The bench pin is for USE. I went to visit a ‘Newbe’ who proudly
showed me a virgin bench pin! Though he had been working on it for
some months, it had not a scratch! He was horrified as I gouged into
it with files and saws, demonstrating a working technique. He later
thanked me realising his mistake. I was laying it on a bit thick to
make a point. I have several bench pins all with their uses and
various ‘scars’ Along with a standard type V piercing pin try
attaching a piece of 5mm ply about 150mm X 30mm wide to your bench
and actually saw pierce, cutting right through the silver and the
the plywood. That way your work piece is supported equally on both
sides of the cut. But the best of all are a pair of parallel pliers,
the jaws come flat together and thereby hold the workpiece flat, in
fact when they are new the points should meet first. There have been
lots of excellent suggestions to this question.
David Cruickshank
jewellerydavidcruickshank.com.au
The ‘stuff’ is called Aquaplast. Here’s the latest info I have for
them: -Aquaplast Corporation, Protoplast (thermoplastic); 30 Lawlins
Park, Myckoff, NJ 07481-1443, 201.891.1042, Fax: 201.891.2329; Phone:
800.526.5247 or Fax 800.831.8174 or email through their website:
I order it in pellet form, because it’s heats up/forms quicker that
way. It can be used many times over again, just heat in hot water.
Aquaplast is a thermoplastic, similar to JettSet that Rio sells. It’s
the same material (and company, I believe) that makes Friendly
Plastic for the hobby world.
JettSet has a filler in the plastic like clay powder and is not near
as “good” as the unfilled plastic like Adap-It, at least for the
applications that I use it for. We bought some JettSet and were very
unhappy with it’s performance, at least for our applications.
Adap-It was far better, for our applications/uses. I do not know
about Aquaplast. If it is not “filled” is may very well be a great
product. Aquaplast products are made for the medical field and as
such, most likely will be much more expensive that non medical
materials. The material may be the “same” but as soon as one is going
thru a medical supply line, the $$ go up fast.