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Basic Tools for Jewellery Making
Perhaps the most important decision jewellers have to make when starting is the selection of there first set of jewellery making tools – the backbone to their trade. The basic hand tools needed for Jewellery making have not changed in decades and Cookson provides a full range of jewellery tools, covering every thing detailed in this article. Everything from basic hand tools, pre packed tool kits, consumables, larger machinery right through to the professional jewellers bench.
A place to work –
A jewellers workshop requires only a small area - a spare room is ideal, but it is essential that it is well lit, and has good ventilation. Professional jewellers usually invest in study purpose built workbench, however a normal working desk or work top can be adapted, simply by adding a G clamp bench vice or anvil. The Jewellers Peg /pin can then be held in place securely giving a simple, yet study place to work.
Hand tool essentials –
The range of jewellers tools to choose from can initially be overwhelming, however once the basics are in place, additional tools can be added as the jewellers skill improves or their projects demand.
Saws (frames and blades) allow the jeweller to make small and intricate cuts. Frames are either fixed or adjustable. Selecting which grade of saw blade you require is key - the most popular is grade 2/0 which is relatively fine but is still robust, where as grade 6/0 is used for very fine work but is less robust.
Hand drills are less used with the prevalence of powered pendant or hobby drills. However the more traditional hand drill, Archimedes or Bow drill still provides a simple & effect way of drill holes.
Files are essential for removing excess material, with the different sizes available for working large areas or at a more intricate level. To start with buy a selection of shapes containing round, square, triangular, half round and warding. Plus consider the cut ranging from 0 the coarsest, to 6 the finest. For cleaning up your piece after filing or soldering, jewellers tend to use sand paper, emery sticks, or wet & dry paper with a range of grades allowing them to achieve different finishing effects.
Polishing your piece is essential but again a few selected tools & polishing compounds will allow you to achieve good initial results. Polishing sticks (made of felt or leather) when combined with compounds such as Tripoli or rouge will help create a polished finished looking piece.
Pliers allow jewellers to tackle most jobs and work with a wide variety of materials, and are particular useful in wirework. They allow the jeweller to hold, form and shape and it is essential that you have snipe nose, flat, round nosed pliers in your tool box.
Ensuring accuracy in finely detailed work is essential in jewellery making, but marking and measuring tools are often overlooked. Investing in a metal rule, a set of good vernier calipers plus a scriber and punch ensure you can mark and measure accurately and easily.
Although this list is not exhaustive, these tools will ensure that a jeweller will have the basic tools to start their first project. But as jewellery making is such a wide subject very quickly other equipment will be required.. The next step will invariable mean that a heat source is required – such as a hand torch complete with soldering block. As the metal is worked you will need forming equipment – hammers and mandrels, plus as the jewellers skills develop they will have a need for improved and quicker finishing, requiring will mean the introduction of a polishing motor & mops. All this combined with a wider range of other hand tools and other equipment such as files, tweezers, glues, setting & soldering equipment.
