Homemade tools

[flaming_fools]

In the paint section a the hardware store I noticed these gizmos for sitting over paint cans, or in roller pans, to run your brush or roller over to remove excess paint. They were real cheap. Just bought and bent in half to make a V. Have been planning to cut off the curved 'legs' on the end, but have not done so yet.

I like these as there are multi levels for sticking the rods, either on top, or through the holes. Very little contact point for chilling the rods.

[carolinainmymind]

Originally Posted by flaming_fools

Brilliant! Putting that on my list for the next Lowe's trip.

[Ravenesque]

Originally Posted by honey*bee

I have seen people use sharpened pencils before as pokes so I have some woodless graphite left over from art school and it can be sharpened to all kinds of tips, has to be clean though.

Oh I have a lot of those! I will go look.

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by flaming_fools

In the paint section a the hardware store I noticed these gizmos for sitting over paint cans, or in roller pans, to run your brush or roller over to remove excess paint. They were real cheap. Just bought and bent in half to make a V. Have been planning to cut off the curved 'legs' on the end, but have not done so yet.

Nice, thanks! Special thanks for the picture too!

[steiconi]

ok, I didn't actually make this, but I had it on hand and it's one of my current favorite tools, and I'm not using it as was intended.

In case you don't know, a dopping block is used to shape sheet metal. This one is a 2" cube of solid brass with a couple dozen hemispherical indentations all over it, in many different sizes.

I use the indentations to shape entire beads, or just to shape the ends. Especially useful to even up lumpy beads.

Lee

[kmd]

I have a long handled pair of BBQ tongs, the open wire kind. I have wrapped the ends with several layers of aluminium foil, which makes them just right for picking up all sorts of things including mandrels with beads on the end, to put into the kiln, or arrange hot stuff already in there. Long handles mean that I don't get toasted.

KMD

[Dyanne4293]

I love this thread! Great ideas. It needs to be renewed/refreshed!

[allicat]

I use paint brush holders and cheap test tubes with a test tube holder for my rods and stringers that are in my current rotation, and I use a Towel hemostat to make holes. I have picture somewhere; will post it when I find it.

[Rachel]

Originally Posted by steiconi

ok, I didn't actually make this, but I had it on hand and it's one of my current favorite tools, and I'm not using it as was intended.

In case you don't know, a dopping block is used to shape sheet metal. This one is a 2" cube of solid brass with a couple dozen hemispherical indentations all over it, in many different sizes.

I use the indentations to shape entire beads, or just to shape the ends. Especially useful to even up lumpy beads.

Lee

Also a great frit holder. I agree it is a great shaping tool as well.

[jaci]

I put a few dropps of bees wax in my dapping block holes for a great smooth rolling

I can't count the number of tools I have re-purposes or made from other things!

[prbluv01]

I use stainless steel measuring spoons for flat marbles or cabochans. They make a great rounded top and you have many sizes to choose from.

[tonips]

Brass has gotten pretty expensive, so I bought a couple of old brass door push plates off Ebay. Made a nice marver for large beads with one by adding extruded aluminum on the bottom for feet. The plates came with six holes already there, and I used those to attach the 90 degree angle stock to the bottom to make a nice stable base a good 1/2" off the table. It cools the glass faster than my graphite, so I really like using it for silver glass, too.

The second plate I cut in half, put a store-bought aluminum handle on the back and added brass screws and nuts to each corner from the rough back toward the smooth front to the depth of the bead I wanted. It makes a great press for larger beads. The results are extremely even, and if I wanted, I could change the screws to a different length to get a thicker or thinner bead. Total costs was about $30, and I couldn't find 1/8" brass plate stock for anywhere near that.

Toni

[PennyLane]

Great idea Toni, Thanks!

[losthelm]

I usualy pickup useful looking bits and pieces at estate sales, garage sales, and the thrift store. often its the odd matched stainless flatware, tweezers, manicure tools and kitchen gadgets.
Often I will cut them up with a pair of tin snips or attack them with a file to improve the shape, or addapt them to my hand vice/exacto knife.
I think my most useful bit came out of the garage. An old wood rasp made some very nice fish scales.

