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Klee's Jewelry Bench Essentials
36
items All of the tools, materials, and whatnots that Klee uses regularly at the jewelry bench.
Sections
3
The Tools
The Raw Materials
Polishing/Cleaning/Finishing
The Tools
All of Klee's “Can't do without” bench essentials for jewelry.
These are awesome for cutting gold/silver/copper wire thicker than 20 gauge and up to about 14 gauge.
Cutters - Xuron Maxi-Shear Flush 2175
These are awesome for cutting gold/silver/copper wire smaller than 20 gauge.
Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutter
Chain nose pliers are a staple in jewelry making, for bending or shaping wire. Klee still has two pairs of the same 'ol basic economy pliers she started off with 15 years ago. You can get fancier ones, but these will do the job.
Chain-Nose Pliers 4-1/2" Long with Fine Tips and Navy Blue Handles, Jewelry Making and Repair Tool
If you're going to make loops, jump rings, or any kind of smooth bend in wire, you'll need these. Klee has been using the same 'ol basic economy round nose pliers she started with 15 years ago. You can get fancier ones if you want, but these will do ...
Round-Nose Pliers for Bending and Looping Wires, Jewelry Making Supplies
Klee's ball peen hammer was given to her and is older than she is, but in general a good ball peen hammer (probably a few in different sizes) is an essential tool for hammer forging and texturing metals.
Ball-Peen Hammers - The Home Depot
Klee has a few of these Fretz hammers. Mostly for unique texturing, but they have many for various uses. They're a bit pricey but they're worth it, and Klee says there an absolute joy to use.
Fretz Hammers - Pepetools
Brass mallets are handy for disc cutting, stamping on metal (so you don't ruin the striking end of your stamps) and anything else that requires a non-marring strike. The brass head is designed to be softer than what you're hitting, so the hammer head...
Brass Mallet 1lb
It's handy to have a couple of these in different sizes. They're great for hammering pieces flat without marring the surface, getting a ring rounded and sized on a mandrel, and work-hardening a piece on a rubber block.
Garland 11002 Rawhide Mallet, Size-2
Klee always has one of these under her steel bench block while hammering. It reduces the noise and reduces the impact shock on the hammer. She also uses it by itself with a rawhide mallet to work-harden pieces that need it when the metal is too soft ...
Rubber Bench Block for Jewelry Making 4"x4"
If you're going to hammer on anything, you should have one of these under your piece. Klee has this in four different sizes and says it's in the top 5 most used things at the bench.
Steel Bench Block 4"x4" Flat Anvil Jewelers Tool
Klee is all the time using a hand saw for cutting out shapes in sheet and making nice flush cuts in ring bands and round stock. It's a must have tool at her bench.
Olson Saw 5-in Jewelers Saw with Wood Handle SF63525 – Home Depot
These blades are a favorite for Klee's jeweler's hand saw. She uses size 1/0 to cut through most anything under 12 gauge and size 3 to cut through thicker stuff. It's recommended to use bur life lubricant to keep the blades sharp and reduce breakage.
Original Laser Blades™ Saw Blades, Pkg/12
If you need to saw or drill things, put this on the tool first. It makes the job easier by reducing friction and makes the tools last longer.
BurLife® Stick Lubricant - RioGrande
Klee uses this torch for quick torch work soldering jobs or if she needs to anneal a small piece of metal quickly. It refills with butane canisters widely available.
Blazer Products 189-2001 Micro Bench Torch Black Gb2001
Butane refill canisters for the Blazer Butane Torch. These last a while and work great.
Bernzomatic 5.6 oz Butane Gas Cylinder BF56 – Home Depot
Klee loves this torch. It's her main bench torch and it can do plenty for it's size. It's top notch for tiny precision work. Works with refillable oxygen and propane canisters (if you have regulators) or one time use canisters you can get from the ha...
SMITH JEWELRY TORCH 'THE LITTLE TORCH'
Klee's been using these with her smith little torch for 10+ years. They last a while if you're doing light to medium duty torch work at the bench. The same company makes oxygen cylinders for the torch as well.
Bernzomatic 14.1 oz Propane Hand Torch Cylinder TX9 | Home Depot
These fit the smith little torch (propane & oxygen setup) and work great. Klee was using these for years and years before switching to a refillable oxygen tank with a regulator. They last a good while if you're doing light to medium duty torch wo...
Bernzomatic Soldering and brazing Oxygen Torch cylinder
Probably one of the most used things at the workbench. Drilling, sanding, buffing, small polishing jobs, widening holes, etc. It's like a handheld dremel that never needs a battery charge. Easy to control speeds with the foot pedal.
