I don't know why but I've always been intimidated to work with metal. Beautiful!
Thanks! I was a bit intimidated as well until I tried a few simple parts such as making ferrules or brass escutcheons. The first tool I made which has a significant amount of metal work was a router plane. This got me hooked on shaping metal with files and tempering steel. Like anything else, skills grow through practice. I'm getting better but still have a lot of areas where I'd like to improve. My encouragement to anyone interested is to give it a try. There is a different sort of satisfaction that comes from using a tool you made.
Besides the tools you make you will also begin to acquire specialized metal-working tools. I now have a collection of specialized files, most of which I've gotten at estate sales. I purchased a metal lathe a couple of years ago as well. I suppose next in line is a milling machine unless I run out of tools to make before then.