A Beaded Affair
The Jewelry Widower – Is that your tool or mine?
Like most men, I have a bunch of tools. A passage of manhood, you might say. Heck, some of them are still in their boxes. I swear I will learn to use that router some day, and every guy needs to have a belt sander. With my wife doing a lot of jewelry work, of course she needs tools. The other day she asked me if I had a dapping block? It bugged me that a) I didn’t know what she was talking about, b) she had to tell me what it was and what she needed it for, and c) I did not have one.
I have loaned her several of my tools, and have to follow up on getting them back. Her complaint is that I leave tools all over the place. You never know when you will need a screwdriver, Vise-Grips, hammer, wrench, or nail setter, right? I just like to have them quickly available.
Ever since my wonderful wife began creating her marvelous jewelry, I have been supportive. At first she was interested in the gems, so I bought her as gifts all different types of scopes, weighing devices, magnifying visors with a cool light, tweezers, and other types of gadgets that I thought she would be interested in using.
She has taken over the back bedroom and has multiple work areas, though after all that she is frequently doing her work in the bedroom. I even put in a high def TV so that she could have entertainment while back there. I have built her a neat bin holder on wheels so that she could store her different beads, fittings and other whatchamaycallits she may need. There is a great vise with a vacuum bottom so that she could attach it where she needs it. To top it off, she has her photo studio set up in there, with a tripod from my photojournalist days and a photo cube with lights. All she would need is a fridge, microwave and a hot plate and I might not see her for weeks.
Having found myself at a nearby Harbor Freight on the way home from work today, I thought I would surprise my wife with a gift of the dapping block. I went in and asked one of the workers there where I could find one, and received the strangest look. He had no idea what I was talking about, and after consulting with several of his co-workers he told me that they did not have any dapping blocks of any size. I went back to my car to call my wife on the phone, asked her what size dapping block might she be interested in for her work. Lois informed me that she did not remember what project it was for, or what she was going to do with it, but thought it would be nice and a handy tool to have.
I believe the gulf between men and women is not as large as one might be led to believe. I plan on buying for myself a very large vise that will be mounted on my almost completed workbench in the garage, and that way I know that it will not be borrowed, along with my router and belt sander. If I can find those missing instructions for the bench then I can finish putting it together. Heck, it’s been almost a year. But that is another blog.
John Rasmussen
Hey Lois’s hubby. If you buy a vise with large sharp teeth meeting each other in the mouth of the vise, Lois will never borrow it as it would leave horrible tool marks on the jewelry. i win both ways, i have both sets of tools and my wife doesn’t touch either set. p.s. i do use my router for wood not jewelry. say hello to Lois for me.
John
Al "The Jewelry Widower" Linquist
Thanks John,
With my schedule as an RN, I don’t get as much time to work with the tools as I would like, heck still finishing the garage, moving around my brewing equipment to get it done. But one of these days…..
Linda Overman
Al I loved the whimsy in your blogs, my husband is
always “lending” me tools, he is a great source as
he is a machinist and we owned our own shop for several years before he retired. Now when he can’t find a tool he first checks out my studio lol. Hope to hear more from you.
Linda O
Danette
This made me laugh out loud. I’m hiding one of my husband’s vices because it’s perfect for my jewelry bench and if I give it back, frankly, neither one of us will see it again (he has a very “complicated” storage system – lol). I may have one or two other tools, too. Shhhhh…..
Leslie Todd
I was the one with the tools when hubby and I married. All he had were some miniture screwdrivers for taking computers apart. He left my tools under the house, out in the yard, wherever he used them that’s where they were left. Not that I can complain too much because he did fix things with them. Now that I have jewelry tools as well as general tools I keep the jewelry tools off limits to everyone else. He has some tools now too, but neither of us know where they are.
I was in a Harbor Freight a couple of days ago and they had a set of dapping tools. It was the wooden block with two punches. They may have been calling it a punch set, so that’s probably why know one knew what you were talking about. The wood ones are nice because they don’t mar the metal like the metal ones can, and they are less expensive. I use both.
Moneca Ryane
Well I have a dapping block set, just bought one from Harbor Freight. Tools, tools, did anybody say tools ~ this girl just can’t get enough of them. My husbands tool bench is starting to look a bit bare, but hey …. he loves me. grin
jane
hi
love the blogging,we have three sets of tools in the house,his,mine and anyone can use these,
no one touches mine-especially my cutting out sewing scisors,and I would nver touch his!!! had a pressie of a set of small scsrewdrivers -to fix my knitting machine and a micrometre,the latter is just cute
jane from the wire list
Audrey
Al,
I absolutely love this blog of yours!
My hubby can so relate, but hey, it keeps us sane since we both work from home now.
Audrey
Karynl
wow I feel like we are in parallel universes! My husband can really relate, I am sure. I have taken over much of the house too, and my workbench faces our HD TV too. Still I find myself wrapping, sitting up in bed watching TV…
.By the way, I got MY dapping block at Harbor Freight tools too–I picked it out online and then saw how heavy it was and went and picked it up. I have a set of round cut outs in a wood block and the corresponding metal tool that fits into it. In case It might jog Lois’ memory, I plan to form flat copper disks into nice domes and then etch them with another expensive electronic etching tool I am covering THIS week!
We are so lucKy to have u guys!