Tool and Die Maker

Forget “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Instead, ask yourself, “Which came first, the tool or the Tool Maker ?” It’s an equally maddening question, because somebody had to make all mankind’s tools — but they needed tools to do it!

Although it’s hard to say which came first, it’s clear today that chickens make eggs, and Tool Makers make tools. A Tool and Die Maker, therefore, creates the tools, dies, and devices used to make the things society needs, including everything from clothes, can openers, and couches to planes, trains, and automobiles.

A highly skilled Machinist employed by factories and independent shops, you might be both a Tool and Die Maker, although you’re probably one or the other. If you’re a Tool Maker, you build tools that are used for cutting, bending, and drilling metal. If you’re a Die Maker, on the other hand, you construct metal molds, called “dies,” that are used to form metal via stamping and forging.

Either way, manufacturers count on you to make metal parts for their products and machines. Usually, that starts with design, which requires collaborating with Mechanical Engineers in order to build blueprints. Then, using a combination of manual and automated processes, you perform the steps necessary — laying out, measuring, grinding, cutting, shaping, and assembling — to physically produce the tool or die, which you then test, refine, and, when it eventually breaks, repair.

Basically, as a Tool and Die Maker, you’re a metalworking Magician who uses your knowledge of metals and machining properties — for example, hardness and heat tolerance — to build manufacturing miracles!