If you make a lot of jewelry, then you probably open and close a fair number of jump rings on a regular basis. So, when my husband, Michael, and I saw Rio Grande’s Jump Ring Tool, we thought it might come in handy. It’s only about $6, which is pretty inexpensive when it comes to jewelry tools. Each of us played around with this tool to see if we liked it or not. Both of us came to a similar conclusion, though for different reasons.

Old Ways Die Hard

For me, I found the tool awkward to use. I’m used to using a pair of pliers in each hand to open and close jump rings, and I find that method has always worked very well for me. I tried a few different ways of positioning this tool on my finger, and it just never felt right. Of course, I’m sure if I continued to play around I might eventually find a way that felt comfortable. However, by that time I just got frustrated and picked up my pliers again. Therefore, in my opinion, the tool works, but expect to take some time getting used to it.

Manly Wire Woes

Michael has also used the tool and managed to find a technique that worked for him. However, his complaint was that the groove in the tool is not large enough for the thicker gauges of wire that he prefers to work with. 18 gauge was the thickest that fit, and he usually uses 16 or 14 gauge for his metal work. In his opinion, 18 gauge is border line thick enough for many metal projects, so you wouldn’t be able to use this tool very often.

As you can see from the pictures, this tool is basically a screw attached to a ring. If you work with 18 or lower gauge wires, then for $6, this might be a good investment. However, if you like thicker wire, then consider getting screws that have larger grooves and just use them. You could also do like I did and revert back to the two pliers method.

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