Cool Jewelry Tools: Using a Wooden Ring Clamp

The newest addition to my tool bin is this wooden ring clamp.  I'm not sure I had ever heard of this tool before I watched a neat video tutorial on coiling wire by Lisa Niven Kelly at Beaducation.  If you go to step 2 of the video, you'll see how she uses it to hold the wire she is coiling around - making it easier on her fingers.

As you may remember from this blog post when I attempted to make earrings with coiled wire - I don't coil wire very frequently, so it wasn't my primary use for the wooden ring clamp.

But I do like to make rings!  And for me, one of the more difficult parts of making wire rings is the cleaning and filing work.  It is really important that everything is sanded smooth, all wires are filed and tucked securely or the ring will get caught on clothing or scratch the wearer.

The ring clamp holds the ring securely and gives you a larger more comfortable grip on your work.  One end of the ring clamp is square and the other side is rounded.  Both sides have leather padding inside the jaws to securely hold your ring or wire without leaving any grip marks.  The wooden wedge fits in either side to clamp the ring or wire securely in the jaws.

Here's one more video from Beaducation that shows 4 great uses for the wooden ring clamp: to file or finish rings, to coil wire, to hold warp wires while weaving wire and also to straighten thinner wire that has bends or kinks.

I bought my wooden ring clamp from Thunderbird Supply during their last sale when everything is at the lowest price.  It was great investment (really, it was a steal) at under $6.  WOW - This tool is on sale for $4.34 at Thunderbird Supply right now!!  The sale is two months long - so you may still have time to get one at this price.