[TheForge] fabricator magazine/ questions on grape making

[Andrew Vida]

Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer wrote:
> careful welding stuff that has been formed into lead...makes you some 
> dumber sooner or later they say...pf

	Don't have to use lead.  Once can get a steel dapping block from 
jewelers supply.  Metalliferous has then at decent prices 
(metalliferous.com)  forget phone # offhand... they are in the book.

	Place disk into appropriate depression in the block, place punch over 
it and give it a couple of  good whacks and voy-luh... a perfect hemishpere.

	For the, say, $100 you'd pay for the block (making the punches is easy 
enough), I would call it well worth the avoidance of lead poisoning - 
especially if you will be making a lot of grapes.

	Also, methinks they may have even less expensive blocks as well - 
though given the current state of the dollar this may no longer be so. 
Have any of you professional smiths noticed any effects of the 
near-worthless dollar in your businesses?