I’m curious if anybody is getting anything cool for themselves?
I’m getting a new visor with a light! The cheap Chinese one is starting to become unusable.
Also, I also got an engraving ball and some old style gravers off of eBay.
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I splurged and bought Jayne Redman’s new rotating bench pin system. I already had the smaller Swanstrom set-up which is great, but being able to hold larger pieces is very helpful. Especially for cutting blanking dies. My aging hands are thankful.
An engraving ball is a valuable addition to your shop!
I must admit that I don’t think I’ve ever met a tool that I didn’t like, lol.
Happy holidays,
Pam
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Those look amazing. I don’t do enough piercing work to justify one right now, but with my tool addiction… Who knows in the future!
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Hi,
i am planning to get a 30mm KC Ingot Mold once they are bavk in stock…a bit pricey, but i think they will be worth it in terms of being less stressful to pour!
i saw the lindsay engraving ball on instagram and wish i had one, as it has a centering function…but i already have a GRS…
https://www.airgraver.com/TrueCenter-PalmControl.htm
julie
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I saw that auction for the vise. Too rich for my blood. Beautiful tools though. I’m gonna put a year of time in with the eBay tools before splashing out on new stuff. Plus, I can just fabricate a rotating table in the meantime.
Those ingot molds look great. Congrats!
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I got myself a Pepe Tools combo rolling mill. I feel like such a grown-up now!
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Oh that’s awesome! I got an import rolling mill off Craigslist and quickly realized it wasn’t enough. When I got a real one it was so fun. There’s so much I haven’t even tried! God I love tools.
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Thanks! I had bought one of those blue import ones and broke it within three weeks! In part, I didn’t know what I was doing, but also what broke was a roller and that should be the last thing to break, I thought.
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Yeah. I’m saving mine to do some light duty stuff in the future but they are almost a different tool than the good Pepe or durston mills.
I want to build a draw bench after the Christmas rush passed. I have some old steel I’ll put a winch onto.
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I guess I did a bit of a splurge this time. Started with changing my bench (went for a Durston), then I “needed” a Leica microscope as the old one was not exactly working with the new bench. And because of the new microscope, I also needed the GRS mounting plates and shelf (to have the correct distance)…
But the new setup feels better than the old one so I guess it was worth it 
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Steve Makes good stuff. All my orders have been filled and shipped and I will begin to clean the shop soon. I did buy a small pocket printer to see if it will help me transfer images to be pierced or engraved. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone…Rob
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Rob,
You’ll have to let us know how that pocket printer works out.
Happy Holidays,
Pam
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It works great. You connect via blue tooth, take a picture on your phone, do whatever processing is needed and print. The sticky labels are on a continuous roll, so you only print what you need. They are up to 2" wide and come in white, translucent, transparent and various colors. I have been printing on regular label stock, but it is heavy and you waste a lot of the label. I am hoping that the thin paper will allow me to both pierce and engrave right over the printed lines. This is my solution to not buying a marking laser. Lets see, $40 vs $6,000. More when I know it so stay tuned…Rob
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Damn congrats! That’s a real upgrade!
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Very interesting. Is this like the process engravers use with laser printers?
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There are lots of different ways that engravers transfer images to metal. Remember that it takes a lifetime to become a good engraver, so some of them can just start to engrave. Others just place a few marks on the metal with a fine marking pen or scribe and engrave. Most use some form of transfer. They may include coating the metal with diluted gesso and then transferring with carbon paper. There are various other methods, depending on the metal that include transferring a laser or ink image through some kind of solvent. In this case, the image may be reversed. You can also buy a very nice package from TW Design https://twdesignshone.com I have it and it works great. TW is a good resource for engraving along with Steve Lindsay and Sam Alfano. I started engraving at the age of 70, so I still have a lot to learn and probably not enough time to learn it all. Do some searches online at both Lindsay engraving and Sam Alfano and you will see some amazing work. Look also at gun engravers. I have been researching fiber lasers for several reasons, only one is to transfer an image to be engraved or pierced, hence my comment about lasers. I have confirmed that there are some engravers who use a laser for this purpose. Good luck…Rob
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Hi Rob,
what is the brand/ model of your picket printer? i am curioys yo see it!
julie
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Following is a link. I was rated well out of the thousands that you can buy. This is just an experiment on my part…Rob
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086JQYMT1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
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I finally got myself a flexshaft, with a hammer handpiece, to improve my skills and really get into stone-setting. I’m really psyched up!
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Check the maximum rpm’s. They can burn out if you run them too fast.
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