Friday, January 10, 2014

About that DIY Bezel Pusher

What the heck - I showed you a picture of pushing the thick bezel down so I ought to show you the DIY bezel pusher.  You pick up one of these nails from the hardware.  I'm sorry I can't tell you what type they are but probably any good size hunky steel nail ought to work. You might have to get a box of them but they're cheap and you can give them away to friends or make all kinds of punches to pattern your metal.  They won't be hard tempered - unless you want to go through that process but for what we are using them for they are fine and you've plenty of nails to make more.  But, it's unlikely you will need to make too many - I've had my original ones for about 15 years.

I used an old file and then a cut off wheel on my Foredom to shape the tip.  After that I used course and then finer silicone wheels to polish it down.  Finally, I used a polishing wheel to bring it up to a nice shine so it won't mar the bezel when I tap it down. 


 
Do note though that if you do this you need to make sure you "break the edges" of the punch when you make it.  That means that none of those surfaces you created should be pointed edge sharp.  All of them are rounded.  They might look sharp in the photos but I carefully made sure that those edges are "broken" in all directions like the drawing. 
 
Now go forth and make really thick bezels!!!!

3 comments:

PA said...

Sharon, thanks so much for sharing all the info on using thick bezels, including how to make the bezel pusher! I'm not sure my skills (& tool making equipment) are up to doing all this but I've saved your posts for maybe trying one of these days. You're a great inspiration!

Lela said...

Well yes... I want to make bezels. But there's no way I'm going to start making tools. ;)

Unknown said...

Yes, you can make this tool - it's so easy...really. It's done in about ten minutes. Tapping down the bezel with it takes about five minutes - you wouldn't believe it.