Know the mfr of these jacks?

[Jeff Hoover]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AL%3ARTQ%3AUS%3A1&viewitem=&item=280120483501&rd=1

Seller says they're "Teflon Coated". Can that be possible? PTFE degrades at 500 deg, F (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon#Properties_and_applications)

Thoughts?

[Rich Samuel]

Why not ask the seller? I doubt they're teflon coated, at least I've never heard of teflon coated jacks. I've seen, and used, teflon parcioffi sticks, but they're white, and really nasty. :(

[Eben Horton]

i think they are toensings (sp?)

if you can get them for 50 bucks you got a good deal i think. Those blades look nice but the proof is in the steel that was used.

no they are not teflon coated. the guy is probably looking at the burnt bee's wax.


as a side note, RIT had a few pairs of toensing jacks that had been so badly abused and annealed from hot glass by students that the blades could be bent at a 45 degree angle easily by hand..
I bet they are still there.

[Wes Hunting]

I still use a pair of Bob's diamond shears I bought from Paoli Clay Co. in the 1970's and they still work great. They are quit large and heavy duty. He used to sell tools out of the trunk of his car at art fairs. In my opinion, the best diamond shear design ever ( . )
I did have a few pairs of his jacks they were OK not great. A collectable if nothing else.

[Greg Vriethoff]

Originally posted by Wes Hunting
I still use a pair of Bob's diamond shears I bought from Paoli Clay Co. in the 1970's and they still work great.

I inherited a pair of these from a former boss that was a potter in the 60's and 70's. I think he may have gone to Madison. He knew I was a glassblower and gave 'em to me one day. They were in bad shape. I had to fabricate a new bolt (I did a so-so job). They work, but they really need to be sharpened. I've been meaning to contact Jim Moore about it. They really come in handy for chomping through really big bits, or cracking-off large pieces.

[Eben Horton]

Originally posted by Wes Hunting
I still use a pair of Bob's diamond shears I bought from Paoli Clay Co. in the 1970's and they still work great. They are quit large and heavy duty. He used to sell tools out of the trunk of his car at art fairs. In my opinion, the best diamond shear design ever ( . )
I did have a few pairs of his jacks they were OK not great. A collectable if nothing else.

best ever? man i dont know about you old timers...

Ford made a good pickemup truck once too.. i think it was called a model T.

cutting edge..... putch maniconi..... try those and i think you will be awakened.

I love my cutting edge tools :cool:

[Wes Hunting]

Eben,

I own several pairs of Cutting Edge Shears, which I love. Toensing's design is very simular to the Cutting Edge Dante Shears, except I believe that Jeff's Dante shears are lighter weight.

The reason I do like Toensing shears, is because they are indestructable. I've probably made over 4,000 of my large vessels with them. Not to mention using them for everything from opening beer bottles to flipping corn on the grill. I don't think it has anything to do with being "an old timer" but more with just plain personal preference.

If these ever do wear out, I would probably ask Jeff to duplicate another pair for me. Old tools are like old friends.

[Jeff Hoover]

Originally posted by Rich Samuel
Why not ask the seller? I doubt they're teflon coated, at least I've never heard of teflon coated jacks. I've seen, and used, teflon parcioffi sticks, but they're white, and really nasty. :( I did. He says he bought them with the coating on, but he didn't remember the manufacturer. He thought maybe they were from Minneapolis.

Now he admits they're not teflon, but they have some type of high-temp finish. The photo almost looks like they have a blueish tint, but who knows..

[Jeff Hoover]

Originally posted by Wes Hunting
Eben,

I own several pairs of Cutting Edge Shears, which I love. Toensing's design is very simular to the Cutting Edge Dante Shears, except I believe that Jeff's Dante shears are lighter weight.

The reason I do like Toensing shears, is because they are indestructable. I've probably made over 4,000 of my large vessels with them. Not to mention using them for everything from opening beer bottles to flipping corn on the grill. I don't think it has anything to do with being "an old timer" but more with just plain personal preference.

If these ever do wear out, I would probably ask Jeff to duplicate another pair for me. Old tools are like old friends.

Wes, how about posting a pic of your old buddies, so us newbs can see what they look like? (I love the short-handled ones I bought from Jeff btw)

[Pete VanderLaan]

I still have my original hand forged Toensings from 1968. They are just an Everyready Bunny. My favorite recollection though was of Henry once being handed a pair of diamond shears from Steinert tools at a workshop. He tried to make one cut, looked at the tool and threw them behind a furnace. Really funny, God those things are awful.

[Greg Frankhouser]

I believe I heard, while in Wisc, that Toensing used to/ does teach at a Commie College in Minn. So the provenance does make some sense.

I'm with Wes, If I found some rusting in the back tools room at a shop, I'd make an offer. the Shears I mean, no idea about the jacks.

And another bit of history( that I actually know) is that the Steinerts were designed to replace the Toensings for smaller hands. A Ms MK Simoni was involved.

Greg

[Pete VanderLaan]

I have a pair of the Steinerts all rusted shut. They work about as well that way as they did when they were new. Henery's first instincts were on the money.

The best pair of small diamond shears made in that time period for small hands was actually from Putsch . I have a pair although the handles needed welding. Putsch used a very strange steel at that time.

