It WAS on my lathe...

[Lee Alkureishi]

Ok, so there's a little more flat work than turning on this one, but it WAS on my lathe, even if just for a little while... That counts, right?

A friend of mine is an amateur jeweler and metalworker, and recently asked me if I would make him a bench pin. I had to look up what that was, and it led me to a post by Damon Stathatos right here on SMC. This pin is in the style of those made by Philip Fike (and subsequently Damon).

The wood is curly sugar maple - probably my favourite wood to work with. Dry sanded up through 1500, then triple buffed.

Sorry for the poor photos - a photo tent/camera are on the want list!

C&C always welcome!

Lee

[Joe Kieve]

Wow...impressive, detail work. Looks very tedious. How long did it take you to make that?

joe

[Peter Blair]

Okkkk . . . so just how is it used. looks great but not sure what all the notches etc are for?

[Lee Alkureishi]

Hi Joe,

I probably spent a total of 5-6 hours on the piece, not including sanding - It started as a piece of roughsawn maple. I love taking a piece from roughsawn to finished - a sense of satisfaction from it, kinda like taking a log and making a bowl...

I guess if I was making another, it probably would be tedious, but this was the first time I've used a lot of the techniques I used here, so it was a continual learning process - no time to get bored! The only real boring part was the hand sanding, which did take a long time, but I didn't count that in the time estimate above because I did it all while sitting in front of the TV!

I used a combination of table saw, bandsaw, drill press, rotary tool, files and rasps for all the different nooks and crannies.

Pete:

Good question! I'm no metallurgist, but from what I've read the bench pin is clamped to the jewellers' bench (or in this case, the turned dowel end is shoved into a similarly-sized hole in the bench to secure it). The various shapes can be used to form the precious metal pieces by pounding them into shape. The dapping depressions (hemispherical pits in the side) are used for forming circular/half-circular shapes. Similarly, the drilled half-holes on the other side are for forming cylinders or tubes. The horn-shaped thingy on the end is for stabilizing rings or similar shaped pieces while filing them. The prongs (or tines - not sure what they should be called) I think are so the workpiece can be slotted in between them to stabilize it. The routed slot - no idea, but it was in the design so I copied it!

In the end, this thing is going to get all beaten up from being pounded into submission, but I figured I might as well make it all shiny at least to start with. Buffing curly maple sure is satisfying... I'm also wondering if the tines are a little thin and might break if pounded hard, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with it - a real learning experience!

Best,

Lee

[Peter Blair]

Thanks for the reply Lee. I remain puzzled why it is made from a semi hard wood and not metal or another really dense wood. It is a beautiful item but I just don't see it standing up to much of what you indicate it is designed for. Sort of a shame . . . .

[Lee Alkureishi]

I'm not sure either - I've seen them made from very hard/dense woods, but also from maple. In fact, the standard ones you can buy from stores I'm pretty sure are made from pine or similar. I guess the gold and silver pieced they work with are pretty thin, so it esn't take much hitting to form them ...

[Eric DeSilva]

My recollection was that the bench pin was for supporting a piece while sawing, and they were wood because if you estimated wrong and cut the support, they were cheap to replace and didn't destroy your sawblades. Granted, I did silverwork, but all forming was done with metal forms--ring sizers, anvils, presses... Annealed silver is relatively soft, but it would still mark up maple pretty quick.

[Lee Alkureishi]

Thanks for the info. Like I said: I'm no metallurgist! I saw some pictures of these, and decided to make one similar. What happens with it now, who knows!

[Jerry Marcantel]

Lee, it's been my understanding that a metalurgist is a metal scientist. That bench pin you made is for metal workers, specifically jewelers. I've done gold, sivler, copper and brass peircings or shapes you desire. The metal is supported on top at the V notch, the saw blade goes through a small hole in the metal, and the handle is under the work and pin, and all cutting is on the down stroke. For outside shapes, all you do is draw the design, and start cutting using the V notch as the support.
As far as that pin you made, I think you covered every aspect of a tool needed by someone making jewelry. It's a beautiful piece.
All the one's I've made for myself were just flat pieces with the notch in it... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Thom Sturgill]

+1 to Jerry's comment. I've only done silver work, but have used a bench pin for that. My brother used to do inlay work on guitars and used the same process to hand cut mother of pearl (not recommended - that stuff sets up in your lungs like concrete) that I would for cutting silver sheet.

[Lee Alkureishi]

Thom and Jerry, (!)

Thanks for the additional info - always learning!

Jerry - May I ask what kind of wood you made yours from?

Thanks