Jump Rings and All That Jazz

Nancy LT Hamilton, author

Last Updated: 11/4/23, 10/29/18, May 10, 2017

When I started to write this page, I had no idea that there would be so much to write about such a deceptively simple loop.  Of course, I was wrong.  Go figure.  Enjoy.

  Jump Rings are those little round (most of the time) things that link parts of jewelry together or are used to create chain mail. How’s that for a scientific explanation? Most people have encountered them but may not understand what goes into making them. That’s basically what this page is all about.

Jump Rings can be made of many different materials but, we will be discussing metal ones – as I am a metalsmith.  There are many different shapes for jump rings – no rules here.  Square, Round, Triangular, Oval, Free form – whatever the design calls for.

                      

Mandrels

                                                                (Pepe Tools mandrel)

Okay, so first, I’ll explain what a mandrel is:  It’s a piece of metal or wood or whatever (usually steel),  that is used to form metal. There are ring mandrels, bezel mandrels, bracelet mandrels, wire wrapping mandrels, etc.  See my Mandrels page for more on this topic. The basic concept is that the metal follows the shape of the mandrel.  So, if you want triangular jump rings you need to find a triangular piece of metal or wood, or pliers that possess the required shape or you can shape each jump ring with pliers.

     Wubbers sells square mandrel pliers to make square jump rings with.  Shapes besides round and oval can be difficult to remove from the mandrel.  So, keep that in mind.

    Wubbers also carries oval mandrel pliers and triangular mandrel pliers.  All are useful for a variety of different techniques like shaping metal or using them as tiny anvils.

EuroTools Hand Coiler w/std Mandrels – Mr. Twister on Amazon

  Pepe Tools Mandrels at Otto Frei

There are many different brands and types of jump ring systems.  Some are designed for small-scale production while with others, you can produce gallons of jump rings.  The choice of tool or system depends on your needs.  If you are making chain mail, you don’t want to purchase wire wrapping pliers or short, hand-cranked systems – the short length of the jaw limits how many jump rings you can wrap at a time, and having to hand wind will make your arms fall off!   The Ring Lord carries 18″ mandrels and many other tools for jump ring creation.

Other jump ring makers are The Koil Kutter Kit, originally from Dave Arens and now sold by Potter USA.  The Koil Kutter gives you a choice of English or Metric mandrels.  There is also  Pepetools’ Jump Ring Maker.

Not sure how to use a jump ring maker?  Check out my extensive video on this topic.

When purchasing a jump ring maker, think about:

• How many jump rings you will be making – chain maille?  Many.  Jewelry, a few or a lot – depending on your designs.  Chain-making will require many more than just using a few jump rings for links.
• What you can afford?
• How much space do you have?

If you are making a lot of rings, think about something like the Ringinator.

  If you are just making a few jump rings, you might consider this type of multi-mandrel from Beadsmith, on Amazon.

You can also make jump rings on pliers that are not parallel.  The trick is to wrap from the widest part of the jaw, trying to keep the coil moving down the pliers, toward the tip. So, wrap from the back.

  How to wrap on a non-parallel plier.

Oval Jump Rings

NOTE:  with all non-round jump ring creations, it is best to lubricate your mandrel for ease of removal.  Use something like PepeTools’ Blade Butter, (my favorite),  3-in-1 oil, or other light oil.  If using wooden mandrels, you don’t need lubrication because you can just saw through the wooden mandrel, which will loosen the rings.

You can also create oval jump rings by making a round jump ring.  First, you solder it closed and then you alter its shape with a pair of bow or ring-opening pliers  (reverse action pliers – you squeeze them and they open up). There are quite a few different sizes to choose from. These tools are also used in the body piercing industry.

  Bow-Opening Pliers

No Bow-Opening Pliers?  Use your regular round nose pliers, insert them into the jump ring, and pull the handles apart, or put one handle of the plier in a vise and pull the other.  It is not as easy as using Bow-Opening pliers which is why I own Bow-Opening pliers.  Next step:  re-sawing open the solder join – if you need the jump rings open.  If you don’t need them open, then you are done.

  Opening jump ring with Bow pliers – note grooves on pliers to hold jump ring.

   Here’s a comparison of the round nose-made rings (left) and bow-opening pliers (right).

Bow-Opening Pliers Suppliers

When searching for bow-opening pliers, try terms like “reverse action pliers” and “snap ring pliers” too.

