Hi gang,
Somewhere rolling across the great plains at this very moment, is a
giant crate, full of all the stakes and hammers I’ve had mothballed
in Ohio for the past 13 years. (600 pounds worth…(ask me how I know
this…)) I finally decided that my 18 month stay in California is
going to be extended long enough to make it worth bringing out the
serious tools.
Buried deep in the bowels of this crate is a partial set of Cranbrook
stakes. Once upon a time, many moons ago, Cranbrook had an iron
foundry, and lo, the metals students used it to make rough castings
of a variety of silversmithing stakes. (Many, many moons. Like say
before 1980.)
These were available in the student store for years afterwards. I
think I’ve got about the last nearly full set, but there were a
couple of them that were sold out before I went through in the '90s.
I’ve got 4 different types: two giant “T” stakes, a funny curved bar
stake, and a pair of “Victoria” stakes. (They look like V’s.) The T
stakes are a typical big “T”, and another one with giant positively
poised curves on it. (think teapots or breastplates.)
Anybody else got (or heard of) any others? I believe there were at
least two other large T stake designs, and at least one set of
castings available for a vertical acting vise for holding bar
stakes.
I’ve also got most of a set of the old Casting Specialties stakes
(the raw castings that were once available from Wisconsin.). Some of
these still need to be finished. Is there any interest in a “How to
(re)grind and polish your stakes” handout or page?
Regards,
Brian.
PS–> Has anybody managed to either contact Casting Specialties
lately, or find out what happened to them? I had a phone number that
was at least connected to a machine as recently as 2005, but I
couldn’t ever get anybody to call me back.