Six-stepped Round Nose Pliers, I think I Love You!

by Judy Ellis, Wirejewelry.com

Wire Jewelry Tip for May 20th, 2016

Six-stepped Round Nose Pliers, I think I Love You!

Four reasons to love the six-stepped pliers.

by Kate Richbbourg

Our tip for today comes to us from Kate Richbourg… and I think it speaks for itself!

Kate Says:

I love my six-stepped pliers. I found this tool many years ago and it has been in heavy rotation on my tool bench ever since. I love to spread the word about these pliers to my jewelry students, ’cause I know you are going to find it as handy as I do.

1. Size Matters.

There are six different loop size options with these pliers, 3 different sizes on each jaw ranging from big to small. The sizes are as follows 2mm, 2.5mm, 3.5mm, 5mm, 7mm, and 8mm.

I used to have a bunch of dowels cluttering my work space. Enter this tool and the dowels are banished to box. This range of size options is just what I need to make loops, jump rings and the shape for an ear wire or hook clasp.

2. “Consistency, thou art a jewel.”

Okay, so maybe William Shakespeare wasn’t a jewelry maker, but his famous words could have been uttered about this tool. The heads on this tool are what we might call “barrel shaped” rather than tapered. This barrel makes it easy to make a coil or series of loops that are consistently all the same size. No marking the heads of your tapered pliers to hit the size mark for your loops.  Just grab the tool, choose a size and loop away. Your loops will be the same size each time.

3. We All Jump for Jump Rings.

If you are like me, you’re always looking for a couple of jump rings to complete a project. With the wide variety of sizes options with these pliers, I can choose a wire in the exact gauge I want my ring to be and coil it around the exact size I need. My default is 18-gauge wire with the 5mm barrel. I use a flush cutter to cut the rings apart from the coil and am left with a nice little pile of jump rings for my projects.

4. It’s a Cheap Date.

This one is simple. It’s not a super-expensive tool and the quality is great. Mine has been in heavy rotation for over 10 years and it’s holding up just fine. I foresee continued long and happy relationship with this tool.

To read more of Kate’s Tips CLICK HERE!

Happy Wrapping!

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One Comment

1. 

   Lane Knox

   May 20, 2016 at 5:37 am

   You picked my absolute favorite tool, too, Kate! You can’t beat them for consistency and ease of use, especially when you’re creating pieces that use multiple sizes of jump rings. These pliers are da BOMB!