[Dennis Kalma]

I suspect everyone does this, but if you want to learn a bit of pick and file stuff, just take a sheet of metal and try and build a dome out of it. Ron Fournier describes it in his book on metal shaping and it is surprising how well it works. The thing I found I had to learn was that the small, relatively light taps with the pick, used in conjunction with a dolly would eventually stretch things out, but it took a long time. It was sort of "tap tap tap ..... insert about 100 taps tap tap" and then you could see things form. More of a myriad of very small dents eventually combining to form the desired shape.

In any event, I think it is great you are taking this on, there is no other way to learn except by doing.....

Dennis