How to Make a Jumping Ring Apparatus

A jump ring apparatus is used to make the metal rings used to make jewelry connectors and chain-mail links. The apparatus is a simple three-sided box with grooves to hold the various diameter mandrels in place. It is much easier to bend heavy-gauge copper, steel or silver wire using a jump ring apparatus than to try to do so with your mandrel in one hand, the wire in another and your pliers in a third. Oops. There is no third hand.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Carpenter's pencil
• 2 1-by-8-by-8 inch pieces of wood
• 1 1-by-8-by-18 inch piece of wood
• Carpenter's glue
• 4 2-inch long, ¼-inch diameter wood screws
• Power drill with drill bit set
• Countersink bit
• Carpenter's try square
• Mild steel rods in diameters from 1/8 inch to 7/8 inch
• 2 pairs of pliers

1. 

   Use a carpenter's pencil to make lines 1 inch apart from end to end on the 18-inch-long piece of wood. Make tick marks every half-inch between the lines. This provides you with an easy way to measure any jewelry piece as you work with it.

2. Clamp the 2 8-by-8 inch end pieces together. Drill 1/8 inch through 7/8 inch holes 3/4 inches apart, 1 inch from the top edge of the two clamped end pieces.

3. Apply carpenter's glue to one end of the 18-inch-long piece of wood from Step 1. Set the 8-by-8 inch end pieces on its 1-inch end so the drilled holes are on the upper edge of the square. Butt one of the 8-by-8 inch end pieces of wood against the glued end and press together firmly. Allow glue to dry. Repeat for the other end.

4. 
   Step 4

   Drill two1/8-inch diameter pilot holes into each end piece and through the 18-inch wood base as shown in the diagram. Secure the ends to the base using 2-inch-long, 1/4-inch diameter wood screws.

5. 
   Step 5

   Use two pairs of pliers to cold bend one end of each mild steel rod into spit handles, with two 90-degree rounded turns. The rods will look like the rod in the photo that accompanies this step. These will be your jewelry mandrels.

6. Insert a jewelry mandrel into the correct holes across the jump ring apparatus, as shown in the photo from Step 5. Wrap one turn of your chosen heavy-gauge wire around the mandrel. Turn the mandrel to form a ring. Repeat for the number of rings you need.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have trouble bending the steel rods, heat them to bright orange with a propane torch or in your forge, then take two pairs of pliers and make your desired bend. To make chain mail, lay a given number of links in rows, half a link's width apart. Open a link and thread it through four links that are touching in a square. Close the link. Repeat along two rows of links. Repeat again with the links along the right of the double row of links you just made. Continue until you have a length of chain mail big enough for what you intend to do with it.

References

• IForgeIron: Blacksmithing Lessons

Resources

• Make Your Own Jump Rings
• Cutting Jump Rings
• Jump Ring Variations