Chuck has this great picture of a set of small ornaments a friend of his made with a forge and 3 lb. hammer. Reader Whiteforge posted this little key chain lying across a similar hammer that, I’m guessing, came to life in much the same way.

It’s always amazing to me that such small, rather delicate-looking objects can be made with brute force and three pounds of steel hitting it repeatedly. I would most likely lose patience and make an ashtray out of everything, like I did when I was a kid and had to work with clay.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

One of the reasons we like going to talk to the folks at Milwaukee is because we get to see all the latest tools and paw all over them, with direct access to the folks designing and building them a few feet away. Melissa here isn’t a tool rep in some booth trying to sell you snake oil — she’s a hardworking advocate of portable band saws and grinders, and her knowledge in this area is vast.

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I’ve always looked at metal-milling machines like they were only half-functional.  I felt that any machine built to cut or drill metal would work just as well with wood stock rolling through it –- still do, actually.  Metal guys will give you the stink-eye about it, but still, I’m a wood guy.  I see that Grizzly designed this G9959 mill for both metal and wood;  now there’s a forehead-smacker if ever I’ve heard of one.

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Grizzly’s SuperBar not only helps you align your saw blade to exactly 90 degrees, it’ll also help keep the blade parallel with the miter slot and the fence.  It runs in the miter slot, and its precision dial indicator gauge is accurate within ± .001″.

The dial gauge features a full inch of travel.  You can measure the saw blade itself or a Master Plate made by Grizzly or someone else — the gauge’ll measure other tools as well.

The SuperBar sells for $80.

SuperBar [Grizzly]

Most Toolmongers probably just grab any oil that’s close at hand while drilling into metal, but if I actually bought cutting oil, I have to admit that I’d probably buy Bad Dog Drool cutting lubricant — not because I’m sold on how well it works, but because I couldn’t resist the awesome name.  Just imagine the look on your buddy’s face when you ask him to fetch some Bad Dog Drool.

Use Bad Dog Drool to keep cutters cool and minimize wear when boring through metal.  This “thick and juicy” cutting lubricant — Bad Dog Tools likens it to St. Bernard drool — stays in place even on inclined surfaces.

On their website, an 8oz bottle of Bad Dog Drool will run you about $10 plus $5 shipping.

Bad Dog Drool [Bad Dog Tools]

Knipex’s concrete mesh cutter may look like a bolt cutter at first glance, but take a closer look.  The jaws open on the side of the very flat head, giving you better access to cut small-diameter rebar and concrete mesh in place.

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I’ve used this Harbor Freight air nibbler a few times to cut sheet metal for home and automotive repair, and it performed flawlessly. Let me warn you, though, it shaves off small quarter-moon pieces as it cuts, thousands of them — so make sure you use it in an open area where you can find them all, or in a place where they won’t cause problems.

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A little while back Bosch announced the rollout of their new “Edge” metal recip demo blades.  Bosch’s marketing department created a lot of fanfare around the release and did a good job trying to make ‘em exciting, which is difficult — because it’s a recip blade, not the sexy front runner in a hard-hitting leaflet campaign.  Here’s what it boils down to:  Bosch says that, thanks to its new tooth design and many other features, the Edge cuts faster and lasts longer.

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Recently I was shopping for a drill press, and I probably could’ve gotten away with a benchtop model if it was just for woodworking, but I also do metal fabrication so I wanted a stationary model that stands on the floor. I wound up going with this Ridgid drill press.

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For a Toolmonger looking to do some metalworking with limited space or budget the M1045 three-in-one metalworking tool from Shop Fox might be just the ticket.  This 12″ capacity machine can bend, shear, and roll metal up to 22ga.

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Woodworkers have brass setup bars for precision setup — machinists have gauge blocks.  You stack a series of gauge blocks to match the desired measurement, for accurately checking and setting measurements and calibrating instruments.

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With the Spectrum 625 X-treme, Miller is rapidly approaching what would’ve been considered science fiction about twelve years ago.  We can forgive the overused “X-treme” moniker because this 40-amp plasma cutter is literally smaller than a shoebox.

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Not sure if you’ve sharpened your tools or drill bits to the perfect angle?  This universal grinding gauge from Silverline Tools will help you check.

Made from heavy-duty 14ga stainless steel, the grinding gauge can check 55°, 60°, 90°, and 120° internal and 60°, 90°, and 120° external angles.  Silverline manufactures their tools for the UK so the etched graduations read in metric.

Five bucks will buy you this gauge at Jack’s Tool Shed.

Universal Grinding Gauge [Silverline Tools]
Universal Grinding Gauge [Jack's Tool Shed]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You could fit what I know about forge work on a matchbook cover and have space left over. I do know a little about being a tightwad though, and I take my hat off to reader diluded000 for his excellent custom forge built from cheap materials he could find around the shop.

The fan-hood top and HF workbench bottom are strokes of genius, my friend, seriously.  With this project diluded000 said, “Screw that!” to convention, and he got on with his interests without waiting till he had tons of cash — and we bet he had a blast making cool steel gear in his shop.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

You picked the wrong bit and now you’re stuck with a hole that’s too big — or are you?  Depending on the application you might be able to salvage the piece with these reducing punches from Micro-Mark.

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Whether you’re grinding, drilling, or milling, sometimes a simple V-block isn’t enough to hold your workpiece steady.  That’s where a V-block and clamp set would really come in handy — they’re usually sold in pairs like this Series 278 set from Starrett.

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We dig this photo that reader hmboo posted to the Toolmonger photo pool for several reasons — first, because it shows tool guys doing actual metalwork.  But if you look around you’ll see a bunch of sweet tools hanging around in the shot.

I think my favorite is the massive beat-to-hell stump the anvil is sitting on — that bad boy has seen some action and more than its share of beat-downs.  Props to the museum in Wolfenbüttel, Germany for the daily mini-courses they put on.  Things like this inspire a lot of folks get into metalwork.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]