It seems like blacksmiths and wood workers always have a pile of cutoffs laying around. It can be hard to let go of small pieces that may be useful on a project some day. I try not to let too many build up without finding a project to use them in.
I recently found that I had several pieces of 3/8 “ steel left over from making fireplace tools around the holidays. They were too small to make tools with, so I decided to make some handle examples to show to potential customers.
A few years ago, we visited the Villa Terrace Museum in Milwaukee. Going into the Cyril Colnik exhibit, there were displays that had been in his shop. They include standard examples of detail pieces that a customer could choose from when deciding on a design. I am going to something similar, by having some standard handle and joinery examples on display. This will give customers a tangible example of choices and what to expect in a finished product.
With my remnant pieces of 3/8 “ stock, I decided to start making example handles for fireplace tools. I think that these will help in design decisions a little more than just looking at photographs.
