TOOLS OF YOUR TRADE

There are tools everywhere, all over DIY shops, supermarkets, and petrol stations. Why on why? It’s all very tough looking and yet when I make tools from glass, they look fragile. Actually, I think I lie as my glass tools are chunky but not that chunky enough to eat. Have to say I do love making the odd glass wrench. Lovely word “wrench” as it conjures up so many images of people (men mostly) being dragged out of a public bar after a long night drinking.

I have made several glass Sea Bees wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabee which are as the web link describes an important part of the USA Navy. The glass bee I made held a hammer, a mallet, a wrench (ahhhh bliss) and a set of callipers. Made in glass the piece looks fragile and I guess it is. I still make a variation of a Sea Bee but with less tools.

One of my glass heroes is Hans Frabel frabelglass.com/products/hammer-nail who’s glass hammer in the 1970s was mind blowing, well it blew mind. Sure, I’ve made glass hammer but not as such a statement as Frabel. In fact, if someone asked me to make a hammer in glass then my first response would be wat type of hammer? Are we talking about an engineer’s one or a joiner’s version. The claw hammer is pure excitement as the sharp angles of the claw section is a technical challenge in that it should be sharp inside but not so sharp that the glass angle causes a weak spot where the glass would then break.

I do love making glass tools and interweaving the idea of say a hammer and a pastime that the owner of the hammer enjoys. I recently did a spanner for a guy who played rugby. Fun indeed and probably more fun than playing rugby!

For some reasons crossed hammers strike a powerful image but that maybe influenced by the marching hammers in the film The Wall by Pink Floyd. Hollow glass hammers seem pointless since they are much lighter in weight than solid glass. Mind you I have never used a glass hammer to carry out the function it was designed for.

I have mentioned glass micrometers before and to add to the measuring list then I have made vernier callipers, tape measures and rulers. In fact, I have a glass ruler in my studio as a permanent fixture. It was a bit of a sales gimmick from a company that I used to work out based in Leighton Buzzard called Jencons. The idea was a play on words with using the term “rule” related to service. The measurements are applied to the glass by transfer then fused in a kiln at high temperatures.

One of the most unusual tools was really a large piece of machinery. I don’t even know what it’s called but apparently, they are seen in every tyre fitting business. Circular in shape they are used to remove tyres form the wheels and also used to help put new tyres back on. I was commissioned to make a small model of such equipment for a tyre fitter who was leaving a company. Guess he got to tired!