Heavy Duty Flexible Shaft Grinder/Carver HFJ14
Before Klee had a motorized flex shaft with a foot pedal, she had one of these for drilling and filing and buffing. It was great because it was portable and we were traveling. She still uses it for certain light duty tasks. Dremel bits are awesome to...
Dremel Lite 7760 N/10 4V Cordless Rotary Tool
You need hand files all the time at the bench, to get the profiles and shapes you want in the metal, and for finishing pieces with nice edges (not rough ones) sometimes a dremel filing bit is great, but sometimes you need to get in there with a hand ...
General Tools Swiss Pattern Needle Files Set (12-Piece) S475
The Raw Materials
These are the first pick suppliers Klee uses for precious metals and gemstones.
Klee's top pick for precious metals and stones is Stuller. They're trusted, they've been around forever, and their quality is top notch.
Stuller, Inc.
Klee recently got an account with Halstead and we can already tell they have great customer service. The prices are very reasonable for chains, findings, and raw materials and they have a good reputation for quality.
Halstead - Jewelry Supplies
Hoover & Strong has been around a long time as a manufacturer and mill, and refinery. They have a strong reputation and quality materials. Klee recently got an account with them for purchasing items like sheet by custom sizes and other precious m...
Hoover & Strong
Klee orders some of her precious metals from here including wire, sheet, chain, and findings.
Rio Grande Jewelry Supply
Klee loves PepeTools for, well… tools. They have everything ranging from light duty hand tools made to last, all the way up to heavy duty rolling mills and full on casting setups. They're quickly gaining a top spot reputation in the industry for offe...
PepeTools
Gemstones can be tricky to source, especially for rare ones. You have to hunt around sometimes, but Klee has been able to source hard to find gemstones from this site when nowhere else had what she needed.
Multicolour - Loose gemstones, rare colored stones, pearls and certified diamonds.
Klee has found some pretty neat and unusual stones on here. She likes just browsing and seeing what she can find.
Gem Rock Auctions
This site has amazing gemmy cabochons, especially rose cuts, and harder to find stones like kyanite and moss aquamarine. Really nice quality stones here.
Lucidity Gemstones - Cabochons and Rose Cuts
Polishing/Cleaning/Finishing
Cleaning and polishing is probably Klee's least favorite thing in jewelry, but these items help make it efficient and eco friendly.
Before Klee had this polishing station, she was finishing pieces with steel wool and small dremel buffs. It worked fine but this was a game changer. This is how she gets the incredible shine that people rave about on her finished pieces. It's little ...
Foredom K.3230 M.BL Bench Lathe with Tapered Spindles, Dust Hood & Polishing Assortment
We use this buckethead filter attached to a home depot bucket for sucking up debris and dust with the foredom polishing lathe. It attaches via the hose to the dust filter that comes with the lathe. Great for keeping the area relatively clean and for ...
Bucket Head 5 Gal. 1.75 Peak HP Wet Dry Vac Powerhead Shop Vacuum with Filter, Hose (Compatible with 5 Gal. Homer Bucket) BH0100 BH0100
For a quick hand polish to remove tarnish, these are surprisingly good! They don't use any dangerous chemicals and they get a nice shine on pieces that have minimal to moderate tarnish. Klee uses it on silver and gold as well as gold filled jewelry.
Sunshine Polishing Cloths, 5 Pack for Jewelry
Before Klee had a polishing lathe, she used this super fine grit steel wool to finish pieces. It gives a nice finish somewhere between satin and shiny. It can remove light scratches too. She still uses it as the finishing before final lathe polish to...
Super Fine Grit Steel Wool 12 Pad
Klee loves this thing and cannot emphasize enough how well it works. You put a piece of jewelry in there for one minute or less and it comes out clean no matter how tarnished it was. It just needs a rinse or a steam afterwards. Safe for most stones t...
SpeedBrite Ionic Jewelry Cleaners
Safe cleaning solution for the Speedbrite ionic jewelry cleaner. It's non toxic and very effective.
Gem Sparkle Ionic Jewelry Cleaner Liquid Concentrate 32oz – 946ml
This stuff adds an antiqued (darkened) finish to silver and copper (not gold). It smells awful (we call it fart water) but it does a great job. Lasts forever and the gel form doesn't lose it's potency in the container. Please watch tutorials on how t...
Beadsmith XL Liver of Sulfur Gel, 1 fl oz