Hi Thomas - on the subject of making anticlastic tools, I wrote a
couple of articles for Lapidary Journal in March and April 1996
which DH Fell reproduced as a project sheet. It has details on how
I make sinusioidal stakes and hammers for same. I use cold rolled
steel, and do not harden it. I only work in the softer jewelry
metals - gold and silver - and have never had any problems with the
stakes. The steel that I use for stakes is the same stuff that my
father-in-law uses to make gun barrels, no hardening required. I
learned how to make these tools from Richard Sweetman, the wonderful
professor in the metals and jewelry dept of Arapahoe Community
College. It takes a bit of practice but you can certainly make your
own. Since writing the article, I have modified the curve that I
make on the stake to reflect the diameter of the stake at that
point. But if you don’t get it that way, you will still have a
useful tool and you will figure out how to best use the curves you
have.
DH Fell has the Project Sheet #3, and may be contacted at
213-722-9992 thru their marketing dept.
Judy Hoch