go for half hard, easy to soften, and will harden as you coil the jump rings. Hard might be too difficult to work with or become too brittle.
Em
go for half hard, easy to soften, and will harden as you coil the jump rings. Hard might be too difficult to work with or become too brittle.
Em
I use the masking tape method too - I'd never heard of anyone else doing that.
It does make life a lot easier, though I cut from the outside. It also means the rings don't drop off the end of the sawblade.
Sorry, just spotted a couple of questions I'd missed!
The 30g reel (I guess the weight is pretty close to a troy oz) are just that. 30g of wire on a spool. Except a lot of the time it's not on a spool, just coiled in a bag
If you're struggling with jump rings collapsing, try using a bamboo knitting needle or skewer as a mandrel and just leave it in place as you cut. Much easier than picking tape off the finished rings!
I use the masking tape method too, it was the way i was taught , doing it another way would feel to me ...
Resurrecting this old thread because I'm seemingly incapable of sawing coils of jump rings without bending the whole lot. I've practised on cheapo wire, and I'm getting nowhere. I've tried masking tape, and I've tried sawing from the inside and the outside. Every tutorial I read just kind of says 'and then saw the coil', with no indication of how to troubleshoot if it's all going horribly wrong.
Will using half-hard wire really help? Because at the moment, I'm on the point of just deciding never to make my own jump rings ever again ever as long as I live ever...
How are they bending? Have you tried only making short lengths of coil so you can get a good grip on them as you saw through?
nic x
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One thing I did when I started was to get a lod of knitting needles from charity shops in all sorts of sizes and then use these to make the coils - I would then saw the coil when it was still on the knitting needle - It's easier if you heat the knitting needle and bend it and tehn you can cut on the bend/corner. can also do this with nails, but I couldn't get my hands on a few nails in different sizes without having to buy bags of 50 etc, so I resorted to knitting needles.
Hmm, not sure how to describe. They're just going wildly out of shape! I do think that not being able to fathom how to get a good grip on the coil is a big part of the problem.
Thanks for the advice, you guys - I'll try both short coils and leaving them wrapped around the knitting needles and see how it goes. (not going to do it right now, though - much too late at night - probably cut my hands to ribbons!)
Cheers.
If they're getting very misshapen, that would suggest that either the mandrel is too large for the gauge of wire, or you're not winding tightly enough. Are you winding by hand or using a drill?
I'm glad I'm not the only one having this problem - and neither are you.
Gripping the wire is my problem too - I'm afraid my fingers will get in the way of the saw which I have done a few times - but the blood quickly stopped
I tried sawing in one direction and found that I was pulling the last ring away from the coil - which of course really messes it up - is that what you were doing? I now know I need to saw pushing against the coil instead - but that's when I'm afraid of my fingers getting in the way.
But I plan to have another go at the weekend. I'm hoping that practice makes perfect. I may try the sawing while the coil is on the mandrel too.
Anne
Feel the fear, and do it anyway!
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