The Right Tool: Toolboxes by Medium (printable list)

Published: March 26, 2010

Here's a handy guide to the essential tools that you should have in your workshop, broken down by what job you're doing. This printable list has all the tools that we regularly call for to complete the projects that appear in Art Jewelry. The toolboxes described in this guide appear in the materials lists that accompany each project, starting with the November 2008 issue. This guide will give you a starting point and a shopping list for whichever medium you prefer.

Subscribers, download "The Right Tool" poster, which includes pictures of the tools you'll need to complete the projects in Art Jewelry. Click here for the downloadable PDF.

General use
Anvil or bench block
Awl
Bench
Bench brush
Bench pin
Bench shear
Bench vise
Brass slide gauge or calipers
Dapping block with punches
Disk cutters
Dividers
Dust mask
Fine-tip permanent marker
First aid kit
Leather sandbag
Mandrels: ring and bracelet
Natural-fiber apron
Optivisor or loupe
Painter's tape
Polishing cloth
Rolling mill
Rubber cement or glue stick
Safety glasses
Scissors
Scribe
Shape templates
Straight edge
Task lamp
Tube-cutting jig

Metal clay
Acrylic or PVC roller
Airtight storage containers
Brass brush
Burnisher
Clear, hard plastic sheet
Craft knife
Drinking straw
Fine-tip paintbrush
Flexible Teflon sheet
Kiln, kiln shelf
Mug warmer
Needle files
Needle tool
Olive oil or natural hand balm
Pin vise or holder with drill bits
Plastic wrap
Playing cards or thickness gauge
Rubber block
Shaped cutters
Smoothing tool
Spatula or palette knife
Syringe
Texture sheets or molds
Tissue blade (flexible, rigid, or wavy)
Tumbler, steel shot, burnishing compound
Vermiculite, kiln-safe container
Water (distilled)
Wet/dry sandpaper: various grits or nail buff/emery board

Bronze clay
Acid-free activated carbon
Kiln-safe stainless steel container with lid
Programmable kiln (with kiln stilts)

Enamel
Alundum stones: 150, 220 grit
Distilled water
Dust mask
Enamel sifters
Fiberglass brush
Fine-tip paintbrush
Firing fork
Heat-resistant gloves
Kiln, kiln shelf
Kiln-safe glasses
Klyr-Fire enameling adhesive
Mesh firing racks
Safety glasses
Scooper
Scouring pad
Scribe
Spatula
Spray bottle
Trivets
Tweezers: regular and bentnose

Soldering
Anti-flux
Binding wire
Borax (for borax solution)
Copper tongs
Fire-resistant surface: soldering pad, charcoal block, or firebrick
Flux with flux brush
Insulated, cross-locking tweezers
Pickle pot with pickle
Solder (hard, medium, and easy)
Soldering pick
Sparker: manual or automatic
Third hand, cross-locking tweezers
Torch (with various tips)

Wirework
Bench block or anvil
Cutters: side, end, or flush
Hammers: chasing, ball peen, cross peen
Mallet: rawhide or plastic
Mandrels or dowels
Needle files
Pliers: chainnose, flatnose, roundnose, parallel, nylon jaw
Polishing cloth
Sandpaper: various grits
Tumbler, steel shot, burnishing compound

Chain mail
Awl or scribe
Needle files
Pliers (2 pairs): flatnose, bentnose, or chainnose
Reading/magnifying glasses
Shock-absorbing surface (bead mat or towel)
Tumbler, steel shot, burnishing compound

Hammering
Bench block or anvil
Hammers: chasing, ball peen, cross peen, dead blow, utility
Mallet: rawhide or plastic

Stone setting
Bezel pusher or rocker
Bur: hart or setting
Burnisher
Dental floss
Double-sided tape
Flex shaft
Loupe or Optivisor
Painter's tape
Prong-setting pliers (or chainnose pliers)
Prong pusher
Sticky wax or beeswax

Resin
Clear packing tape
Craft sticks
Disposable plastic medicine cups (for mixing and measuring)
Flex shaft, polishing buffs
Latex or nitrile gloves
Needle tool
Respirator mask
Sandpaper: various grits
Syringe or bottle with syringe tip
Toothpicks
Tweezers

Sawing/piercing
Adhesive bandages
Alligator tape
Bench pin
Center punch: manual or automatic
Dividers
Files: hand or needle
Flex shaft, drill bits
Jeweler's saw frame and saw blades
Lubricant or beeswax
Rubber cement or glue stick
Safety glasses

Riveting
Awl
Bench block or anvil
Bench vise
Center punch: manual or automatic
Dapping punches
Drill or flex shaft with chuck key
Drill bits
Lubricant
Needle files (or cup burs)
Riveting, goldsmith's' or small ball-peen hammer
Steel burnisher
Wire gauge [B&S or American Standard], brass slide gauge, or calipers

Engraving
Engraver's block or other stabilizer, such as pitch with pitch bowl, orange flake shellac on porous surface, or thermoplastic compound with container
Chinese white or tempera paint
Gravers with handles

Finishing
Brass brush
Copper tongs
Files: hand and needle
Flex shaft or buffing wheel, buffs, polishing compound
Liver of sulfur or other patina, lidded glass container
Microcrystalline wax
Polishing cloth
Polishing papers
Sandpaper: various grits
Scouring pad
Steel burnisher
Steel wool
Tumbler, steel shot, burnishing compound
Ultrasonic cleaner

Polymer clay
Acrylic roller or brayer
Aluminum foil
Clear, hard plastic sheet
Craft knife
Drinking straw
Fine-tip paintbrush
Latex or nitrile gloves
Liquid polymer clay
Nail buff (or emery board)
Needle tool
Nonstick rigid surface
Oven thermometer
Pasta machine
Shaped cutters
Shaping tool
Smoothing tool
Smooth ceramic baking surface
Texture sheets or molds
Tissue blade: flexible, rigid, or wavy
Toaster oven (dedicated to nonfood use)
Wet/dry sandpaper: various grits