On 13 Oct 2007 04:00:13 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm,
(DoN. Nichols) quickly quoth:

According to B.B. u:
In article ,
(DoN. Nichols) wrote:

[...]

For that matter -- do I need a cushioning glove to avoid damage
to my hand and wrist?

Leather gloves and ear plugs are what I use. I used to use the ear
plugs only if the sound was bothering me, but discovered that some days
I'd still wind up deaf even though it didn't seem loud. Same with the
gloves--used to only wear them if my hands were hurting, but they always
eventually hurt.

Leather gloves don't have a lot of padding, but it seems to have been
enough. Without them I get that odd kind of bruising in my palms that
just leaves them tender for a day or so.

O.K. The sort of thing which I was afraid of. I'll certainly
get the gloves -- or I guess that I could get lots of cushioning with
the welding gloves. :-)

My only sheetmetal chisel is a bent-tip chisel with a notch displaced
in the center of the blade. Hook the notch under the sheet and hammer
away--it'll lift a strip of metal out.

That sounds quite useful -- and I don't have one of those, so
I'll have to watch for one.

I prefer this linked type, as did the bodymen I worked with. They last
longer than the split-tip type. http://tinyurl.com/2y7bza They can
cut deeper, too, which isn't always good. I used one to cut out the
access hole in my truck bed so the HF crane could mount to the frame.


Then I have a straight punch,
hammer head, and assortment of long chisels that have been ground into
various shapes. The handiest is a semicircle notch that isn't sharp.
It's meant to grab on and let me push. I use it frequently to push
wrenches around on really tight bolts.

Nice trick! Your idea, or did you see others doing it first?

A rubber mallet is much easier on the wrenches, I'd think.


Also nice is a hammerhead piece
I welded a bit of pipe to, making a cup, so I can use the air hammer to
drive a regular punch or chisel. And a straight punch I threaded and
put a hunk of brass onto.

Cool.

--
Remember: Every silver lining has a cloud.
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