There is something about working metals that makes a tremendously strong appeal to a fellow and yet it is just as easy to fashion these elements as it is to shape wood, that is, if you have the right kind of tools to do it with.

Then there is another good thing about working metals and that is the tools you need don't cost very much and you can soon make enough useful things to pay for them.

Metal working, like wood working, can be divided into two classes and these are (1) the strictly practical, and (2) the purely ornamental, but you can often combine them in an object which possesses both utility and artistic merit.

It is my intention to tell you in this chapter about the tools that you need to do ordinary metal work, such as sawing, drilling, bending, filing, etc. As in working wood you ought to have a bench, or a good strong table will do.

Your Kit of Tools

To work metals you will need certain tools according to the kind of work you intend to do. If you get all of those I have listed below you will have nearly all the hand tools you need to do any kind of a job that may come up. The following list is quite a full one and a kit which includes all of them will cost in the neighborhood of fifteen dollars. You don't need to buy all of them at once, however, but just get a tool at a time as you must have it until your kit is complete.