Thread: What tools do I need to work in metal?

Hi Ken
There are many threads on these saws.
B002 | BS-4A Metal Cutting Band Saw | machineryhouse.com.au


Stuart

Dear Ken The horizontal handsaws are cheap and most cut square Blades are cheap and there are methods of silver soldering the blades at home Most of the Taiwanese versions come with a table that id fitter in the vertical position so you can cut sheet metal. The drawback here is the depth of the throat is limited. I have cut 4 inch dia steel bar on my machine. A word of warning about angle grinders. They should not be used without the handle or the gauard. They will leap out and bite you. Yours 4-6-4

You in luck, if you get down to Hare and Forbes at the moment they are on special for $297, and the next one up is $495. A lot of us have the $297 one and think it is a great little machine once it's set up properly. The blades can be bought for $11 each or 11 for $110 in their buy 10 get one free offer. They come in 2 pitches for steel and there is a wood blade as well.

Dave

Minimum would be a hacksaw and file,most of what else has been listed are desires not needs.

Hm. There are quite a few things you can't do with just a hacksaw and a file.

Personally I'd not bother with the machines, but bear in mind I'm a metalworker by trade, so a hammer (or 5), chisel, files, hacksaw, couple of G clamps. You can weld with a hammer, you can do without eyeshields if your not using machines, but they are a good idea. With grinders use GOGGLES, NOT eyeshields.

A small grinder is a good useful thing if you know how to use it. The 4" vs 5" grinder is a religeous war and irrelevant.

Don't waste money on a power saw unless you saw a lot. The bosch blue or makita trade quality are the best. Some sort of welder might be useful. I have a $100 GMC stick welder that I almost never use.

Get a drill. You can make do with a hand drill but it'll be misery. A pistol drill is useful for many things, wood, stirring paint etc...

Knowing how to use a file and hacksaw properly is the metalwork equivalent of tuning a handplane and using a scraper. You can do a lot of work quickly and without undue effort if you know how to use those tools correctly.

I own many hammers.

2c.

Originally Posted by damian

You can weld with a hammer,

Damian, I'm intrigued by this statement. Care to expand?

See Bryan
Now you have to come sovereign hill and we can demonstrate some hammer welding. You heat the steel to almost white hot and bash the two bits together until they become one. Anchor chains were always done this way back in the day. Have a look at www.anvilfire.com

I think damian is refering to the method used by blacksmiths before welders were invented, however you do need the heat the material as well so you would need a forge as well.
The 4-5 inch angle grinders debate , I rekon you need both , a 4" for grinding allows you to get into tighter corners and a 5" for cutting, the extra depth is handy, plus you don't want to be changing disks 10 times for every job.
If you intend to do a lot of metal work then a good strong (bolted down) workbench is the first thing , something you can weld on and fix a better than good vice to...... note here that a dawn vice will cost $300 + for a 100mm straight vice and $400+ for an ofset one.
If you looking at a lot of pipe work then you may need a pipe vice as well $200+

There are cheaper units out there but with a dawn you will only ever need to buy one as it will last for life.

All the other tools have been mentioned and in all of them there is the quality range and price to match . It all depends on the budget and how much you are going to use them,

Thanks guys, I'm aware of forge welding, but since Damian's list didn't include a forge, I didn't think he meant that.

You can swage and pressure weld without a forge. I was kinda half joking because it's not a good solution in most cases.

The thing is if you've been doing this half your life you can make do with whatever you have to hand. I watch woodworkers do absolute magic with whatever is to hand, and I suspect others watch me working metal the same way. If your starting out though quality tools will help you get results while you aquire the skills and feel for the work.

So as I said give me a hacksaw, 5 hammers, a couple of G clamps and something heavy to attach them to, a cold chisel and some files and I can make you just about anything. I don't have a heavy bench, I can make do with a tree stump. I don't own a dawn, I can make do with a decent G clamp. I have angle grinders etc, but I can make do fine with a file. I can make holes without a drill but it isn't pretty nor practical.

The thing is YOU, I assume, haven't been doing this for decades and if you tried to bash a lump of steel into submission you'd probably get frustrated. So to answer YOUR origional question I suggested a limited but essential list of hand tools. Buy decent quality examples of those and keep your powder dry to buy other stuff as you go. You'll figure out what you need/want/like as you get on.

If you WANT to buy tools and spend money go for it, no worries I'm guilty as charged, but if your looking for minimum kit and $ to get going that lot should cover most bases.

Regarding grinders as I said it's a religeous war. If it were me I'd go a 4" and a 9", that covers it nicely, but other people will swear by 5". Whatever. Seriously I couldn't care less about that debate, and I've heard it plenty of times. A grinder of some sort is handy.

A pistol drill would be the first machine I'd buy, a good trade duty one. When I was young people would buy a pistol drill and get attachments for it to do all sorts of things. Some are still available. The machine is very versatile, useful and even top quality ones are relatively cheap.

2c.