Manufacturing jewelry is a great way to tap into your creative side along with having something cool and original to wear. Don’t like what you see in the stores? Make what you DO like. Wear it, make it for others, or sell it. Before you can make…

Wire artists know that their success lies in their ability to handle their tools and control the wire; the ability to use hand tools has a direct impact on the wire. So it comes as no surprise that, whenever wire artists meet, they should talk about…

Why this torch? This torch is designed for professional jewelers and has the well-known quality German craftsmanship. It is hot enough to alloy silver or gold. The manufacturer says that an extra hot oxygen assisted flame is only necessary for…

Flux is a soldering compound that keeps the soldering joints clean by blocking oxygen, which causes oxidation. Flux cleans, coats, and protects the piece and enables the solder to flow easily between the joints when heated. Coating Flux After…

When using a torch, you need to protect the surface upon which you are working and also protect the area directly under the item you are soldering. You will need a large, heat resistance surface to cover your work area to guard against any stray,…

A solder pick is a small, pointed instrument designed to help you move solder into place. Be careful not to get the metal too near the flame, or it will melt. Also, take care not to fuse the solder to the solder pick. However, titanium and…

Solder is the small piece of alloyed metal that is melted in order to fuse two other pieces of metal together. The place where the metals are fused by solder is called a joint. The solder metal is of a lower melting temperature than the two pieces…

Working with tiny pieces of solder and tiny pieces of jewelry is a strain on a jeweler’s eyes. Magnification is essential for precision. Magnification tools come in different magnification powers that range from 1.0x (power) to 10x (power), with…

You need a container with a lid for the pickle solution. Pickle works best when it’s heated, so a small crock pot is the ideal container. Keep the setting on Low heat. Use the crock pot only for pickle. Do not attempt to clean it and use it…

The third hand is an indispensable tool for securing items while they are soldered. The weighted base serves as an anchor while the hinged joint secures the interlocking tweezers in place with a tightening screw. The interlocking tweezers hold…

Silver and gold are joined by soldering, which requires a heat source. In olden days an apprentice was assigned to watch a special oven used for soldering and to ring a bell to let the craftsman know that the piece had “ flashed” and that the…

Pickle is a liquid compound used to remove oxidation and flux from newly soldered jewelry. It is what you put your pieces in to clean them after soldering.  Metal that has been soldered produces oxidation on the outside of it. Allowing the metal…

Tongs are needed to remove soldered items from the pickle. Copper tongs are needed if your pickle solution is sodium bicarbonate based (Sparex #2). Metal tongs of a metal other than copper will react with the pickle and contaminate the item…

The flex shaft is a motorized machine designed to assist with drilling, cutting, carving, and polishing jewelry. The tool includes a motor, a flexible shaft that connects the hand piece to the motor, and a foot pedal to control the speed of…

Pointed tweezers are indispensible for picking up tiny pieces of solder from your work bench. Placing the solder on the jewelry is much easier too with these tools. Be careful with the tip. It is very sharp and fine and can be bent…

Shears are extremely useful for trimming smaller pieces of solder from large sheets of solder. The blades should be stainless steel. Amazon offers them for sale on its website.

Wire cutters are needed to cut wire. Get cutters that have a flush or flat side. Cutting wire with a nice, flush end cuts down on finishing time. Only cut precious metal wire with the wire cutters. Other types of metal will mar the edges and the…

  A jeweler’s saw frame and blades is essential for cutting shapes out of sheet metal. The saw blade is placed in the holders above the wooden handle and tightened into place with the knobs. If the blade is too tight, it will snap when…

Needle files are small files used to finish and shape metal. They have a smooth edge on one side so they don’t mark the metal when you are filing in tight spaces. They come in various shapes – round, half round, square, triangle, flat and…

Calipers assist with measuring metals. They can be locked in place at a certain measurement (in inches or in millimeters). The top metal jaws assist with measuring the inside of items, like rings. The bottom jaws measure the outside of…

Hammers are needed to shape and manipulate metal. The main hammers needed are the chasing hammer and the rawhide or rubber mallet. The chasing hammer has a head with one smooth, slightly convex side and one ball-shaped side. The smooth side is…

Mandrels are cylindrical tools used to round out wire and metal. Mandrels can be made of wood or aluminum and steel and come in a variety of lengths and widths. A ring mandrel can have grooved ring sizes marked on it to assist with sizing…

Pliers are essentials for gripping, bending, and shaping metal and wires. Pliers should be constructed of stainless steel with rubber coated handles for comfort. They should be smooth jawed and hinged with box joints. There are numerous types of…

To smooth metal to a fine finish, jewelry sandpaper is needed. The most common types of jewelry sandpaper is made from emery, silicon carbide, and aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide is the most commonly used and the least expensive. The sandpaper…

A ring clamp is extremely helpful in holding a ring or other jewelry items while filing it or mounting gems in it. The wedge shoved into the opposite end of the clamp keeps the jaws securely on the jewelry placed in them. The jaws should be…

The final step in jewelry manufacturing is polishing a newly created piece to a mirror-like finish. This is easily done with a motor powered polishing machine. The machine has a motor that turns a polishing wheel, called a wheel buff. Some…

A bench pin is a notched piece of wood that is attached to your work table or work bench to aid with sawing. It also helps steady your hands and tools to do intricate work in small spaces. You can snugly anchor numerous tools, like the ring…

If you are doing intricate or laborious work that requires both hands, you will need to get a bench vise. The vise has two jaws that firmly hold metal in place. The jaws are tightened by a rod that is turned. Ideally, the jaws should be covered…

Every jeweler needs a place to work and having a true jewelers’s work bench, rather than a make-shift table or desk, is money well-spent. Jeweler’s work benches sit higher than regular work benches to eliminate hunching and back problems. They…