CrookedEye
Fear the Crooked Eye
Did you have to finish with a superfine sandpaper or cardboard to make sure that the finished tool presented a smooth surface to minimize stickiness or was it smooth enough after filing?
Zach
Hot doggie it works VERY WELL
- Thread starter Shawn R. L.
- Start date
Did you have to finish with a superfine sandpaper or cardboard to make sure that the finished tool presented a smooth surface to minimize stickiness or was it smooth enough after filing?
Zach
Avelorn
Sven Jonsson
Great idea! I want my tools flexible as well.. I mean I use clay-shapers for almost everything. And for very fine detail I use needles.. and I have never had any issue of putty sticking to such a small surface area.
Might have to try this out. You should take a patent and sell them!
Might have to try this out. You should take a patent and sell them!
freakinacage
Well-known member
@crooked eye:
gowestover
New member
Ok, I have a quick question while we\'re on the topic of tools.
Awhile back I saw a thread or article on a small rotary tool that I think was a professional jeweler\'s tool. It was electric and it looked like the person inserted a small grinding stick about the size of a mechanical drafting pencil lead in to it. It spun around like a Dremel tool, and there were pictures of this person correcting mold lines on an old mini - like a Ral Partha elf or something. It may or may not have been on this forum.
Anybody recall seeing this and know where it is?
(Not trying to be a hi-jack here, Shawn. )
Awhile back I saw a thread or article on a small rotary tool that I think was a professional jeweler\'s tool. It was electric and it looked like the person inserted a small grinding stick about the size of a mechanical drafting pencil lead in to it. It spun around like a Dremel tool, and there were pictures of this person correcting mold lines on an old mini - like a Ral Partha elf or something. It may or may not have been on this forum.
Anybody recall seeing this and know where it is?
(Not trying to be a hi-jack here, Shawn. )
I guess the issue of flexibility in sculpting tools is one of preference like so many other aspects of this hobby. For the most part, I object to the extreme flexibility of PTFE as a material for making tools simply because it doesn\'t machine so well as other materials, Delrin for instance. Also, consider that all my past experience has been with tools made of steel as previously mentioned, so I think I\'ve developed a prejudice for a stiffer tool.
When making my tools I have usually cut a length of material (Delrin in this case) about 3 inches long. The purpose here is to make the tool a finished length that can be used without a holder. Having a material length of three inches allows both ends to be machined (or filed) to useful shapes while leaving the whole long enough for easy use. An explanation exists for why I prefer to not use tool holders which is; that for some reason a larger diameter tool (one held in a handle) tends to cause me to work with a heavier hand, while a smaller tool diameter somehow registers in my subconscious as something that needs to be worked with gently. Despite all this I do have tool holders, (X-acto needle file handles with the large ends cut down and rounded) which I use on occasion, mostly with a chisel point tool for applying putty and rough manipulation. Finish work is invariably done with handless tools.
That said, I wouldn\'t find fault with anyone\'s choice of a deferent method and tool employment, especially as so much of technique is personal and a product of what we have gotten used to. Delrin is simply offered as an alternative, that may better suit some different techniques or inclinations, as it does mine.
:drunk:
Ray
When making my tools I have usually cut a length of material (Delrin in this case) about 3 inches long. The purpose here is to make the tool a finished length that can be used without a holder. Having a material length of three inches allows both ends to be machined (or filed) to useful shapes while leaving the whole long enough for easy use. An explanation exists for why I prefer to not use tool holders which is; that for some reason a larger diameter tool (one held in a handle) tends to cause me to work with a heavier hand, while a smaller tool diameter somehow registers in my subconscious as something that needs to be worked with gently. Despite all this I do have tool holders, (X-acto needle file handles with the large ends cut down and rounded) which I use on occasion, mostly with a chisel point tool for applying putty and rough manipulation. Finish work is invariably done with handless tools.
That said, I wouldn\'t find fault with anyone\'s choice of a deferent method and tool employment, especially as so much of technique is personal and a product of what we have gotten used to. Delrin is simply offered as an alternative, that may better suit some different techniques or inclinations, as it does mine.
:drunk:
Ray
freakinacage
Well-known member
yeah i was thinking of doing that saves time mucking around and trying to whittle it down so it fits into something
