The joy of new tools

Tools do eventually wear out, their useful life comes to an end.  I feel disgruntled and out of sorts  when they do.  They’ve become shaped to my hand, I’ve got used to how they work, I’ve sharpened them and they have served me well.    Stone is a particularly punishing material on tools, especially the sandstone I work with, as it is so abrasive.

When a parcel is delivered, and I know the postman is bringing my new tool order,  I’m restored.

As most of my sculpture is highly finished, with smooth surfaces, I get through a lot of sandpaper and files.  On my recent visit to  G Gibson & Co Ltd for new chisels, I noticed they had some large files with different grit surfaces,  from course to fine.  These metal files come in different shapes, but I like the half-round version – little sharp grains of carbide are fused onto the file surface making tough, course projections .  Carbide is especially hard, so lasts longer and impacts sandstone well.  I haven’t had one of these files before and as it was a bit expensive, and extra to my actual needs, I felt it really had to earn its keep.

All morning I’ve been putting it through its paces, testing it, seeing where it is useful and what it can do.

This is a 36 grit file, which is fairly course, so is used for the initial round of filing and smoothing after I’ve got a reasonable surface with the chisel.  I’m loving it!  It is very satisfying to use, effectively ripping through the stone and quickly reducing the roughness.  It makes a lovely noise and arc of falling dust as it pushes and progresses over the stone surface.  Already I’m thinking about a second, finer grade file for the next stage.

Not sure why I haven’t had one of these before!