*****Great idea from Musicman’s post on M.A.I.L. (Maille Artisans International League) called the “Squish Method” for creating oval jump rings.  So simple, so easy!  You could also leave the jump ring coil in the vise (with one end kinda poking out – see video 3 below under “Chainmaille Artists…”) and saw through them.  I tried it but, the beginning links kept pulling away when I pulled the saw back (I used a jeweler’s saw).  Maybe using masking tape on the coil and using a separating disc/cut-off wheel would work?

Another method for creating oval jump rings is to either:  A. solder wire together and wrap your jump ring wire loosely around the mandrel (so that you can get it OFF the mandrel) or B. file a flat area on two round dowels.  Glue and clamp.  Wrap the wire around the wood.  You don’t have to wrap loosely on the wooden dowels because you can saw the jump rings in place.  If you want to remove the coil from the dowels, you will need to wrap it loosely.  The wire digs into the soft wood and will not come off.  I suppose you could start a fire and burn them out?  Although, I don’t recommend the fire technique.  Just a desperate measure – if needed. Do that outside in a fire-proof area.  Have a fire extinguisher handy.  Maybe skip this idea!

  Wooden dowels for oval jump rings.

You can also wrap your wire around a craft stick like these Wood Skinny Sticks that Michael’s carries.

Comparison of oval jump rings formed with (from left to right) Squish Method, Skinny Sticks, and two dowels glued together.

Other Mandrels

The cheapest jump ring mandrel is the ever-useful wooden dowel (as we’ve seen above, they can also be used for oval, as well as round jump rings.)  Mind you, there aren’t 50 million sizes (or shapes) to choose from but, there are enough to create a pretty good range (both in size and shape) of jump rings.  I adapt my wooden dowel mandrels by either cutting a slot in the top with a cut-off wheel (aka a separating disc)  or by drilling a hole, the size of the wire I am using, into the side of the mandrel.  These adaptations are made so that the wire can be firmly attached to the mandrel.  The simplest method is just taping the wire to the side, with masking tape.  Below are images of the three different methods.

You can also make a jig and use cut-off wheels to cut the jump rings.

A note on cut-off wheels:  Purchase thin wheels.  These can be used with the flex shaft or with a Dremel.

  Variations in attachments.  Taped to a dowel, slotted into a dowel, or side-set in a dowel. The side-set method is just a hole drilled into the dowel horizontally and the wire is run through the hole and then placed into your drill or flex shaft.  If using the side set, leave enough space at the top of the dowel to insert it into your winder.

Cutting Jump Rings 

Safety guard, blade, and Lock of the Koil Kutter.

First off, always lubricate your blade!  Always lubricate your coil on the top.  I like a dry lubricant like PepeLube.  Oil helps the blade to cut smoothly and reduces friction – which in turn reduces the heat generated.  When a blade gets overheated it can get annealed and, due to the now soft steel,  lose its cutting edge very quickly.

Many of the jump ring makers (at Amazon) come with jump ring cutters.  The Koil Kutter (at Potter USA) has a safety guard, as does the Durston Jump Ring Maker (at Rio Grande), and PepeTools’ Jump Ring Maker. There is also a steel cutting blade and a holder, within which, you put your jump rings.

This “Lock” secures the jump rings (which are removed from the mandrel first).  The safety guard and blade unit fit onto and into the slotted top of the “Lock”.  This helps to guide the blade.  Notice I said helps.  I have been able to destroy the top of my Lock by not cutting in the groove.  I have no idea how I did it but, I managed to repeat the mistake several times! See the image of my poor little tool below. Takes skill kiddies, takes skill…

To avoid mistakes and to protect yourself, please see my video which shows you how to use your jump ring maker safely and efficiently.  

Desiree’s Desired Creations talks about using the Koil Kutter with a Dremel.

So, enough of the electrically based products – what about the old-fashioned way, you may ask?  Well, there are many old-fashioned ways but, I’m not going to discuss them as my attention span is limited.  What I will discuss is how I cut jump rings manually.

Cutting Jump Rings Manually

There are two scenarios here:  one is you made your jump rings on a metal mandrel and two: you made your jump rings on a wooden dowel. The procedures are basically the same but, one is easier than the other.  By using the wooden mandrels, you keep the jump rings on it to saw.  If you used metal mandrels, you can try finding a dowel that will fit into your coil.  The coil alone tends to move around so, taping the coil helps a lot! The nice thing about using the dowel is it is more stable and you have a handle to hold onto.

