As you probably know, I am mommy to an infant (although VERY soon I’ll have to start calling him a toddler), which means my metalwork tools need to be safely stored where he can’t accidentally find them and use them to poke his eyes out, or swallow, or otherwise injure and/or poison himself. I’ve started [...]

At the suggestion of a helpful person on twitter, I went to the Ace on San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito to find tiny drill bits – what a GREAT hardware store! I’d been there before for other tools and lightbulbs and things, but I didn’t fully appreciate just how nice of a store it [...]

For drilling soft metals like silver and copper, you can use hardened steel drill bits that are sold at hardware stores, if you can find a small enough size. Diamond coated bits are good if you are drilling something harder, such as glass or a harder metal. I get diamond bits from jewelry supply companies [...]

If you are drilling holes in metal so that you can make wire rivets, it is important to make the hole the same size as the wire. So, with drill bit sizes having a completely different numbering system from wire gauge, how do you know? I did a little research, and this is what I [...]

The Coiling Gizmo is a fun little tool I picked up recently. It is used for making wire coils that can be used in jewelry making. It’s really easy to use – you wrap some wire around the “eye” at one end of the winder, and push it into the base, then start turning the [...]