Thursday, April 17, 2014

I've gone Toothless!


Really I have! No, no, I still have all the teeth in my head that I had yesterday..... My pliers have lost their teeth! Yup they've grown up!

The yellow pair were my very first pair of pliers. When I was 16 and had just gotten my drivers license, the very first thing I did was drive to the mall. No surprise, I was 16. But I didn't drive to the local mall, no I drove to Sun Valley Mall. They had a bead store, Bead something, it's been so long now I forget the name but I loved that store it was pure joy. Chain, beads, findings, tools....happy sigh. I don't have a bead store local to me now either sigh, I do have a Hobby Lobby and a Wal Mart, but it is just NOT the same. I bought those first pliers on that first solo trip to the mall along with some beads and chain, I still have some of those too, but will save that post for another day.



As you can see in the close up those little yellow pliers were toothed. Toothed pliers are what I learned on all those years ago. I had egg shaped loops quite consistently and some scarring of metal on a regular basis too - death grip will do that.

The red and black pair my hubs picked up for me at the hardware store some 10-12 years ago.  I was making some wire baskets from fencing and needed a better grip. At that time I was just starting to work with wire as a primary component rather than purchased head and eye pins. As you can see they too are toothed. But by this point I was making round loops pretty consistently :) though an egg does sneak in from time to time and scarring does occur if I get frustrated and grip too tightly. Thankfully, those are rare occurrences these days too.

Death grip is the main cause of scarring metals, as you can see I've used toothed pliers exclusively for a lot of years and I don't have a lot of scarring in my pieces. On those rare occasions I do, I file and buff them out but that does take time too and eliminating the teeth would go a long way in eliminating those last bits of scarring. So I made the decision to buy toothless pliers, not going to lie, that was a scary decision. I've been using toothed pliers for a very long time and I wasn't entirely sure I'd like going toothless.

Rather than plunking down $50 or more for Lindstrom, Tronex, or Swanstrom I went middle of the road. I have never heard a bad word about Wubbers, in fact it's been all good and trusted I would have the same experience.

Sadly, this last week has been crunch time for taxes and I've been dealing with new software and trying to hunt down missing categories..... ahem can we say operator error, I really need to delete unused categories so things don't keep going awol...... as you can see that meant no real time to play with my new toy. I did however, pick up a piece of wire and squeezed the life out of it - um it flattened, and then it made a very pretty round loop..... no scars, none. NONE!

I think i'm going to like having gone toothless, I think, I'm going to like it ALOT! I am really looking forward to having some playtime this week!!

Thanks for stoppin' by!
We'll see you next time!

2 comments:

  1. I just bought some wubbers- they are great. I have to say your story of long ago bead hunts brought back memories. Just a few years ago I got rid of some decades old paper catalogs for Native American Trading Posts- it was the one sure way to buy beads, even if the catalogs were in black and white.

    Have fun with your new toys.

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    1. I've only been able to play a little bit yet, but I'm starting to wonder why I waited so long! I think I'm going to love these pliers!
      I think I used to have a few of those catalogs too, how fun! Thank you so much!

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