I am with you Lisa on that little rant man does it piss me off when I
got married I had more tools then my husband and unlike him I knew
how to use all my tools. I make and sell chasing and repousse tools
to put food on my table. I make jewelry but so far I do better with
the tools.
Best wishes
Jen
I made a lot of my dapping punches from ball bearings
Rollers from larger roller bearings are very hard material and make
great anvils (on their end) and stakes/formers also can be free from
many engineering workshops - mine came from an International Paper
plant scrap metal dumpster.
Robin Key
Clavis Jewellery
Aberdeen, Scotland
After reading the posts on gender discrimination as it pertains to
tools, I consider myself extremely fortunate. Other than
modification, I have never pursued making my own tools; however, for
my birthday last year, one friend gave me a circular saw. He
researched available saws and was able to find one that was suitable
to my small hands (I never quite made it to 5ā2"), light enough to
handle safely yet extremely powerful. Another group of friends
pitched in together and gave me a gift card to purchase a chain saw.
I had not yet begun working with silver but had I been, I am certain
I would have seen something like a wonderful acetylene torch topped
with a big red bow! Age? - not a spring chicken here - my sixty third
birthday is just over 3 months away.
My father was a tool and die maker and when he worked in his shop - I
was always the one there with him. (The brother was off playing
sports.) I learned to solder when I was about 10 by helping my dad
build a Heath-kit FM Receiver - which I still have. I am fortunate to
have had parents who were blind to gender bias. Now that I am widowed
and living on a small farm, this background has served me well.
Suzan
When I go into a tool supply store, I let the salesmen know this is
my CANDY store!!! I wooo and ahhh and pick up hand tools, by then
the clerk has gotten the message, I am serious. I know what I am
looking for and what will or can be modified for my needs. This
really blows their minds. For my husbandās birthdays, Fatherās day
and other holidays, I buy tools, that I can use. For my birthday,
Christmas, Motherās Day, etc, I buy tools, that I can use. LOL. I
still need some tools, but not many.
Veva Bailey
Renate,
I think I need to explain my comment. As a woman over 50 I wasnāt
exposed to tools as I was growing up as I feel my male counter parts
were. They learned to tinker with bikes or helped their fathers fix
the family car. Women of my age, it was assumed, didnāt learn to use
tools so my comment that it is harder for women than for men was
meant to convey the time in which I was born not my ability to learn
how to use tools. Now when I go to a places like harbor freight, my
husband tells me he will be waiting in the car for me since he is
always finished before me. I am always a happy camper when I get a
chance to look at tools and how I can use them. I just wished I would
have had the opportunity when I was younger to have had someone to
encourage me to learn to use them.
Roxan OāBrien
www.designsbyroxan.com
This is a simple tip and even simpler tool. When learning to solder
a wire shape to sheet I was told the wire should be hammered
absolutely flat (i.e., no space or gaps between the wire and the
sheet) before soldering. Hitting the wire made the formerly flat
parts bend (my aim needs more work) and turning the piece over to
hammer out the bend just wasnāt making the wire flat. As soon as one
section was flat another section bentā¦
In desperation I took some long tin pieces of wood (ice cream sticks
and small diameter wooden dowels were handiest) and placed the end
of the wooden object over the part of the wire that was raised.
Instead of hitting the wire I hit the wood which in turn depressed
the wire only at the point directly under the wood. Precision was
achieved and I even found it easier to control the force of the
strike. And yes, I was finally able to achieve the desired result, a
perfectly flat wire shape.
Mary Partlan, White Branch Designs
It's a generational thing.
I donāt agree. If you look back in time youāll find plenty of women
skilled in the use of tools. Madame Marie Curie comes to mind in the
sciences. Mary Cassatt was an accomplished painter who could use her
tools skillfully. Annie Oakley was skilled in the use of her tools.
Iāve no doubt there have been more than a few women who have been
skilled in the use of farm tools in the support of their families.
There may even have been some practicing blacksmithing in years past,
and perhaps today too.
The upshot is that while it may be the stereotyped image that a
woman doesnāt know tools, you can find women who donāt, as well as
men who donāt, as well as men and women who do. Itās a learned skill,
just as cooking, ironing, cleaning house, and washing clothes (which
some women are surprised I can do fairly well).
Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Henderson, NV
I am with you Lisa on that little rant man does it piss me off when I got married I had more tools then my husband and unlike him I knew how to use all my tools.
Yes, Jen, I know what you mean. I have a wood shop, and my husband
has a tool box. When people see our basement, with the table saw,
lathe, etc, they usually make a comment about my husband having a
nice setup. Um, no! Thatās mine, guys. 
I actually had a workman
get noticeably uncomfortable when he realized I was the one with the
tools, not Dan.
Lisa
Designs by Lisa Gallagher
My daughter works in my shop and on my properties including diverse works as lathe, press, or millwork and moving logs or placing beams; she still bugs me to find her pink or purple safety glasses, ear muffs etc.. Why not work and have tools look nice in your eyes.
OK, so I donāt mind if a female power-tool-user wants to be
fashionable while being safe. If youāre wearing eye protection all
day, why not have it look nice? Sure! I have regular glasses, and of
course I want them to look good on me, and if I had to wear a
welding helmet all day, I might just look for a slightly more
attractive one. I like flowers! Itās more the marketing guysā idea
that girls have to have flowers and pretty colors on their tools in
order to feel they can use them that bugs me. Promoting the idea that
girls canāt handle the ārealā tools. I donāt get the idea that itās
just so that if they are using a screwdriver itās one that looks
nice, it seems more that they think it somehow becomes less
threatening to a girl when itās pink. Maybe itās because I didnāt
usually play with dolls when I was little, I built things with legos
instead. Oh, and I learned how to use power tools in my Dadās
wood shop, too. I guess after getting spoken down to so many times at
the hardware store because Iām a female (and blonde!) I get sort of
sensitive about it.
Lisa
Designs by Lisa Gallagher
As a woman over 50 I wasn't exposed to tools as I was growing up as I feel my male counter parts were
Roxan - Iām in your āgroupā, with the fortunate exception being that
my dad DID show me how to use tools! I was his helper, the āboyā
since until I was 13 there wasnāt one in the family. I helped work
with wood tools, lay stones, jury-rig car repairsā¦so Iāve always
been the āfix-itā person. However my dad grew up on a subsistance
farm, which did not get electricity or running water until after my
parents had married, so everyone had to be able to pull their
weight!
Interestingly, my husband, who is a good bit older than I am, is NOT
good with tools. Iām the fixer in the family, and the tool-aholic!
Iāve learned to go to Loweās, Harbor Freight, and the good hardware
store an hour away aloneā¦then Iām not rushed by a bored husband!
I just wish I knew how to do more with more tools - I will never
know enough!
Beth Wicker
Three Cats and a Dog Design Studio
Daniel, you might direct your daughter to ma.charmandhammer.com - a
website specializing in all sorts of āgirlyā tools and safety stuff.
Yes, they have pink safety glasses! (And hardhats, and tool belts,
andā¦) (Usual disclaimer)
This thread got me all fired up, too - we live in a time that (I
hope) is moving beyond gender stereotypes, and parents who raise
their children to believe that they can/canāt do something simply
because of the arrangement of their genitalia should be smacked.
Practically everything I do was once considered the sole province of
men: Iām an artist, horticulturist, jeweler, entomologist, and
editor. Iāve made knives, I love my power tools, I can lift heavy
things, and I like muscle cars. I can even wee in the woods 
Iām definitely not a man-hater (I like them enough to have married
one), but I canāt stand sexism in any form. (And Iād much rather eat
my husbandās cooking than my own!)
Jessee Smith
Cincinnati, OH
www.silverspotstudio.com
As a woman over 50 I wasn't exposed to tools as I was growing up as I feel my male counter parts were.
Thereās nothing I like better than a woman who likes and uses and
appreciates tools - Jo-Annās sitting behind me right now banging and
filing away.
āI love work, I can sit and watch it all dayā¦ā
Women of my age, it was assumed, didn't learn to use tools so my comment that it is harder for women than for men was meant to convey the time in which I was born not my ability to learn how to use tools.
Hey Roxan
Oh I do hope I didnāt upset youā¦ you are not aloneā¦ there are
still young women I know who feel that some things are āmenās
businessā and I canāt help saying my piece. Glad you are having fun
in the hardware store. One of my favourite places too.
