How to Make a Stainless Steel Ruler Into a Bracelet

Craft your own stainless steel bracelets and give them as gifts.

Creating your very own stainless steel bracelet will boost your fashion accessories in a major way. Crafting the bracelet from a stainless steel ruler gives the craft an additional level of originality. The trick to making a bracelet from a stainless steel ruler is to heat the object with enough intensity to bend the material into the shape you desire. Once you craft the bracelet, wear it with professional or casual outfits and impress friends and family with your unique sense of style.

Things You'll Need

• Leather work gloves
• Safety glasses
• Dust mask
• Measuring tape
• Marker
• Band saw
• Abrasive sanding pad
• Vice
• Oxy-acetylene torch
• Pliers
• Hammer
• Bucket of cold water
• Towel
• Clean cotton cloth
• Silver polish

Instructions

1. Slide on a pair of leather work gloves, safety glasses and a dust mask to protect your skin, eyes and lungs.

2. Measure the size of your wrist. Add four inches to the initial measurement -- to get a total measurement -- to ensure your bracelet fits on your wrist but is not too constrictive. Cut the stainless steel ruler to the length of the total measurement with a band saw. You now have an unbent stainless steel bracelet band.

3. Round the edges on each end of the bracelet band with the band saw to eliminate sharp corners. Dull the edges of the bracelet band with an abrasive sanding pad.

4. Clamp two inches of the bracelet band into a vice. Adjust the bracelet band so it is in vertical position.

5. Ignite an oxy-acetylene torch. Hold the torch tip one to two inches from the surface of the bracelet band where you intend to bend the band. Move the flame back and forth along both sides of the surface until the metal is bright orange. Turn off the torch.

6. Pinch the top of the bracelet band with a pair of pliers. Bend the bracelet into shape with medium pressure bangs with a hammer. Bend the band until the diameter of the band is in a circle with the band ends facing each other at two inches apart.

7. Unclamp the bracelet from the vice. Submerge the bracelet into a cold bucket of water for 20 minutes.

8. Remove the bracelet from the water. Dry the bracelet with a clean towel. Rub away the torch residue from the bracelet with fine 500 grit sandpaper. Polish the bracelet with silver polish and a clean cotton cloth before wearing.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep animals and children away from your work area during the bracelet making process.

References

• Azom; Stainless Steels - Formability, Fabrication and Finishing, Supplier Data by Aalco; August 3, 2011

Resources

• Individual Icons: Jewelry that Works -- About the Artist
• Google: Oxy-Acetylene Cutting and Welding Kit