Laura:
Go to Beaducation.com and watch these videos on learning to stamp
metal.
http://www.beaducation.com/classes/?p=detail&id
They will explain all the things you’ve been asking about.
Kathy Johnson
Feathered Gems Jewelry
www.featheredgems.com
Hans asked in particular about making stamps - I’m sure there are
others.
Since I pulled weeds the last two days (a bit sore this
morning…), did my important work this morning, an had time on my
hands (ha!), I just went and did it. If I had a use for the end
result, I might have made it with care. Since I don’t and it’s
essentially garbage, I just tossed it off. Meaning, don’t study the
craftmanship, which is pretty lousy. It’s just to show how it’s
done. Here:
I am most interested in how to make stamps the way you describe. A tutorial possibly? It is something I have never really been able to nail down.
Like I have nothing else to do HAHA… We are pretty well inundated
with work, lately. I just hacked off a piece of steel, though, and I
guess little by little over the coming days I’ll try to put together
some sort of photo/tutorial thing… what else have I got to do? ;}
I recently did a bulk buy for stamps from a supplier. They had a
great suggestion. They recommended buying an ink pad like those used
by scrapbookers. Use the stamps with the ink pad to make your design
on paper before you put stamp to expensive metal. Harbor Freight
does have letter/number sets in three different sizes. They are a
great, inexpensive place to start. Play with them and other things
you have on hand. You will probably get some great ideas. The
letter/number pieces can be a good start since you can turn then any
which way and in a wide variety of combinations. I don’t personally
expect to use letters to make words hardly ever but for how I can
combine them in designs.
Pat Gebes
John,
Like I have nothing else to do HAHA.... We are pretty well inundated with work, lately. I just hacked off a piece of steel, though, and I guess little by little over the coming days I'll try to put together some sort of photo/tutorial thing.... what else have I got to do? ;}
Thank you for taking the time to show on your blog. One learns
everyday.
I have never seen a punch made with a lathe and a milling machine
and a dividing head. Most interesting.
But making a punch is not the part that I can’t do well. What I meant
was the actual figure that gets stamped. Your pictures were to small
for me to see what it was that you had actually done.
For instance, a few years ago I had to have a punch that had an
'Ohms" sign on it. ( the little horse shoe squiggle thingi ) I simply
could not get it looking neat, try as I might.
So I had it done professionally.
Cheers, Hans
if you are a harbor freight buyer you might want to look at “
security bit sets” as stamp making fodder. They can be modified
easily with simple grinding tools as is or annealed, worked with
files and re hardened. won’t make many of the classic American Indian
designs but they are cheap.
jesse
Steel tools are going to ruin your (expensive) brass hammer in about an hour,.......
I thought the purpose of a brass hammer was to create less damage to
the tool being hit with the hammer, in which case it seems like the
condition of the brass hammer’s face would make no difference since
it is not used to hit precious metal. Other than hitting another
tool, are there other applications which are better accomplished
when a brass hammer is used?
punch that had an 'Ohms" sign on it. ( the little horse shoe squiggle thingi ) I simply could not get it looking neat, try as I might. So I had it done professionally.
Hans’ problem is history, now, but it’s instructive for this thread.
His “Ohms sign” is the ohms symbol which is the Greek letter omega.
BTW, the pictures on the blog blow up full size if you click on them
a couple of times.
That symbol could be punched or even lightly drilled in the center
area, maybe ovalized a bit with a ball bur, and filed around the
perimeter. As with all work, start from the center. I made my
trademark stamp, which is JD sharing the center line, by getting a
14kt bent stamp (just because it was already bent), grinding off the
14kt and using a diamond bur to make the inside of the “D”, and files
for the rest.
The real point is that there’s a point when you should give up, as
Hans did. The method I was taught and have laid out here is for
simple, decorative, handmade stamps. You can buy them for $5 from
Indian Jewelers and elsewhere, unless you need your own certain stamp
or just enjoy it. Logo stamps and such are photoetched, usually, and
it could take you days to get something nowhere near as high quality,
trying to engrave a signature on the end of a steel rod. Sometimes
you should just buy it (yes, even if you are a craftsman ;}
I bought one of those hammers with a copper head at one end and a
rawhide one at the other. They come in different sizes, I went for
the 32mm one, I think it is better to ruin one hammer rather than the
ends of all my punches. It gives a very positive strike and doesn’t
let the head slide off the punch. you can get replacement heads but I
reckon it is going to be trouble getting the mushed up one out!
regards Tim Blades.
