Tool Tart Tips

For Fret Sakes!!!

• -A not so subtle rant about the Great Patience Crisis and denying yourself a basic skillset. Or, everything you wanted to know about your fret saw but were too afraid to ask…

It’s a tale of woe I hear on a regular basis.

“Can’t I just cut the metal with a pair of shears?”

“I’m too lazy to use my jewellers’ saw” (yeah. Not a badge of honour people)

“It’s too much hassle to saw it.”

“I am too afraid of using the saw, the blades snap too easily”

I don’t understand why some people seem to think that they are creating a convenient short cut for themselves when they decide to cut jewellery components from sheet metal by using shears.

Look, if it’s leaf, foil or very thin gauge metal you are cutting, then fine. But ½ a millimeter and up? NO!!!! You’re making more work for yourself, when you have a basic, essential tool in your toolbox, that if you are prepared to suck it up and ride the learning curve rollercoaster, will open up a whole new world for you when it comes to metalsmithing.

I’ve been told that I must have been a martyr of sorts in a previous life, because clearly my love of the saw is just about doing penance for something in this life…. Be that as it may, if you are prepared to work at it, break some blades and express your frustration with a few liberating expletives, you will learn some skills that will expand your skills as a maker of jewellery.

My kids told me what they used to hear when I started working with a jewellers’ saw sounded like this: “Grk grk grk Kaping. Ugh. Expletive. Then Ping (tightening the new blade) Grk grk grk grk grk ka-ping Ugh. Expletive.” And so on.

Why am I telling you this? Sure, partly because of my self-deprecating sense of humour, but more importantly, I am sharing it because all of us had to start somewhere. And that somewhere is the beginning.

In this day and age where knowledge is at your fingertips, where it all looks effortless, because what you do not realize, is that that YouTube video that you’ve just watched looks simple because a video editor spent a few hours to make it look slick. I believe this is often why we get completely overwhelmed. They make it look easy, and we get frustrated because it doesn’t work out that way for us right away…..

So, rather than make the effort to learn something that makes sense in our process, we look for shortcuts. We want to look good, but we deny ourselves the luxury of making mistakes and learning from that.

Learning any new skill takes time. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS PEOPLE. And process is about patience.

I’ll give you some pointers. I like the old school saw frames. I paid nearly $80 for a very fancy saw frame a few years back, and working with it for a while, I found I HATED it, so it is gathering dust on my bench. You, on the other hand might love it. I like Antelope saw blades. Scies blades are pretty good too. I use a size 3/0 for most gauges of metal I cut. You may find you like different brands and thicknesses.

If you want to try pierce work, I suggest you practice on copper AND brass. Copper is softer than silver, brass is more rigid. If you are comfortable piercing both of those metals, you will be fine working in silver. Besides, those bits that you have cut make for some super cool mixed metal possibilities….

So, put the blade in, remember that the teeth should point downwards (like a child’s drawing of a Christmas tree)Get the tension right - it should make a crisp ‘ping’ sound when you pluck at it. And have at ‘er. Snap some blades, say a few naughty words when you get frustrated, but whatever you do keep going. Like Dory in Finding Nemo. You will be glad you did. Oh, and you’re welcome.