I'm hammering on it.  The top still looks brand new even though I've worked on it a lot. It doesn't take up a lot of room.

I don't remember the price but it was around $25.00.  I tried to look it up online, but they don't have the exact one I bought.

Here I am doing a little fold forming with a copper strip.  I found out that I need a wider vise or a short piece of copper.  I could only get half the strip in the vise at a time. I'm not sure where I'm going with this strip.  I was going to put it on a brass cuff but now I'm thinking of cutting it up and making earrings. There's still a lot of texturing and folding to be done.

This was the first time I'd used my new Fretz hammer.  It's the brown handled one in the back.  It's a great hammer.

Great Deals and Tips #1 - Fabulous Friday Find

This is the first in a new series of posts on great deals and tips relating to jewelry making.  I'll post when I find something or have a tip to share and they'll be searchable under "great deals and tips".




I spotted these at Big Lots today.  The cute little hammer was $5.00 and the 6 foot key chain tape measure was $2.50.  And did I mention the hammer is cute?

The hammer is just right for when I need a hammer and don't want to use one of my good jewelry hammers, like when I'm beating the heck out of some found object.  It will fit in a box when I travel. There were matching C clamps, spring clips, and a hobby sized hack saw, but I already have these, although they aren't as cute.

The hobby saw is also a great deal.  It was $3.50 and had several blades. The handle folds up into the frame for storage so it takes up about the same space as the hammer. I have a similar one that I use when I want to cut something and need more than the jewelry saw, but less than a big hacksaw, and don't want to break out the dremel.

My next great deals and tips post will be about the small, inexpensive, and very portable bench I use for a work surface  when I texture and pound on stuff.