BTW- Giveaway

On my bead table this morning-

In my quest to perfect the jump ring cutting process, I came across a really cool tool.

This is a double flush cutter made in the USA by Swanstrom.

Let me tell ya, these are the cats pajamas! With most flush cutters, even really good ones, you'll get a flush cut on one side and a slight point on the other.

Not with these,  nosiree. Beautiful squared flush cuts on both sides which makes closing them oh-so-nice!

To celebrate my recent one year blogiversary, and to say a big thank you to all the wonderful friends I have met here in blogland ( most of whom I know are tool junkies like myself) for supporting me and being so gracious, I am going to be giving a pair of these away.

Simply mention the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment saying you did so between now and next Tuesday  and you will be entered into a random drawing. I will announce the winner on Wednesday 7/20.

PLEASE make sure there is a way for me to reach you after the drawing or I will have to draw again and you DO NOT want to miss out on these. Trust me!

*****Update! It came to my attention that there are also people who follow my blog that do not have a blog of their own and I don't want them to feel left out, SSSoooo, If you just leave a comment  or maybe post it to your facebook page if you have one, whatever, I will include you in the drawing . Thanks and Hugs!****

So what's on your table today?



AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

This is what the start AND end of a productive, promising day looks like.

Back in December, when I thought I would be doing a chainmaille project for a gift, I looked into and decided to buy one of these all-the-bells-and-whistles jump ring makers. After all, I do use a lot of jump rings anyway and this would be oh-so-nice!

Then, I opened the box, saw all the pieces and the instructions and promptly closed the box....until today.

I have to be in the right frame of mind to tackle big new things.

 Yes, this is big new for me.

But I was ready. Calmly get the box from under the workbench, unwrap each piece, hey this doesn't look as bad as I thought. Attach the winder, get all the mandrels in their respective slots, 2 blades, cut lube, check.

Read the instructions, not bad, I can do this.  Grab the wire, attach the size mandrel I need and wind. Cool. Nice coil. Place the coil in the holder, lube it up, close it down all level, get the blade all set, centered with the line, ready to go. On goes the flex-shaft, zip, all done.  How exciting, at this rate I can make like  a bajillion jump rings. Open the holder, what the???

I had about a dozen usable jump rings and the rest of the coil wasn't cut all the way through.

Ok, first try, must have done something wrong ( ya think?) make another coil, lube a little more, tighten in holder a little more, let er rip. NO usable jump rings this time, just a tangled coil.

Ok let's see if there's a you tube for this. Yup, right here.

Alright, I did all of that. Hey I got 2 blades, maybe I should use the 1 1/2 instead of the 1 1/4. Maybe it's not cutting all the way through because it isn't reaching, after all these are somewhat small.

Ready , set, go!

It's amazing how quickly one can ruin a perfectly good flex shaft.  BLINK.  Yup, just that quick.

The 1 1/2 blade didn't want to slide along the nice little groove thingy there and jammed and the torque went back up the flexshaft. As soon as I realized what was happening, which was a millionth of a second TOO LATE, I stopped.

Now the handpiece won't turn, the motor runs but that's it.

The picture above shows how I left it as I walked away in disgust.

So if any of you out there in blogland have tackled this beast, please let me know what the secret is.

****UPDATE****

Not one to quit, I decided to just use the coiler, which by the way is very easy to make perfect coils, and cut them by hand.   one.by.one.    BUT I did get 94 perfect jump rings cutting them by hand and it really didn't take long, just a few minutes . Lesson learned, easy isn't always better!