Jewelry Tool Basics: Expert Advice from Metalsmith Helen Driggs

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I know a lot of people who love jewelry tools — really, really love tools — but I don’t know anyone who loves them more than Helen Driggs. Nor do I know anyone who goes to town testing, analyzing, and explaining jewelry making tools with as much zeal as Helen does — and that includes getting advice from other experts, too. Here are just a few of her insights from some of the early years of her popular Cool Tools & Hip Tips column in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist.

ABOVE: “A hammer is probably the tool that most defines the art of metal manipulation,” says Helen Driggs in one of her earliest Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Cool Tools & Hip Tips columns. “The word ‘smith’ has its root in the verb ‘smite.’ That means to hit. And boy, do we love doing that!” Photo: Jim Lawson

Bench Blocks

When you hammer, you need to hammer your metal when it’s supported by something underneath, and not just by anything. Anvils work, too, but steel bench blocks are the typical go-to something. “I own several steel bench blocks in various sizes. There is always one on my bench, and I have a built-in one sunk into my bench top. Try to keep one side of your block smooth and let the other side ding as it may,” Helen tells us.

“Or keep a smooth block and a rough block so you have two options. Why? I knew you’d ask! The marks on any steel tool will transfer to the metal you are hammering, so dings and dents will show up on your piece unless the surface you are hammering on is mirror smooth — just like a highly polished hammer face will create a highly polished metal surface when you planish.”

Besides being a surface for hammering metal, a bench block can serve other purposes. Helen suggests using two blocks as a metal flattener when needed, and to support work between them for drilling. She also likes to support jewelry on a block stood on end when riveting. “Steel bench blocks are great heat sinks after soldering, annealing or doing repetitive solder operations — like fusing jump rings,” too, she says. “Just transfer the hot piece to a cold steel block to air-cool it. This works for enamel as well.” She also likes to use the edge of a block as a guide in creating a crease or fold in metal, malleting sheet down beyond that edge.

Flex Shaft Accessories: Setting Burs

“When I bought my flex shaft, I got a bonus divided box with a bunch of different burs, tips, wheels, and accessories. I had virtually no experience using a flex shaft (my teacher was a traditionalist and we hand-finished nearly everything), so I had no clue what most of those were for.”

See? Everyone has to start figuring this out somewhere, even Helen — but she wrote up her exploration and findings, photographed what she experimented with, and shared it in one of her columns. “Metal burs are used to cut, texture, and refine metal. Typically, stone setting requires the largest selection of burs.”

Here’s a tip on using setting burs she shared as part of that handy little guide:

“To choose the correct bur for your stone, hold the stone by the girdle in a set of calipers. Test burs by sliding them beside the stone into the calipers — choose a bur that is slightly smaller rather than larger than the stone.”

Suit Yourself: Pliers Modification

Helen Driggs called in expert metalsmith Helen Blythe-Hart for tips on ways to modify standard pliers into custom ones that do exactly what you want them to do. Here are a couple of these:

“Use a small Mizzy-type grinding wheel in the flex-shaft or a half round needle file to carve out a crescent-shaped area on the back of the curved side of a pair of half-round pliers. This allows the pliers to fit into tight spaces,” explains Blythe-Hart.

She also offers this whimsical suggestion . . . that also has a very practical purpose. “Personalize your pliers by using a buzz engraver to decorate or put your name on your jewelry tools. This is especially helpful for easily distinguishing your pliers from others in class.”

I love it when fun things are also useful, don’t you?

— Merle White
Editor-in-Chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist

Check Out the New Tool Issue!

Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist July/August 2020 is this year’s special Tool & Supply Issue. Learn about hand tools, big equipment, and other jewelry tools and supplies for metalsmiths and lapidaries.

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