Metal sculpting tools
- Thread starter DaN
- Start date
Heresy Miniatures carry a quite good set of sculpting tools (they also have clay shapers, which are really good too). They are also a good place to get putty from, as Andy is very careful only to sell fresh putty.
mickc22
Granddad!
Ebob Miniatures has some tools, he also does a range of basic minis you can sculpt onto
Shawn R. L.
New member
I have made a bunch of little chisels out of allen wrenches lately. Man, them are the hardest things I\'ve found bar none. I was carving some brass and they cut real good AND they actually held their edge.
If you\'re going to try this it takes a little care to have it work well. Get a glass of water with a lot of ice in it and keep it with you when grinding the wrench. VERY LIGHTLY sand or grind the blue/black patina off the first inch or so till you see bright clean metal. Then as you do the heavy grinding, go in about 1/2-1 second increments and immediately cool down in the ice water....let the metal get real cold. While grinding, watch the clean bright area for COLOR. If it starts to turn color, that\'s bad. The more it changes color, the more it\'s losing it\'s temper. If you get to blue or glowing red, I think the metal\'s structure is very degraded as far as having the temper to hold a sharp edge. It does take patience to make a good sharp blade. Get it roughed out and then using graduated sharpening stones, finish it. I was actually able to get them to a razor\'s edge........and, as a bonus, they\'re cheap!!
If you\'re going to try this it takes a little care to have it work well. Get a glass of water with a lot of ice in it and keep it with you when grinding the wrench. VERY LIGHTLY sand or grind the blue/black patina off the first inch or so till you see bright clean metal. Then as you do the heavy grinding, go in about 1/2-1 second increments and immediately cool down in the ice water....let the metal get real cold. While grinding, watch the clean bright area for COLOR. If it starts to turn color, that\'s bad. The more it changes color, the more it\'s losing it\'s temper. If you get to blue or glowing red, I think the metal\'s structure is very degraded as far as having the temper to hold a sharp edge. It does take patience to make a good sharp blade. Get it roughed out and then using graduated sharpening stones, finish it. I was actually able to get them to a razor\'s edge........and, as a bonus, they\'re cheap!!
freakinacage
Well-known member
dude, the best sculpting tools i have ever got are:
clay shapers (get a cone tipped one and a chisel tipped one, black)
a cheap rubber cuticle pusher shaped like this (about half the rpice of a colour shaper the same size):
the gw sculpting tool
a needle (the eye is carefully filed so it is slightly concave and the other end is uber sharp)
and 2 ?crosstitching needles which i have ground and sanded to shape.
the shapers are awesome as they have some give which can be very handy, gw is handy due to the flatness and the angle. all my homemade stuff is great as i can make them the shapes that i need
clay shapers (get a cone tipped one and a chisel tipped one, black)
a cheap rubber cuticle pusher shaped like this (about half the rpice of a colour shaper the same size):
the gw sculpting tool
a needle (the eye is carefully filed so it is slightly concave and the other end is uber sharp)
and 2 ?crosstitching needles which i have ground and sanded to shape.
the shapers are awesome as they have some give which can be very handy, gw is handy due to the flatness and the angle. all my homemade stuff is great as i can make them the shapes that i need
Einion
New member
Excellent, that looks like a good buy for anyone in the UK (in the US eBay is generally the place to look, although some of the online supply places for small tools can have competitive prices).
Metal tools are an important part of a sculptor\'s arsenal and personally I\'d advise ALL budding sculptors try at least one or two - there are things you simply can\'t do with a softer tool and you won\'t know this until you\'ve felt the difference for yourself. A good set like the one linked to provides a lot of differently-shaped ends, one of which is bound to suit individual tastes.
DaN, I\'ve seen many sets of tools like these from eBay and at tool vendors at modelling shows and the quality varies quite a bit. From the pic it looks like these are definitely on the upper end of the scale but just so you know, you might need to refine the edges on a few of them because they can have a small flat instead of being sharp(ish). After refining/reshaping you do need to repolish for best results - smooth tool = smooth mark and polished tool = polished mark - which takes patience to do right but doesn\'t take that long (you\'ll only have to do it once anyway!) and it\'s quite fun to do.
Einion
Cheers fellas 
Wasn\'t expecting MAPLINS to do tools like that - and Shawn I\'m not sure what tools you are talking about I know what an Allen KEY is, but I\'m not sure if they are the same as Allen wrenchs - but regardless - that seems a bit much effort Thanks anyway.
@SG - I\'ll let you know mate, but there\'s a Maplins near me - I\'ll drop by and check there first.
Wasn\'t expecting MAPLINS to do tools like that - and Shawn I\'m not sure what tools you are talking about I know what an Allen KEY is, but I\'m not sure if they are the same as Allen wrenchs - but regardless - that seems a bit much effort
Thanks anyway.@SG - I\'ll let you know mate, but there\'s a Maplins near me - I\'ll drop by and check there first.
mattsterbenz
New member
An allen wrench is a hexagonal shaped rod with a 90 degree angle in it. Probably the same thing as an allen key. It seems like Americans and British alike seem to enjoy changing the names/spelling of things to confuse the general public.
As far as tools go you can\'t go wrong with the Gale Force 9 tool set. That\'s probably what those other shops carry. Anywhere you can get it is fine. It\'s a great set.
I also use the GW tool, a concave spade shaped jewelers tool, and one of those needle tools with the ball at the end (always forget what they\'re called).
I picked up a few clay shapers the other day and I\'m getting the hang of them. I really like them. I need to buy a few smaller ones as the art store was sold out of everything but the large ones.
-Matt
As far as tools go you can\'t go wrong with the Gale Force 9 tool set. That\'s probably what those other shops carry. Anywhere you can get it is fine. It\'s a great set.
I also use the GW tool, a concave spade shaped jewelers tool, and one of those needle tools with the ball at the end (always forget what they\'re called).
I picked up a few clay shapers the other day and I\'m getting the hang of them. I really like them. I need to buy a few smaller ones as the art store was sold out of everything but the large ones.
-Matt
Shawn R. L.
New member
Think I misunderstood your question. I thought you were looking for tools to sculpt metal - Really hard tools.Originally posted by DaN
Cheers fellas
Wasn\'t expecting MAPLINS to do tools like that - and Shawn I\'m not sure what tools you are talking about I know what an Allen KEY is, but I\'m not sure if they are the same as Allen wrenchs - but regardless - that seems a bit much effort
@SG - I\'ll let you know mate, but there\'s a Maplins near me - I\'ll drop by and check there first.
Einion
New member
Thanks for the headsup.Originally posted by DaN
I\'ve ordered a set from Maplins - but in case anyone else is interested I\'d check now as the guy behind the desk said it looked like they were going to be discontinued
Can you post impressions (or photos) when they arrive? I\'d like to know if they\'re as good as they look in the popup image on the site.
Einion
evil tendencies
Cake or Death?
www.Fantization.com has a good selection of sculpting tools, and I think they still have a pro-painter bargain for those of you who do this full-time.
