Jewelry Tools for Beginners
If you’re a newcomer to the world of jewelry making, the huge variety of jewelry making tools might be a bit overwhelming and make it more difficult to figure out which jewelry making tools you need in order to get started. We feel ya – everyone here at Jewelrythis has been at that point in their career at one time or another. To help you over the hurdle, we’ve created a ‘Jewelry Tools 101’ list of the basic tools that every jeweler needs to get started. Let’s take a look:
1. The jeweler’s loupe. The jeweler’s loupe is essentially a small, folding, magnifying glass that, like a standard magnifying glass, allows the jeweler to see details more clearly. The difference between a loupe and a magnifying glass, however, is that loupes offer more intense magnification and thus provide a more detailed view. In this sense, a loupe can be considered a specialized magnifying glass. While there are simple loupes made with a single lens, they are usually of poor quality and tend to obscure the object you’re viewing as well as affect its coloring. Therefore, professional jewelers use a triplet loupe, which has three lenses placed in a specific way so that any distortions or color problems are corrected.
How you use a loupe is important too. Loupes should be held between the thumb and forefinger of one hand with the object you want to view held between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand.The loupe should then be held about an inch away from your eye and the object about an inch from the loupe. You must also make sure that your hands aren’t wobbly or shaky and that you have the correct focus. Getting the correct focus, might take a bit of practice at first, but without proper focus you won’t have an accurate view of the object. Holding the loupe properly allows you to clearly see the surface of the object you’re viewing and if you rotate and tilt, you will get different views.
If you’re looking to buy a loupe, remember that an 18mm lens with 10X triplet magnification is the type of loupe most often used by jewelry professionals. This magnification lets jewelers see if there are flaws in a gemstone such as blemishes, chips, cracks, and inclusions as well as gives them a close-up view of the craftsmanship used in the jewelry. Loupes with black frames are preferable because the black frame eliminates reflections that can cause changes in color. Finally, as you’re shopping, pay attention to the following three attributes: focal length (the distance between the object and where you hold the loupe to get the best magnification and focus), field of view (the size of the area you can see through the loupe’s lens), and the depth of field (which determines how far you can move the loupe toward or away from the object you’re viewing while still maintaining a good focus).
2. A digital caliper. The digital caliper is another tool that jewelers use to measure, document, and design jewelry. They are very precise and accurate, and ideal for measuring small parts, gemstones, ring sizes, setting sizes, and more. Calipers can also provide extremely accurate measurements of internal and external distances. Digital calipers are far easier to use than earlier versions where you had to carefully and closely look at the metric or imperial measurement on a small sliding scale rather than an LCD display. Plus, the digital versions usually have a button that lets you choose between seeing the distance as either metric or imperial.
For outside measurements, which is one of the more basic measurements, you need to open the jaws, place the object between the jaws, and gently slide the jaws until they contact the object. You can then read the measurement. For inside measurements, also one of the more basic measurements, you’ll need to place the inside measuring jaws on the top of the caliper into the space you want measured and then slide the jaws apart as far as they can go. This will give you the inside measurement. Digital calipers also let you take more complicated measurements such as depth, step, and compound measurements.
3. Jewelry weight scales. Jewelry scales are another essential jewelry tool. They are used to weigh metals and gemstones both for designing purposes and appraisals and come in a variety of types, the most common of which are compact, portable, and precision scales. The important thing is that the scale is an NTEP (National Type Evaluation Program) certified legal-for-trade scale. These scales have undergone independent testing and verification and thus ensure the highest accuracy. Today, modern scales have many features that make weighing precious metals and gemstones easy and accurate such as auto calibration, a tare button or zeroing, and different weighing units including grams, ounces, OzT, ct and DTW pennyweight.
Essential jeweler’s tools: loupe, caliper, scale
We’re here to help
So there you have it – the three basic tools that every jeweler needs to get started. Also, if you’re new to jewelry design and production, and need a little help getting your jewelry business off the ground, we can help you with your designs and your production needs. Feel free to contact us at any time. We’re happy to help!
