The tidy jeweller (!?)

Hi John. This is a good variation on the stainless steel and lead
‘3rd arm weight’ that I show on my webpage
http://www.adam.co.nz/workshop/street.htm (Go direct:
http://www.adam.co.nz/workshop/sprite/set2.jpg

I use it often to hold the ring fairly securely onto the board
at the bottom of the ring while I work on the top. I have another
one with a different shaped ‘arm’. The distance of the arm from
the lead weight can be tuned to get a heavier or lighter
effective weight at the arm’s end.

Brian
B r i a n =A0 A d a m J e w e l l e r y E y e w e a r =A0
@Brian_Adam1 ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND

 G'day; in that case, how do you keep those innumerable
Swiss-type jeweller's files?   

Hi John, I have a hard wood block with holes drilled in it. I
put the files in these holes (won’t work well for riffler.) For
rifflers, I went to an art supply store and found a round paint
brush caddy (about 6" diameter, with a grate at the top and
separated matching grate at the bottom - the thing is about 4"
high) I can put most of my rifflers in that, along with my
bezel roller and burnishing tool, screw drivers, pencils and
whatever else I have room for.

   I went to a scrap metal yard and was allowed to remove some
long strips of the magnetic tape used to hold refrigerator
doors shut. 

John, I don’t know if it’s available where you are, but I went
to my local hardware store and purchased magnetic knife holder
units. Long double strips of moderately strong magnets that are
imbedded into plastic racks which screw into the wall. I keep all
of my bits and tips and files on them. Very handy indeed. In
fact, lazy old me can practically toss the items at the strip and
they stick. OK, I’m exaggerating just a little, but they work
wonderfully.

Lisa, (saw a huge bobcat the other day) Topanga, CA USA

   Hi John, I have a hard wood block with holes drilled in it. 

I started with this same setup. I drilled holes for burs and
needle files. Had another one with larger holes for my stamps
that are 1/4"-3/8" in diameter. Worked well for the most part,
but now I have one of those rotating bur holders from Rio, which
cost about $13 U.S. It was well worth the money. It holds lots of
burs and polishing points in a small area, and because of the
tiers, I can separate my points according to how coarse or fine
they are. What I also found that worked well for those small
points was my kids’ old Bristle Blocks. These were plastic
building blocks with nubbins sticking out. Work great, and lots
cheaper as kids’ toys than from jewelry suppliers.

On another area of the workbench, I keep my miniature buffs,
cutting wheels, sanding disks, etc. organized and clean by using
those small candy tubes that mini M & M’s come in. They’re just
the right size, you can write the contents on the outside, they
seal to keep contents in and debris out, and they don’t take up
much room in my side drawers because they stack neatly on their
sides. Kids don’t mind taking care of the M & M’s either.

Kathy