Whether you’re a beginning jewelry metalsmith or you’ve been practicing your craft for a few years, you may be wondering which types of torches and gas combinations do what jobs best.   Harold Studio wanted to share why they use acetylene (acetylene-air) -fueled torches and also a few options if you want to set up a home studio for yourself. Why Acetylene? ·       Because acetylene burns at such a high temperature, students and studio renters alike will always have an adequate amount of heat no matter the size or details of their project. ·       It offers the opportunity to use a range of torch tip sizes for different size projects and design situations. ·       It  burns so hot, it really doesn't require an oxygen tank for most things, which means less setup costs for you. When your torch is turned on and the gas reaches the tip, most torches have oxygen holes that merge with the gas to produce an adequately high heat for most silver and gold solder...

You saw a pair of earrings a friend made at a local design studio and felt inspired to try your hand at it, too. However, you’d like to do it first at home because you want to mess up a few times without any curious onlookers and to see if you like the process in general. You can find supplies online, in specific tool-focused groups on social media, thrift stores, and flea markets at reasonable and or discounted prices. Your shopping list for tools needed to make metal jewelry is as follows (most of the items on this list, minus the Dremel® drill and flex shaft and can be found for $25 or less). Jewelry Tools for Cutting, Piercing, Rough Finishing  • A jeweler’s saw frame. • Saw blades #03, 02, 01, 0, and 1. • A wooden bench pin. Or you if you’re particularly handy, you can cut a piece of 1” board with a “V” cut into it to clamp onto a table with a C-clamp. • A set of needle files.  • Sandpapers with a variety of fine and medium grits.   • A r...