Essential Tools: Brass Stump Shaper

Another "don't leave home without it" tool. The Brass Stump Shaper. Mine used to be shiny. But I use it - a LOT.

This is the smaller one - the 1 x 2 inch. I find the larger ones are too large and too heavy for me. But this little baby - great for all sorts of things. The knife edge - excellent for hearts - dividing the top. Absolutely essential for the horse beads.

The two sides are different shapes - with different planes and angles. There is a curved edge and a knife edge, and the end is sharpened too.


As you can see - I've had mine for a while - probably almost as long as I've been working glass - it was one of the first tools I sprung for! It has seen a lot of abuse - and it still going great! Before I discovered I was a tool junkie. Ha - lookit the monster I've become!

When it comes to getting in beside the bead and straightening out a deformed and bulging side on a spacer - you can't bead the Stump shaper. You know - sometimes when they look lopsided, but there is just a little bulge - if you just touch that bulge and flatten it - then voila - poifect! Try not to hit the bead release while doing this - makes it more prone to cracking. I try to avoid disturbing the bead release at all costs, actually. (Crummy bead to show as an example - just wanted to show you what I meant by "touching the side.")




BTW - for those of you wondering about the name - it was named for Loren Stump - the person who designed it, and has nothing to do with making limbless human figures or trees. ;-)