As for finding heat sinks check with your local E-waste recycler. Usualy the CPU's are seperated from the mother board and scraped seperatly for the percious metals.

[DanielJ]

I watched someone on YouTube who uses bicycle spokes for mandrels

[Robin Passovoy]

Revlon eyebrow tweezers are one of my favorites-- not the slant tips, but the fine points. Perfect for forming ears on sculptural critter beads or detailing fish fins. Just try to get plain steel ones. The fancy gold or rose-gold coatings on some of them wouldn't do well in the flame. Otherwise, they hold up better than any other fine-point tweezers I've tried.

[Dextervonbakata]

i made a few months ago my first mashers out of some old beautiful unused salad server. very stilish. i took a photo of them to show you here but i guess i can't post it yet as this is just my fourth post. i also gave a new life to my old damaged wall drill bits that are tungsten. been working great. i just grinded a sharp point in them to pinch bubbles into my pendants. later i dulled the point a bit to make a more rounded bubble and it still pierces the hot glass deep enough. made two of them a small and a big one. they also work great at widening holes and piercing them open. now i even modified a 1\4 inch good and working wall drill bit to double as a bit and a glassmaking tool. at the bottom i grinded a dull point to make even bigger bubbles. the drill is holding the bit by the middle part so modifying its bottom side doesnt damage them. i love it when useless or rarely used items get a new life. hey! i'll try tomorrow to convert somehow my picture to just 80 kilobites. i want to brag my homemade tools as they cost me nothing as all was repurposed.

[Speedslug]

This is the way I upload pictures and it does the resizing for me;


Click the "Go Advanced" and then type in some words describing you picture.
(You will need more that two letters in order to get the system to upload anything once you click 'post'.)

Then click the paper clip symbol above the -typed entry box- next to the white smiley face.

A " Manage Attachments" box will come up.

Click the first "browse" button and when the computer puts up a file listing, direct that listing to the folder where you are keeping the picture you are trying to send and then click the picture or the name of the picture you want to send.

That will take you back to the "Manage Attachments" box where you will see a written word -path- showing the directions to the file you are trying to send.

Then you need to click the upper "upload image" button.

This next part is confusing but don't let it throw you off.

The last click you made will dump you back to the -typed entry box- but it won't show anything at all besides the words you had already entered.


Now scroll down to the Preview Post button and click that.
Your picture should now be visible on the top of the page.

Once you click "post" it should show up in the thread

Now scroll down to the Preview Post button and click that.
Your picture should now be visible on the top of the page.

Once you click "post" it should show up in the thread.

[Gila]

I look forward to seeing pictures of your tools Dextervonbakata.

[JLynn]

This is a great thread. I use a plastic eyeglass case to hold my small tools like tweezers and dental tools. I use a rasp or rough file for fur or feather affects on animal beads.

[phentron]

I made my first glass working tool in the early 1970's - it was a flat file with its thin edge ground down to clean metal. The corner edge is used as a scoring knife. The file would only need re-grinding once a year when only used on soft glass rod or tube, but if scoring boro you only get a dozen or so score marks before it needs to be re-ground.

I later made a scoring knife from a smaller triangular file (grinding away one surface of the triangle). This was small enough to carry in my tool case, as I was servicing scientific instruments & often needed to cut glass tubing.

Peter

[Lizabeads]

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[ESC]

Originally Posted by phentron

I made my first glass working tool in the early 1970's - it was a flat file with its thin edge ground down to clean metal. The corner edge is used as a scoring knife. The file would only need re-grinding once a year when only used on soft glass rod or tube, but if scoring boro you only get a dozen or so score marks before it needs to be re-ground.

I later made a scoring knife from a smaller triangular file (grinding away one surface of the triangle). This was small enough to carry in my tool case, as I was servicing scientific instruments & often needed to cut glass tubing.

Peter

Peter, are you just using a regular home workshop grinder to do these modifications? Are you polishing the surface after grinding?

[phentron]

ESC,
I use a standard bench grinder, you could use an angle grinder if that is all you have. No need to polish after grinding. To use it, hold the glass in one hand, mark where to score with your thumb, with the ground surface of the file against your thumb, pull the file, with a slight rotation of the glass - using the file edge between the ground part & un-ground surface to score the glass.

