Jewelry pliers, tools for beading

My friend beader, you need good jewelry pliers to finish all of those stunning projects of yours! That’s why I have gathered a quick list to the ones we need. This I’m going to say with a bit of tough love: Don’t waste valuable time and money on bad quality jewelry pliers! It is going to slow you down, frustrate you, and leave you without the true satisfaction beading can be.

Jewelry pliers with bad quality used to drive me insane! For instance, they made ugly marks on my loops or rings and I used to loose the grip all the time. Recognize that? Well happy news is that you can fix that only by getting good quality ones instead. That’s what I did. Here are the basic jewelry pliers you need:

            

Chain nose pliers

The chain nose pliers jaws are flat on the inside and rounded on the outside. The flat surface creates right angle bends in wire. The rounded outside makes rounded bends. Their tapered point allows you to work in tight places.

Bent chain nose pliers

The angled tip of these bent nose pliers is perfect for gripping wire or material in tight places in between.

            

Crimp pliers

These crimp pliers have two grooves machined into he jaws and are made to crush and close (fold over) crimp beads. Among these pliers I recommend the Magical crimp forming tool, and here is a quick tutorial of it. Makes wonderful round and shiny little beads.

Flush cutters

The flush cutting plier jaws are angled for an accurate cut. With this tool, you can easily tell if it’s good or not. Good cutters cuts wire instantly, without you putting much pressure onto it. With cheap cutters you have to struggle with lots of pressure to cut through wires, and sometimes they just cut them half through anyway.

Nylon jaw pliers

These pliers are used to smooth wire out before use. Lightly grip the nylon jaws and pull it through. The nylon jaw pliers are perfect when you’re playing around with a thing a ma jig or this cool wig jig. Without any scratches you can shape the wire both before, after, and during you make your creation around the pegs. Afterwards I use to make smaller alterations with the nylon jaw pliers when I have removed it from the thing a ma jig. With nylon jaw pliers after some time you might need new replacements jaws. If you’re starting to loose the grip, it’s time.

Round nose pliers

The name round nose pliers refers to the shape of the jaws, use these pliers to create loops and curves in wire. Most round nose pliers jaws taper to a point, allowing you to vary the size of the loops and bends. The pliers tips look like this in between: OO

Flat nose pliers

The jaws of flat nose pliers are smooth and can be used to grip, bend, and flatten wire without marking it.

So you see, you won’t regret getting good quality jewelry pliers… They will be your loyal friend through good and bad times in your beading life! We all need friends, do we not?