Now that the studio is clean and organized I am actually making things, to get my mojo back, since I have not done any sawing, soldering, stamping/pressing, or finishing for quite a while.
I am making sample impressions of all the dies I have for the hydraulic press as this gets me using the rolling mill for thinning metal or to use the pattern plates to texture on the metal. With the hydraulic press I am using the pancake dies to cut out the blanks for trays and to form the tray. I am also figuring out how to impress, in the metal, deep and shallow impressions to get all the detail. Once that's done I do any sawing, filing or other cleanup at my bench with the flexshaft. If needed I use the belt sander to debur and clean up edges along with the JoolTool to figure out how to do the same and what wheels to use; and then it's over to the JoolTool to do final polish. I am also using the belt sander and JoolTool to clean up and polish the impression dies that have uneven and marred surfaces
I, unintentionally, made a bit of scrap on some impression dies and trays. On a die, the metal was probably too thin, and I split the edge; on another tray I didn't get the impression back in the die and so I have a bit of a ghost image from the double pressing (gryphon) and then I positioned the tray crooked and it came out skewed; on another tray it shifted in the silhouette die and the dish didn't have a rim on one side and on the flower tray the impression die was a bit domed and had machining marks which transferred to the tray so I ground the top surface flat and then polished it.
BUT not all was lost. From the scrap tray I made myself a pair of earrings. I then made a good tray, several mini-dishes, another tray with a soldered-on impression, and several small wall vases; all of which are presents for friends when I attend my 50th High School reunion in a few weeks. I also cut out, from a thick impression that I was given, a bat and made a key ring for a friend.
oh, and lastly I must say my soldering skills will take time to return; I have lots of clean up to do on the 3 wall vases.
I am making sample impressions of all the dies I have for the hydraulic press as this gets me using the rolling mill for thinning metal or to use the pattern plates to texture on the metal. With the hydraulic press I am using the pancake dies to cut out the blanks for trays and to form the tray. I am also figuring out how to impress, in the metal, deep and shallow impressions to get all the detail. Once that's done I do any sawing, filing or other cleanup at my bench with the flexshaft. If needed I use the belt sander to debur and clean up edges along with the JoolTool to figure out how to do the same and what wheels to use; and then it's over to the JoolTool to do final polish. I am also using the belt sander and JoolTool to clean up and polish the impression dies that have uneven and marred surfaces
I, unintentionally, made a bit of scrap on some impression dies and trays. On a die, the metal was probably too thin, and I split the edge; on another tray I didn't get the impression back in the die and so I have a bit of a ghost image from the double pressing (gryphon) and then I positioned the tray crooked and it came out skewed; on another tray it shifted in the silhouette die and the dish didn't have a rim on one side and on the flower tray the impression die was a bit domed and had machining marks which transferred to the tray so I ground the top surface flat and then polished it.
BUT not all was lost. From the scrap tray I made myself a pair of earrings. I then made a good tray, several mini-dishes, another tray with a soldered-on impression, and several small wall vases; all of which are presents for friends when I attend my 50th High School reunion in a few weeks. I also cut out, from a thick impression that I was given, a bat and made a key ring for a friend.
oh, and lastly I must say my soldering skills will take time to return; I have lots of clean up to do on the 3 wall vases.
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