My torch has a metal 'V' mounted on top, balance hot glass on it & score with the file, then the weight of the file is brought down to snap the glass - this technique is great for opening a closed pull point.

Peter

[phentron]

I made my first marble mold using a cheap set of round bottom router bits, using a drill press but I found you must clamp the graphite block in a vice, etc to stop any movement (my first mold was not round because it kept moving)


Safety note; you must have dust extraction when using power tools on graphite – I used a vacuum cleaner & and wear a dust mask.

Graphite is soft & easy to machine, a cheap set of router bits under $20, sizes 6 – 32mm (1.25”). Larger ones start costing more & biggest I’ve seen is 2”

I wanted bigger marble molds, first considered making large ‘router bits’ from something like large washers, welding on (or brazing) a shaft & sharpening a cutting edge. (If you go with this idea, be aware of the danger of spinning large cutting tools!!!)

I ended up making a concave cutting attachment for my metal lathe, this lets me make any size marble mold from 50 to 125mm (2-5”).



An easier way is to use a wood turning lathe (if I had one) & use bowl turning methods.

I have also made a set of graphite push, using the lathe. They could also be made with a metal file. Graphite can be smoothed with fine sand paper, remove graphite dust by washing with water & cloth.



Peter

[beadysam]

Some of the reusable straws made of metal - not bamboo - work well for circles, eyes etc. I don't know if anyone is into pimple popping? You can get a nice set of 5 tools with various things on each end (10 ends) for around £3-£4 sterling, so around $5 for you guys I think. Teeny, tiny pin nosed tweezers are a Look useful for picking off tiny blemishes - a bit of smut, an accidental touch of colour, some scum etc. Bigger tweezers work well too but the tiny ones cause less distortion . Work outside the flame (as you should with all tools), as the tips will become soft with heat and it's easy to burn through something so tiny. If your tips get soft, it's because you have annealed or softened the metal, this can be sorted by throwing them in a barrel tumbler for a while. Or you can DIY it by gently (to keep shape) hitting the softened tips with a small hammer, or other small tool until hard. Do one side at a time!
Have a trawl through pottery tools, there are some goodies there. Also tiny, mini cookie cutters: can be used for cane or As an imprint in your glass. Hope some of them are useful? X

[Rara-Flame]

Originally Posted by Rachel

… I wish I had a better way for storing my longer glass rods. Nothing good has come to mind…

Hi Rachel. Although your post is a way back now, the idea is still there. I use cardboard photo print storage tubes.

Get the thick-walled, 2-3mm x 50mm diameter ones, of various lengths. (with the plastic end caps, one of which you remove) Tape a number of them together to form a triangle shape. Depending on how many tubes on the first row, you can leave the top flat. If you secure the tubes well, with extra tape across and around the remaining end-cap, they make a fairly solid group. You can either stand them up (secured of course) or lay them flat in a rack - a very good rod and tube holder.

[Patti Bullard]

I love to keep a box of little alcohol swabs for a quick and easy way to clean a dirty glass rod. Tiny, but mighty handy!

[beadysam]

I store my glass in plumbing pipe, white for 104, black for boro. Also I have bits and bobs of silver glass and 96coe kicking around and for that I use Pringles tubes, or the new Doritos stackers that are triangle shaped. Not sure what the equivalent is in the US? They are tubes of crisps/potato chips that are all the same shape, stack together, and are good for dipping in salsa etc. The Doritos ones are nacho crisps/chips in triangular shapes and therefore come in a triangle tube. Hope that helps.

Oooh, also these tubes are great for making shards. As they are foil lined they dont burn, and you can knock off your blown ball of shard material and safely leave it to cool. Or use a tool to smash it in the tube and it offers some protection from flying shards.

[kevingreenbmx]

I use "Kraft tubes" from Uline for my color rod storage, they have caps to keep off dust, and come in different sizes. I use 1.5" diameter, 15" length for soft glass, and 24" length for boro colors. I make labels with important info about each color, and sample beads to wire to the caps.