By the way I am also over 50 and getting too close to 60 but I was
āthe boyā in the family. I spent long boring hours handing father
tools to fix my old VW. Iām a bit allergic to car repairs due to that
but can sometimes get out of trouble in an emergency. I did have the
run of the shed and was allowed to use any tools so long as I put
them back in the right place. I think I may be reacting to that too,
my workbench is always a mess.
Cheers Renate
PS I love the sound of Roxan shouted out loud.
This thread got me all fired up, too - we live in a time that (I hope) is moving beyond gender stereotypes, and parents who raise their children to believe that they can/can't do something simply because of the arrangement of their genitalia should be smacked. Practically everything I do was once considered the sole province of men: I'm an artist, horticulturist, jeweler, entomologist, and editor.
To think that men and women are equal is foolish. In the eyes of God
we areā¦but If men raced against women all the time then women would
almost always be losers. Thats why we have women against women, men
against men or mixed against mixed. No men against women. Cause that
just wouldnt be fair. Cause we are not equalā¦ Whats wrong with
women liking pink tools? And as for your comment regarding āparents
whoā¦ should be smackedā I DONT AGREE. Having said that I treat
women equally on the bench as i do men. But if I have a job that
requires a thick gauge wire to be pulled through a draw plate Iām
gonna give it toā¦ Iāll let you answer that one.
Cheers
Chris
Iām well over 50 and was raised on a farm in Africa. Some of my
early childhood memories are of my mother, out on the farm in the
mornings, using a theodolite to plot contours on the steep hillsides.
Sheād come home at lunch and the afternoon would be spent in her
sewing room - she made all my clothes and did beautiful tapestry
work. Dad worked in town all day, and when he came home, he and I
used to spend a couple of hours in the garden growing dahlias. Oh
yes, and a male family friend did the most exquisite petit-point.
If Iād been raised in a city, Mum would have lived a very different
life and Iād have developed very different attitudes to the ones I
have today. Thereās plenty of things Iām either not good at or prefer
to get someone else to do for me, but it rarely occurs to me that I
(or anyone else) is better at something purely on the basis of their
sex.
Whether girls or boys are exposed to tools during their childhood
and youth depends on their parents and where they live.
As adults, whether we accept the traditional āmale/femaleā roles our
society still tries to impose on us is pretty much up to us! Itās
great to see Orchidians of both sexes kicking over the traces where
tools and jewels are concerned.
Jane Walker
In my family, Mechanical ability is matrilineal. My late grandmother
born in the 1880ās, my late mother, born in 1917, my sister and I are
all very handy with tools and feel comfortable doing just about
anything mechanical. Mother could fix the car, wire electrical
objects, etcā¦ My late father, my brother and my son are all
hopeless. If one of them picks up a hammer, somebodyās gonna get
hurt. Guyās canāt even jiggle a toilet handle with authority. I sure
hope my new grand daughter Lydia gets the handy gene.
One good thing about pink tools would be that they would be sure to
be returned when borrowed by a man!
Mālou
Hi,
As a 50 + person,an only child & grandfather was a sheet metal
workerā¦ Yes, I like toolsā¦In fact I use his 100 year tacking
hammer still today, refinished several times on face surface but
handle is still original wood (although split & patched). I grew up
going to hardware stores with dad and when asked for a tool by John
or whoever, I still give several choicesā¦We have plenty of tools(
you can never have quite enough) and I still have much joy using
Nonnoās when shaping or sizing metalā¦
PS Broken saw blades make a great marker when soldering a broken
chainā¦Just lay it down on the pad to mark where the break is(you
have already joined the two ends) and solder away.
Have a great weekend & cheers from SF,
Jo-Ann Maggiora Donivan
Hi Daniel,
And NOT ones that are pink with flowers on them
Try
Cheers,
Karen
Am I the only one who feels this topic has lost itās intended
course? I donāt think the colour of my fileās handles are going to
make me a better jeweller any time soonā¦ Anyway, my personal
favourite bench tip is to cut your emery paper into strips of 3-6mm
wide and 12-15cm lengths then thread these strips into a saw frame,
using the emery paper like you would a saw blade. Simple, yes, but it
make cleaning up in hard to reach areas so much easier without having
to fiddle around the tiny bits of emery paper and files.
So thats my contribution, look forward to hearing yours.
Oh and itās not like I have anything against the colour pink, but we
all know red is the fastest colour. 
Jonathon Calleija