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The Setting Bench

Notes from the setting bench: what a tool is asked to do, and where it stops

Finish, clean and keep

Burnishing, polishing, pickling and storage: what brings a surface up and what keeps a tool working next week.

Every entry on this bench

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A small wooden tool box open on a workbench in a home workshop, a polished graver and a file laid on a dry cloth inside, low afternoon light from a side window raking across the polished face.

FC-003Finish, clean and keep

What a Pickle Pot Does After Soldering

A pickle pot strips the oxide and flux a torch leaves behind. What is actually in the solution, why steel tongs ruin it, and how to handle and retire a bath safely.

A small wooden tool box open on a workbench in a home workshop, a polished graver and a file laid on a dry cloth inside, low afternoon light from a side window raking across the polished face.

FC-002Finish, clean and keep

Storing Small Bench Tools Between Jobs

Damp air dulls a polished graver face and rusts a file left in a drawer. How to store small bench tools so the edge survives between jobs.