I had planned to visit the Future Makers exhibition in the Wandesford Quay gallery yesterday and tell you all about it but when I got there I discovered they only open from Wednesday to Saturday.
Anyway instead of going to the exhibition I came back to the workshop and began adapting some tools.
I got some punches in Aldi last month and they’ve been sitting patiently at the back of the bench waiting for me to customize them. I plan to adapt them into different shaped chasing punches. Chasing punches are used when chasing metal. This technique involves detailing the front surface of a piece by hammer striking these punches onto the metal.
![Method of chasing • Eileen Moylan Method of chasing](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Method-of-chasing-300x244.jpg)
The ones I got from Aldi are a bit bigger and heavier than you would normally use in silversmithing but at €8 a set I was willing to compromise!
I started by turning one of these flat punches into a curved punch. I have a set of old files that I use for this type of work so I began by filing the rough shaped curve into the punch. It’s a good idea to mark it out first but I won’t pretend I was that organised!
![Filing curve into the punch • Eileen Moylan Filing curve into the punch](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_3392-300x219.jpg)
I used the side of my bench peg and some emery paper to take out the file marks. The curve on the side of my peg sat perfectly into the curve I had filed out. It was great for getting into the curve without distorting it.
![Finishing with emery paper • Eileen Moylan Finishing with emery paper](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_3394-261x300.jpg)
As I was working I used a scrap piece of copper to test how the punch was turning out. Here’s a picture of the test piece. You can see how the curve is going from think and clumsy to more even and refined.
![Testing the punch • Eileen Moylan Testing the punch](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_5697-300x268.jpg)
And here’s what it looked like before I gave it a final polish..
![Curved Punch • Eileen Moylan Curved Punch](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_5690-300x269.jpg)
![Curved Punch • Eileen Moylan Curved Punch](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_5694-300x217.jpg)