  This photo shows how to hammer the end if you are using the slot method. You only need to do this if the wire doesn’t fit into the slot – generally when you are using heavy gauged wire like 16 through 12 gauge.

  this shows the hammered end put into the slot.

   The image shows a drilled (and much-used) bench pin.

   Placement of dowel and coil on bench pin.  Coil alone would have a similar placement.

What about soldering jump rings and opening them, Nancy?

Well, since you asked…

I like to use a charcoal block to solder jump rings.  The charcoal holds in the heat and reduces the amount of oxygen resulting in less fire scale.

    Charcoal, jump ring, and solder under seam. Dap a bit of liquid flux on the seam.  The solder can’t boil off when using this method. You also drag the solder up the seam because the heat source is coming from the top.  Solder follows heat!

  Solder over the seam.  Solder can jump off (boil) using this method.

   This “lovely” drawing shows where I place my torch when soldering jump rings.  The flame is behind and above the ring.  Why?  Because I want to bring all the metal up to solder-melting-temperature at the same time so, that the solder doesn’t jump to one side and ignore the other.  Pretty cool, eh?  Old people do, occasionally, have wisdom to impart!  We might not remember the name of the thing with the flame coming out of it but, dang it, we know where to put it!

So, my final word on jump rings is on opening and closing them.

How To Open A Jump Ring

Jump rings are opened by either: A. Using two pairs of pliers or B. using either a slot-headed screw or a jump ring opening ring.

Never pull jump rings apart as you’ll never get them round again – without a ton of work.  Instead, twist, with two pliers, each end away from the other.  Slide into a chain, piece, whatever, and then close by pulling the two ends back together.  I often, once again with the pliers, push the ends past where they meet, pull them back to center, and then finish the twist to center.  This maneuver creates tension and a tight, clean join.

If you are opening and closing a ton of jump rings, (chain mail comes to mind), try using one of the following tools:

  Jump ring opening ring

   This one is called a Ring for Opening and Closing Jump Rings.  Wonder why they called it that?  So, looking at this, I think a slot-headed screw soldered onto a ring band (saw screw to the desired length first) would probably be a pretty cheap way to go too.

   One of these (largish size screw or bolt with a slotted head) screwed or bolted into the desk would work too.  Check the hardware store in your area.

Videos from Chain Maille Artists and Their Jump Ring-Making Solutions

1. West Coast Chainmail – Chainmail Ring Coiling/Winding Apparatus/Jig.
   Fancy, fast winding and cutting
2. Kurnos34 – How to Make ChainMaille:  Homemade winding jig.  Supplies and getting started making chain mail.
3. Schuler101 – How To Make: Rings for Chainmail. Home-made jig and cutting in the coil in a vise.
4. Coolantcooled – How to make chain mail rings – Enhanced Jig.  Very “cool” winding jig.  Just needs to be supported somehow.
5. Tropicalwebsurfer – Chainmaille wood box coil jig.  A simple solution for coiling.  I just want to see it clamped down and off the carpet!
6. Yvonne Williams has a good video (on YT) on cutting jump rings.  She uses the Ringinator.
7. Jewelry Supply on YT:  How to Open Jump Rings.

 Further Research on Making and Cutting Jump Rings

The RingLord.com has a ton of information on jump rings and making.  Here’s a link to his chainmail community: The Forum.  This article is on how to use a jump ring maker like the Koil Kutter of the Jump Ring Maker at Pepe.

• Make your own jump ring cutting jig, here at Instructables.
• Adam Sutton shows his jump ring cutter on YouTube.  You can also find his CAD designs on his website: Adamofsutton.com, using a Dremel.
• Coil Cutting Pliers – these are used to hold the rings and then you saw them, using the slot as a guide.
• MJSA has an article on Cutting Jump Rings. The link is from Ganoksin.
• Shoebox Studio: Jewelry Making Techniques has an article: Wind & Cut Jump Rings Simply and Efficiently.  A low-tech method.
• Okay, there are probably subjects that I haven’t covered but, I am so tired of jump rings at this point that I’m having nightmares.  Three days of this would drive you mad too!

 

• Related Web Pages
• Ring, Bracelet, and Bezel Mandrels
• Mandrel Holders
• Wire and Sheet Metal
• Measuring Wire and Metal
• My Videos Related to This Topic
• Annealing Wire
• Jump Rings
• Making the Most of Your Jump Ring Maker

Thanks for visiting and I hope this helped.