If you were a cowboy, your jewellery tools would be your six-shooters. Hanging trustingly at your side, you need them to perform when and where they're needed. The middle of a shoot out is no time to be cleaning your tools - Certainly, you never saw the likes of Clint doing so!
So take heed of a few of these quick steps designed to help make sure your jewellery tools (six-shooters) are clean, sharp, and ready to rock and roll.
There's a hard way and an easy way to learn about this. The easy way is to read about it here and take the proper precautions. The hard way is to neglect your tools in the attic or spare room for a while and when you finally get back into the saddle once more, find all your precious (and very expensive) tools covered in rust or to find they've lost their edge or have begun to creak in the joints when you go to use them.
And while you may eventually scrub the rust off your trusty jewellery tools, the experience of a tool becoming damaged can ruin the tool or at least interfere with its performance irrevocably.
The six-shooter metaphor has a few very literal ramifications. Guns are made of metal and they definitely degrade over time. Rust is just as big a problem as it is with guns as it is with jewellery tools. An oil based product and cleaner work perfectly as cleaning and lubricating agents for your jewellery tools. However, while such cleaners and oils will help clean your jewellery tools and prevent rust, they do not remove rust very well. For that, you'll need other tools.
Carburettors may not be standard in cars any more, but mechanics still use carburettor cleaner to scour their wrenches, and occasionally even car parts, when working on a project. This is the rust cleaner you've been looking for. Go to your local hardware retailer and purchase a gallon bottle of carburettor cleaner (expect to pay about 15-20 pounds for the bottle). It'll likely come with a basket that you can use to dunk your tools into the solution, dissolving the rust right off the surfaces of your metal jewellery tools.
About once a month, it's best to clean all your tools. Use a standard soap-and-water solution, and soak the tools and scrub them for any dirt, it's best to dry them when you're finished with the most absorbent towel you have on hand. Just like it helps to keep your shaving razors sharp with repeated use, completely drying your jewellery tools is of the utmost importance, and will go farther than either an oil or carburettor cleaner towards keeping your tools usable.
Once you've cleaned your jewellery tools and dried them thoroughly, apply a light coat of gun oil. This repels dust and dirt, and keeps rust from building up over time. Take humidity and climate into account: if you live in the jungle, you're going to have to clean your tools more than once a month.
Your jewellery tools are expensive, and dear to your heart. You've been through a lot with them. Taking good care of them is the best way to make them your friends and allies rather than sources of headache and frustration when you find yourself in line yet again to replace an expensive tool you just forgot to take proper care of.
Just like in the Wild West looking after tools is vitally important. This article looks at how to make jewellery making tools last longer. Trusted retailers like Cooksongold are good places to get jewellery tools.
Article Source: Making Your Jewellery Tools Last a Little Bit Longer
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