Motivated to use sinusoidal stake

With the recent favorable review of our delrin cross pein hammer for
sinusoidal raising in Jewelry Artist Magazine, we have been
motivated to get serious about adding some sinusoidal stakes to our
product line.

So I have some questions for you sinusoidal stake users out there.

1 - Is the crest part of the stake used for forming? The way I have
seen them used the work is always being done in the bottom of a wave
not the top. If the top section is used it is a frequent use,
occasional use, or a rare use?

2 - On metal stakes the diameter/width of the stake tapers from one
end to the other. On the wood/plastic stakes I have seen the width is
the same over the length. Is there an advantage to have the taper
over the length and if so what is it.

Thanks in advance for helping us understand a sinusoidal stake
better.

Tim
A2Z Corp
www.A2ZCNC.com

Hello Tim, I will attempt to answer your questions, although others
may have different experiences:

  1. I only use the inside or bottom curve for anticlastic raising.

  2. I find the taper on the steel helpful when I am making smaller
    items because it fits the piece better. With my homemade
    polypropylene, I filed down a slight taper to make it smaller and
    rounded on the curves. The problem is that it is not as strong, and
    losses strength if it is too narrow and small.

Hope that is helpful.

I’ll throw in my pennies on this one.

The leading and trailing curves (perpendicular) on a sine stake
allow for easier forming when you are doing anticlastic raising the
slight degree of the perpendicular curve of the stake allows for a
shallow resisting surface so you can slowly work your longitudinal
curve into the piece. Not sure if there is an ideal taper ratio for
this, hopefully someone out there with more experience than I, can
offer an opinion in that regard.

An advantage to the steel sine stake vs the wooden or nylon troughs
is that you can also use a steel hammer and peen the piece, rather
than simply bougeing the piece.

It’s been a while, but I remember using the top of the curve for
more complicated shapes (ones with synclastic and anticlastic
surfaces) but this would fall under the infrequent to rare use rather
than the common day to day.

Hope this helps,
Jon P

Hi Jon

An advantage to the steel sine stake vs the wooden or nylon
troughs is that you can also use a steel hammer and peen the piece,
rather than simply bougeing the piece. 

I am very much a newcommer to anticlastic raising work and looking
for the appropriate sinusoidal stake/s. I had assumed, from what I
have read, that I would need a nylon or wooden stake to work with
metal hammers. So I am intrigued about your comments re peening or
bougeing the piece. Could you explain a little more about these
techniques - do I need both/all three?! (I have recently invested in
a set of Fretz forming hammers)

I have looked for sources of nylon or wooden sinusoidal stakes
online but not yet found any supplier. Can anyone put me in touch
with one - anywhere! It has also been difficult to find a metal
sinusoidal stake that anyone has in stock - so that has been somewhat
frustrating too!

very best wishes
Judy, France

I have looked for sources of nylon or wooden sinusoidal stakes
online but not yet found any supplier. 

I would check with

http://www.allcraftonline.com and reactive metals.

Elaine

I could not find any sinusoidal stakes at allcraft’s site; I know
that they had metal stakes in the past. I bought my metal stake from
Otto Frei. I have not seen nylon/wood stakes for sale. When I made
my plastic stakes, I was taking a class at a university, and used the
recommendations of the instructor, who was a former Seppa grad.
student. He recommended polypropylene instead of nylon or wood. You
can get a pattern for the shape in the book Metaltechnic in the
section by Michael Good. I learned a lot from making some of my own
tools; it made me feel more comfortable adapting adjusting tools so
that they do more of the things I want or need.

Melissa Stenstrom

Melissa: Allcraft has two sinusoidal stakes available, but they are
not on the website–I just ordered one about a week ago: haven’t
received it yet. Call Allcraft and talk to Teva.

Pat Zmuda