Bonny Doon Small Forming Tools: The Latest Innovation in Metal Forming

In the early 90s I created a line of jewelry which used anticlastic and synclastic shapes made from strips of gold and silver. The need for efficient hammers and stakes inspired me to develop and make a urethane-headed hammer and stakes which would form the shapes I needed.

So began Phil Poirier’s guest post on The Studio last summer after he introduced his new hammer, vise, and stakes at the 2011 SNAG Conference.

I’m happy to tell you that barely one year later…he’s done it again! At this year’s SNAG Conference Phil brought his brand new Bonny Doon Small Forming Tools, which take the innovations of his hammer and stakes to a whole new level.

What’s unique about these tools is their incredible versatility. You can use them to create your own forming stakes, or as forming dies in your hydraulic press.

To use in the vise, attach one of the dies to the die adaptor and you’ve created a forming stake!

To use in the hydraulic press, you attach a die to the Bonny Doon Ring Blade and then press into a block of 95 durometer urethane.

We’ve made some videos to better show you how these revolutionary new tools work. In the first video below, we show the Small Forming Tools being used as stakes in the vertical vise. In the second video, we show them as forming dies in your hydraulic press. Enjoy!

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Texturing Metal with the Bonny Doon Hammer

When Phil Poirier designed the Bonny Doon Hammer, he was thinking about the ideal tools for anticlastic and synclastic raising. Since debuting the hammer at last year’s SNAG Conference, we have found that it is capable of much more than that.

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Education at Rio: Bonny Doon Hydraulic Press Class

G. Phil Poirier from Bonny Doon Engineering came to Rio recently to teach us the basics of using his hydraulic presses. Join us for Rio in Motion in January and learn firsthand what makes these presses so cool!

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New Bonny Doon Hammers and Stakes

In the early 90s I created a line of jewelry which used anticlastic and synclastic shapes made from strips of gold and silver. The need for efficient hammers and stakes inspired me to develop and make a urethane-headed hammer and stakes which would form the shapes I needed. . .

...Read the Rest

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Bonny Doon Rolling Mill Pattern Plates in Action!

Phil Poirier of Bonny Doon recently paid us a visit here at Rio and we made a video to show off the popular Bonny Doon Rolling Mill Pattern Plates.
The creative possibilities are endless! Watch for a bunch of new designs on our website in April!

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Bonny Doon Tools for your Hydraulic Press!

We were thrilled when Phil Poirier bought Bonny Doon Engineering in 2006, not only because his career as both a jeweler and a tool-maker made him the perfect person to take over Bonny Doon, but also because his workshop is in Taos, New Mexico, just a few hours north of us. We’ve made a habit of dropping in on his facility every once in awhile, and we try to bring a video camera with us, when we go.

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