Welcome to the shop. This is where I make TAH Handcrafted Jewelry.
The dust created when polishing jewelry is hazardous to breathe and it will get everywhere, if you don't control it. My solution to this problem was to buy a used Torrit dust collector and convert it into my custom polishing station by adding a table top, shelves, metal hoods, ducting, protective eye shields and a two speed Baldor polishing lathe. I built it so that the table overhangs in the front, giving me room for my legs, so that I can sit down when I have a lot of polishing to do. It was a lot of work to make this polishing station, but it has been well worth the effort.
My jeweler's bench is to the right. I bought it used. It was custom made for it's previous owner. It has a very thick top to withstand the pounding that it receives. It has many drawers for tools and two trays that slide out to catch filings.
A close up of the bench with one of the catch trays and two drawers pulled out
Custom drawers designed to hold hundreds of burs, grinding and polishing tools for the flexible shaft polishing motor. The bench had one custom drawer when I got it. I liked it so much that I modified an existing drawer when I needed more room.
This is me, working on a custom designed piece at the bench. The lights in the shop are color balanced for day light. This lets me see the stones and metal in a natural color as they would be seen if you were looking at them out of doors.
This is my soldering station. It is a steel work bench, much safer than wood when you are working with torches. You can see my kiln in the upper left corner and my Smith Little torch in the lower right hand corner. I use propane and compressed oxygen in the torch. I also have a larger torch that I use when I need a lot of heat.
This bench has several important tools on it. Starting at the left is a small sink that is set up as a steam cleaning station, then the rolling mill, ring stretcher and arbor press. My home made draw bench is below the bench to save space. A draw bench is used in wire making.
This is a close up of my rolling mill. A rolling mill is used to make sheet and wire. This is a combination mill it has two rollers with a flat section for making sheet thinner and a section with square grooves for making square wire smaller.
Part of the draw bench is visible under the rolling mill. This is the end of the draw bench where the dies are placed through which the wire is drawn (pulled) to make it smaller or change it's shape. The wire is drawn through consecutively smaller holes until it finally reaches the desired size and shape. I use a hand cranked boat trailer winch on the other end of the draw bench to pull the wire through the draw plates (dies).
This is my ring stretcher and reducer. A ring is places on the vertical mandrel and the lever is pulled, expanding the mandrel, making the ring larger, this is done with care to avoid over-sizing the ring. A ring is placed in one of the tapered holes in the bottom and pressed to make it smaller, this only works on plain band rings. Other rings need to be cut and have a piece added or removed to be sized properly.