Tool magic

[Patstone]

Has anyone used Tool Magic rubber solution to dip plier ends into to stop marking things. If it works it may help me to stop mashing jump rings.

[mizgeorge]

It's popular with some people Pat - but I have to admit it's a workaround for bad technique and badly finished pliers rather than anything else.

The main reason jump rings get marked is because of the tendency to develop a 'death grip' on pliers, which will inevitably lead to marks. The other big problem is hard edged pliers. A little bit of effort with some micromesh (the manicurist style buffer is ideal for this) to just round off the edges and smooth up the faces a little will make a huge difference.

[Dennis]

Yes, any protection on pliers quickly breaks up and then you can neither see nor feel what you are doing to jump rings. Ideally you use two identical flat nosed pliers and gently move the ends of the jump rings from side to side while bringing them together for a good fit.

It is a false economy to make do with two different pliers as the flat nosed ones are best. Some people even use parallel flat pliers, but I find them too clumsy for this. Dennis.

[mizgeorge]

Unusually, I disagree with Dennis on this one. As a mailler, my preferred pliers are a pair of bent chain nose to hold the ring steady, and a pair of fairly narrow flat nosed for moving the other side. I've recently switched to very short nosed swanstroms for the flat nosed pair, as nobody in the UK seems capable of stocking the right tronex version, and they're the best I've used since the demise of my beloved old style Lindstom RXs.

[Dennis]

Unusually, I disagree with Dennis on this one.

Well it's hardly going to be pliers at dawn, is it George?

[MeadMoon]

I use the same as George, but the other way around with the bent chain nose pliers in my dominant hand.

[Patstone]

Well all I can say to that is I had a very good teacher !!!!! and I have cut hundreds of jumprings between finger and thumb like my teacher showed me. My main problem is with my lack of depth vision, (with one eye life itself is a challenge), try closing one eye and picking up a small jumpring and then close it satisfactorily, its harder than you imagine it to be. Making chainmaille is a bit of a test anyway and I thought that by having rubber on the pliers, it may enable me to hold them while fumbling around trying to coordinate the pliers and jumpring to close the jumpring. It is a good idea to sand down the edges of the pliers though, they are Zuron ones, so not bad quality, the best I could afford at the time anyway.

It's popular with some people Pat - but I have to admit it's a workaround for bad technique and badly finished pliers rather than anything else.

The main reason jump rings get marked is because of the tendency to develop a 'death grip' on pliers, which will inevitably lead to marks. The other big problem is hard edged pliers. A little bit of effort with some micromesh (the manicurist style buffer is ideal for this) to just round off the edges and smooth up the faces a little will make a huge difference.