Hi all, I'm new. Need help advice regarding setting up my own workshop

[SwiftandHare]

Hi all,

Am looking for help and advice. I'm wanting to set up my own workshop but as I'm still learning I'm not sure exactly what tools etc I need. I'm working with mainly silver and don't work with gold at all. Am hoping to though. I'm learning at a local studio at the moment but now would like to work from home and have some money to set up. Any advice will help. What do I need. Going cross eyed with tools etc. Thank you

[ps_bond]

While I'm probably the last person to ask what's "needed", the start point has to be what do you make, or what do you want to make?
Small scale jewellery? Enamelled pieces? Silver vessels? Stone set jewellery? PMC? Cast waxes?

[Dennis]

Short answer: don't buy any thing until you need it for the project in hand. You have already browsed the tools in a workshop, so you will be familiar with them to some extent. A text book which lists tools and techniques will back this up.

The Work Bench Guide To Jewelry Techniques, by Anastasia Young, would fit the bill, or if you want something more elementary, but full of simple projects, try
Two-In-One Manuals, Jewellery by Madeline Coles.

Don't though make the beginners' mistake of expecting too much from a hand held mini-torch. If you are going to solder, you will soon need something bigger and hotter. You will also need to put in place health and safety rules for fire prevention and ventilation. Dennis.

[caroleallen]

I'd say the minimum you'll need are:

Saw and blades
Files
Pliers (snipe nose, flat nose and round headed)
Shears
Wire cutters (Razor flush if you can afford them)
A torch (research this on here as there have been loads of discussions)
Pickle pot (cheapie Argos slow cooker)
Solder block
Pendant drill (again research on here) (you can use this for drilling, filing, burring and polishing)

I'm sure there are loads of other things, but those are basic things that everyone needs.

[theresa]

What about a vice & bench peg?

[CJ57]

I'd say the minimum you'll need are:

Saw and blades
Files
Pliers (snipe nose, flat nose and round headed)
Shears
Wire cutters (Razor flush if you can afford them)
A torch (research this on here as there have been loads of discussions)
Pickle pot (cheapie Argos slow cooker)
Solder block
Pendant drill (again research on here) (you can use this for drilling, filing, burring and polishing)

I'm sure there are loads of other things, but those are basic things that everyone needs.

I'll add to Carole's list
My basic kit from college added to Carole's
Without being too obvious as was said a bench and bench peg, you can get various sizes of vice
Needle files
I've never had a pendant drill but always a bench polisher and Archimedes drill until I bought a wee bench
drill recently
A flat plate, my first one was an old dry iron plate, which I still use alongside a bought one
A hide mallet
Planishing hammer
Engineers hammer

These were probably the same hand tools I started with as the author went to the same college

.

[caroleallen]

Oh yes, forgot about those bits. I can see why you're going cross-eyed. When I started, I went through the Cooksons catalogue with my tutor.

[TeeDee]

Like yourself I did a lot of my learning at night school and at a local studio. From that I started to get an idea of what I would like make at home.
My early choice of tools was then guided by what I was using at the places where I undertook training so you may want to have a good look around the studio where you train and talk with your mentor(s).
If you have the budget, I would go along with all the recommendations in previous posts
A few other tips:
The further you progress the more likely you are to want to buy more tools............it can be addictive!

Buy the best you can afford with things you use a lot like pliers and files. Having said that many of entry level tools such as dapping bocks, punches mandrels etc. are made in India and are quite adequate and a fraction of the price of English and Italian tools.

Before you throw any old bits of wood or metal away, always think whether it may be useful as a punch, former, backstop(for drilling) or anything else for that matter. Even an old round lamp standard can substitute for a former if you don't have a ready made one.

Hope you get as much enjoyment with making as I do
Tim

[CJ57]

As Tim said rolling pins darning mushrooms even the end of a dolly peg can be used from forming. I actually prefer my peg than my metal doming tools and wish I'd bought a wooden set. It's quite useful to adapt household items to your needs until you either have the money or know exactly what you need. I did without for decades until I joined the other forum and it has been my downfall!

[Sandra]

I'm new at this too so I still don't have everything I need but I started with a saw, files, pliers, hammers, (I actually pinched some hammers, pliers and files from my hubby's toolbox hehe...), a steel plate with a rubber block, soldering block, bench vice and bench pin, a plastic tweezers for the pickle and a special reverse tweezers with insulated handle for picking up hot metal, and a torch. And then I bought books both paper and via my Ipad Kindler reader. I've just subscribed to "At the Bench" and that's pretty helpful for specific problems and following along for projects. Each project seems to involve a new tool or two so my workshop is slowly but surely building up to quite a good collection but I still need so much more. I only have a Dremel pendant drill with the drill press accessory and still only have a hand held torch but I now know its limitations and base my designs on what I know I can do with it. I think in the beginning you can learn and do quite a bit with just the basics, as you get further into it you'll know what you need.

I was at a special WWII event at the Watercress Steam railway this weekend and actually picked up a lovely old Army hammer at a tabletop sale that I know will be great for hammering texture as well as a set of files from the model railway supply section in the giftshop. I now look at tools and things with a new eye! In fact I was giving myself a pedicure last week and found myself wondering if my Dremel pendant drill would be a good idea for it, is that normal?