I thought the purpose of a brass hammer was to create less damage to the tool being hit with the hammer...
My experience and learning is that brass hammers are used when you
don’t want to damage the surface being struck, assuming you are
striking steel or iron, the idea being that the hammer is deformed
instead of the, presumably, more valuable object. Machinists,
mechanics, etc. find them quite useful.
A tool meant to be struck, such as a stamp, punch, etc. should have
a striking end that is soft enough that the metal moves, eventually
mushrooming while the hammer remains relatively unchanged.
Periodically this will need to be ground off so that it doesn’t split
and break off creating a flying object hazard.
Although the above is normal practice, there’s nothing stopping you
from using a brass hammer, or any other hammer softer than your
punches/chisels, if you so choose.
Whichever method you choose, don’t let the deformation become so bad
that pieces can fly off. Often our eyes are close enough to be
seriously damaged by these flying pieces.
Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Alliance, OH
It gives a very positive strike and doesn't let the head slide off the punch.
Tim gives good reasons for liking his hammer… I realized this
morning that I had forgotten to answer the question posed yesterday
about brass hammers, as Tim did.
I used to sit for 40 hours at a stretch stamping silver with a big
steel hammer and none of my stamps showed any signs of wear.
Gradually the tips degrade, yes. I was thinking the only reasons I
know of to use a brass hammer are those of fire - refineries, tanker
trucks, gas suppliers. I have a brass screwdriver from a Navy
aircraft maintenace facility.
But, like Tim, if you like your hammer and it does the job, then
that’s what you should use. The important thing is that is has to do
the job. It’s not just stamping, it’s how hammers work. You lift it
up and flick your wrist or more of your arm, depending on the weight
of it. You never want to “throw” the hammer or “push” it. If you are
using muscle power to drive the hammer, then it’s not heavy enough
for the job. That applies to stamping, pounding nails or breaking up
concrete. For stamping in particular, you want to stamp in one
strike. If it’s incomplete then you might touch it up, but you want a
hammer that will do the impression in one blow, not “tap, tap, tap”.
And steel, brass or copper, you need a hammer that can do that.
Whack! Done.
I just had to chime in… hammers are a fetish with me, along with
quality pens, I own a multitude of them. Each has an application and
a place in my heart. For carpentry, my titanium headed hammer- there
is practically no bounce. Wish I had it as a young man to save wear
and tear on my arm and wrist. As a “young man”, I worked as a
carpenter at a time before the air nailers of today. When I hammer
copper, I have a ball peen, of the shelf local hardware store
variety, that has three little “imperfections” on the ball side. It
leaves three little marks where I strike with it, but I can look at
the piece of work and “identify” it as mine. Like an obscure "makers"
mark. A hammer that served as my mainstay at my bench is actually a
Japanese style hammer intended for fine finish work in carpentry. It
is so nicely balanced, a sweet little tool. And now, I have fallen in
love with my newest acquisition, a Fretz. WOW! Not a shameless plug
for promotion, but what a feel, and getting to know it is like the
beginning of going out with that “special” person. Ohh laa laa. Jez,
to fall in love with a hammer, can’t believe I am “confessing” that
to the world!
My point regarding craftsman ship is, make, do, experiment, make
mistakes- learn from them and try not to repeat 'um. I make a lot of
things out of necessity, money is often scarce. I “taught” myself
some of the basics of stone setting by using the only thing I had
available, beach glass. I may never be the calibre of some that I
read on Orchid, but, I can send a piece off knowing it is crafted to
last the life of the person wearing and then some. The fact that it
was purchased tells me that I struck a chord with someone somewhere.
I know this thread began with the discussion of making a little
vessel to use on the bench pin. But craftsmanship overlaps to
encompass “the soul” of the person creating the thing. I hope I’ve
made sense, and I thank you for your indulgence.
The Complete Modern Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers has easy to
follow directions and illustrations on how to design, sharpen, and
temper steel tools for the workshop. It may be a good resource for
those interested in making their own stamps. Amazon lets you see the
Table of Contents, or more if you have an account.
Pam
Newburyport, MA