Which tools do you need to get started making jewelry?

Welcome to my series Tool Talk – where I help you parse out which jewelry-making tools are right for you.

Here’s what you’ll see in the Tool Talk series – honest thoughts, unsponsored reviews

Having the right tools on hand eases your jewelry-making process, but exactly are the “right tools”? It’s a wide-open question with one simple answer – it depends.

Are you just starting or are you looking to upgrade? What kinds of work do you make? What kind of work would you like to make? Do you like designing directly in the metal or do you prefer carving wax? Is there a new technique you want to learn but first you need to know which tool to buy? 

There are no right answers, just right answers for you

I used to think that there were universal answers to the question of which tools to get. But years of experience coupled with many opportunities to try different tools have left me with an open mind about which ones are “right”. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves – I have OPINIONS ABOUT TOOLS, but those opinions have been softened by watching how different students work and interact with their physical spaces.

The right tool for someone with small hands is not the right tool for someone with large hands; a jeweler working mostly in silver needs different tools than a jeweler working in platinum; designing in very thin metal requires different tools than working in thicker and heavier metals; incorporating stones into metalsmithing takes different tools than making jewelry only in metal.

I’ve bought a LOT of tools over my 17 years in jewelry. Some I was skeptical of until I found ways to make them work for me, others I could never make work, and yet more tools became tools-I-cannot-live-without.

How do you tell which tool is a “meh” and which is your future “must have near me at all times” tool? Great question, and a good time to tell you about my new blog/vlog series Tool Talk! A series of blog posts and videos all about my favorite tools and more importantly why and how these tools have helped me. I’ll be distilling the basics in this series to help you cut through the noise and the Judgy McJudgertons to help you decide which tools will work for you. A tool that some jewelers might think of as crap might just be the perfect fit in your hands.

Get started with How to read Vernier Calipers – i.e. those calipers that don’t have a digital readout. Absolutely no disrespect to the digital kind, I think those are great especially for those of us who didn’t get to learn the metric system. I have a pair of digital calipers too, but when the battery dies, they aren’t useable so I love having the non-digital kind around as a reliable tool.

Or start with my favorite soldering tool – the humble compressed charcoal soldering block. Find out why it’s one of my favorites in this video.

Important Side Note: These are all videos and rhapsodies about tools that I already own. I am not being paid or gifted any tools in exchange; these are videos meant to help you decide which tools are right for you based on my own experiences.