For this week’s #tooltalktuesday I am showing off an invention created by @silversmithingretreat to help you quickly locate the center on your jewelry pieces and components to mark them for soldering. With a tip if you are new to jewelry making, sharpie is a great way to mark where you intend to solder on a component! David has been teaching jewelry a long time and one issue that came up again and again is students soldering their pendant bail on crooked so he decided to invent something to help. Made of biodegradable hypoallergenic PLA plastic this sliding tool allows you to place your symmetrical pieces inside the sliding rubber band mechanism and mark the center line. There are some limitations on sizes that fit in there, the maximum bezel size that can be accommodated is 63mm by 41mm x 7.6mm and the minimum bezel size is 6 mm x 5mm x 2.3mm but this device is pretty cool! I just love that David is always problem solving and trying to create tools that help us smiths :) David has a shop just for Metalsmith Society community members where you save a little on his tools, you can find this tool and more there! Link in my profile! #solderingjewelry #solderingabail #straightbail