Greetings from Q Branch

[Stirring Moose]

Hi all. Just joined this forum. Not a huge amount to show for myself as yet in the way of jewellery. More usually involved in making custom parts for cars and motorcycles, and inventing "gadgets" for theatrical use (hence "Q" nickname referred to in title of thread). Have done a small amount of hand engraving on aluminium, plus a version of the Remembrance Day poppy made using polished aluminium, copper and brass in place of the red, black and green respectively. Am now pondering doing some engraving on brass and inlaying it with silver. Not sure about getting the silver to stick to the brass yet so any advice on that score much appreciated.


S.M.

[Tabby66]

Welcome Mr Moose, great name and background,....i think there is quite a lot of info around on inlaying metal, may also be worth having a look on Ganoskin ;)

[Stirring Moose]

Thanks. Am already finding more stuff elsewhere on this forum about the metal inlaying but will try Ganoskin as well. As for my background, once I have enough posts on here to allow posting of URLs I'll bung up a couple of links to my previous work in case anyone's interested.

S.M.

[Stirring Moose]

Think I can now post links:
www.facebook.com/dtrpp
www.facebook.com/dtrstagegadgets

Both pages are done on Facebook but are public access so doesn't matter if you have an account or not. They cover pretty much all the things I have made, from a replica French Revolution guillotine to repair pieces for a broken lawnmower! The jewellery stuff is in there too though!

S.M.

[ps_bond]

Fun stuff... Go on, upset me - post some pictures of the tools you're using for the metal bashing. I think I can see TIG work (although I'm conscious my MIG will do aluminium); hammers & sandbags I'd take as a given - English wheel?

[Petal]

A warm welcome from me too Mr Moose. Judging from your facebook page, I'm looking forward to seeing what else you make... :)

[CJ57]

Welcome from me too Mr Moose, big machines and tools will get the men interested. Will be interested to see what you have planned for jewellery, wouldn't know what to do with a MIG welder myself :) The stage work looks fascinating

[Stirring Moose]

Thanks for the comments everyone. As for the question about the tools for the panel bashing, main ones are (in no particular order): shrinker/stretcher, English wheel, hammers/mallets various, shot bag, dollies, slappers, shrinking pliers, nibbler, aviation snips and a good collection of random shaped bits of metal and wood that have accumulated over time. And yes, you do see TIG welding but sadly not mine. I'm all ticketed up to do it but can't afford the kit yet. I am, however, very lucky in that I have access to a phenomenally talented aerospace certified welder who takes pity on me when I need stuff sticking together!

On the subject of what I will do next, I'll be fascinated to find out...

S.M.

[ps_bond]

So... "Proper" bodywork tools - the use of which seems to be fading.
I've seen some good things about R-Tech TIG inverters; I've got one of their plasma cutters and for the money and level of use it gets it is difficult to see a downside. They do shop-soiled units on EBay from time to time; my cutter was one of those and I've never yet found the scratch they said was there.

[Stirring Moose]

Use of proper bodywork tools is fading because people don't fix things any more. They just chuck stuff away and get new. Most mainstream bodyshops rapidly lose interest if they can't just bolt on a new panel, spray it up and send it out. It's pretty much only the specialist restoration guys, plus a few custom/motorsport nutters like me, who are still actually forming panels by hand.

S.M.