[Wes Hunting]

The first pair of tools I ever bought were from Putsch. If they were less than 10 feet from the water bucket they would rust, but at that time there was no other choise. They were the only tools I could afford, or knew about. They are now, probably, much higher quality.

I think most of KSU's shop tools were Putsch, mid 70's.This is when the glass shop was down at Lincoln Center.

Greg is correct about MaryKay getting John to make her a set of small shears, if I remember right. That was around the time when John was still working out of the machine shop, just a few years after Henry talked him into making blow pipes.

Bob, is still up in MN. teaching at Anoka - Ramsey Community College . I ran into him about ten years ago at Andy Shea's open house.

I also remember alot of us using sheet metal shears from the hardware store.:eek:
I would like to hear Henry chime in on this one. He could fill in the blanks better than I.:

[John Gilmor]

In a bucket of tools we picked up at a WV factory last year were some weiss fabric shears that were being used for stemware. My favorites are cutting edge. At one time, I used putsch diamond shears for goblets that would only work if they were properly thrown against the barn door every month or so. Turned out that they were using right hand thread bolts on a left hand shear. Jeff made some lefties for me that never need that treatment.

[Wes Hunting]

Originally posted by Jeff Hoover
Wes, how about posting a pic of your old buddies, so us newbs can see what they look like? (I love the short-handled ones I bought from Jeff btw)

[Rich Samuel]

Around 1989, a beginner blower showed up at Pratt with a bunch of new Putsch tools she'd found at K-Mart! They were in a bin of assorted specialty tools, all marked $7.99. Turned out the store had given a manager two-weeks notice, but neglected to freeze his purchasing accounts. So, he spent that time ordering all kinds of expensive stuff they'd never normally carry. I bought a friend's son, who'd just started his first job as a machinist, over a grand's worth of calipers, micrometers, indicators, etc. for well under $100. :D

[Eben Horton]

ok wes, those look nice. i still like my large cutting edge shears though :p

[Hugh Jenkins]

So far my old Toensing diamond shears are the only ones my wife can use effectively. They don't look like a tool for small hands but they really work for her. All the others I've tried are somewhere around here and get used for pulling cane or threads once in a while.

[Mark Wilson]

wow!!! i missed this thread all together. bob toensing was the gaffer that taught me to blow glass. he started the glassblowing program at Anoka Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. i took his classes for 4 years, and then built my studio. Bob has been teaching glassblowing at ARCC for many years, and has started out the careers of 100's of glassblowers. he built all his own tools and equipment. he has had a few health issues lately, and i am not sure how much longer he will be teaching. after he leaves, i am not sure that the ARCC glassblowing program will survive because so many similar programs have now gone away.

[Henry Halem]

As others have stated the first diamond shears we used (Madison in the 60's) were Putsch. At that time they were a quality product. We used models that are no longer in production and were of high quality. I have two pair in my collection of two and have been offered some serious money for them by glass tool collectors or should I say collector. Picture on pg. 335 of Glass Notes Version 4.0. Eventually Toensing started to make diamond shears and they were sold through Paoli Clay Co. located just outside Madison (Where the hell is Paoli?) The Toensing diamond shears were to my way of thinking, big and clumsy and never really cut all that well but could cut giant bits and that's the reason Wes likes them. They never really held a sharp edge but most of us usually cut the bits when they were too cold anyway and that usually dulled them down real quickly. I remember everyone using them as hammers to break the bit when you couldn't cut through the cold bit. They really worked well as a hammers in that regard. The Toensing Jacks were also big and clumsy but all we had at that time was Putsch and Toensing. When Steinert came along he thought that he would reinvent the diamond shear and hired an industrial designer, George Frost, who was teaching ID design at Kent. The idea was to design a diamond shear that could be used by both men and woman. John tested the design at our studio and found they did in fact fit large and small hands but unfortunately they never cut worth a damn. It is true that during a demonstration I became frustrated with trying to get a clean cut and flung them across the room. My how that event got legs. During this time and earlier though Essemce of Sweden was marketing their diamond shears that were sold through ARTCO and now sold by C&R Loo. The Essemce shears came in a few sizes and were very popular for awhile. The quality of the Putsch brand had also deteriorated to the point that one could only use them to open beer bottles and even that was a problem. The Italian brand of Meniconi shears were also sold by Putsch and still are. They are of much higher quality but are thick and very heavy. Eventually high quality tool makers emerged and offered up their versions of shears, jacks and all the other accoutrements that populate our tool boxes. I'm sure they'll all be there at GAS next week. See you there.

[Alexander Adams]

Since were talking about tools.

Yesterday I had a chance to use the Jacks and Tweezers from Japan. Double Über nice but I felt no need to add a redundant tool to my tool box.

[Hugh Jenkins]

I have to say that my Toensing diamond shears do hold an edge, cut very well, and prove that stainless can be used for cutting blades. I wish I could get some bubble shears that stayed as clean, sharp and useful.

See you all at the tool tables.

[Wes Hunting]

Mine also seem to stay sharp for a long time. I hand file them to keep a nice edge about once a year. Does not take much effort.

[Pete VanderLaan]

Originally posted by Henry Halem
It is true that during a demonstration I became frustrated with trying to get a clean cut and flung them across the room. My how that event got legs.

*****************
Indeed. You are the one who told me that story.