My Top 10 Jewellery Tools to Help with Dexterity, Hand Strength & Grip

We could all do with an extra pair of hands now and again. Jewellery making often requires a high level of dexterity and strength, and if you struggle with this, many jewellery-making techniques can be extra challenging. Over the years, I have acquired a wide range of tools to help students (and myself!) work as safely and accurately as possible. In this blog post, I will include some Amazon Affiliate Links (so I may get a small fee if you buy), as I am often asked where the tools can be purchased. But feel free to shop around now you know the names of the tools below!

Hand Strength

Before we get into the jewellery tools, it's worth talking about hand strength. Often, one of the best things we can do is to improve our hand strength through small, regular exercises. (Please check with your health provider if you have a medical issue which can be exacerbated by hand exercise.) I've shared some cheap, easy and convenient tools to help you do this in the video below. If you'd like to see the tools I use in the video, you can find them via my Amazon affiliate link here.

Jewellery Tools

You can find a few of my favorite tools that help with dexterity and grip below! If you are interested in buying some, many of them (and more!) can be found on my Amazon List. Please note this is an affiliate link so I may get a small fee if you purchase.

#1 - Bench Pegs & Clamps

Many people struggle to hold their metal while sawing it. There are a range of bench pegs available, including ones that clamp your sheet metal in place. The bottom left wooden peg and middle steel peg can both be found at Cookson Gold. The other pegs can be found via my Amazon Link.

Would You Like To See These Bench Pegs Being Used?

Watch my reviews of these various bench pegs here!

#2 - Saw Piercing

Even if you use a normal bench peg, there are lots of things you can do to help with saw piercing. I often teach students to saw in a way that greatly minimises stress on their hands and arms. I also own a huge range of saw frames. Personally I use one of the cheapest, traditional frames on the market but there are many other options, including ones that may be easier for you to tension the blade and hold. You can watch my sawing tutorial here where I demonstrate some of these.

Left: Knew Concepts Saw Frame - these frames are very light weigh.

Middle: Polymorph (moldable plastic) has been used around the saws handle to make a custom grip. This saw frame also gripps the blade by turning a leaver which can be more ergonomic if you struggle with grip. Right: A vintage treadle saw can be used as a jewellers piercing saw. This can be a good option if you prefer to hold your metal with two hands. You can see it being used during my studio build video.

#3 - Bench Skin

A bench skin is one of the most useful pieces of kit as it's perfectly placed to catch all the little things we drop! Traditional leather bench skins are expensive and the cheaper 'pleather' ones tend to be very shallow and not as strong so I always make my own. My current ones are made from double thickness, heavy denim. I sewed them as if making a basic cushion, then added some washers so they could hook under my bench and be easily removable for cleaning out all the metal dust and off cuts. Bench skins need to hand under your bench peg so you can either add them if you've already got a cut out in your bench. Or you can cut your own semi circle with a jigsaw like you can see me doing in my studio build video. Or you can wear an apron and hook the bottom to your bench. Just make sure you unhook yourself before getting up and trying to walk away!

#4- Wrist & Finger Supports

If you struggle with hypermobility, arthritis or similar, a wrist support can help keep your wrist straight and supported. Finger splints may also be an option. You can find both on my Amazon List. While extra support may be useful, it is definitely worth considering changing your arm position while sawing to see if that relieves fatigue. If you haven't already, can can watch my sawing tutorial that covers this, here. Feel free to skip forward to 20 minutes into the video to see my arm positioning.

#5 - Sprung Pliers & Snips

There are MANY pliers, snips and shear on the market. One of the biggest benefits is having ones that are sprung so they open on their own after every cut. It can greatly reduce hand fatigue. I've included a few on my Amazon List.

These Xuron Scissors are my current favorite snips. They are sharp enough to cut fairly thick metal and thin enough to accurately cut off excess metal from your bezels. And they're spring action so easy on your hands. You can find them here.

#6 - Hammering & Stamping Aids

If you struggle with the dexterity required to hold and hammer metal stamps, there are various holders on the market. Left: These metal stamp holders have the benefit of holding any size of stamp. However, I find they are the least stable to hold. You can put another piece of steel or similar under the handle to use as a rest though. Middle: These plastic stamp holders are excellent. The only downside is you may need two or more sizes to fit your metal stamps. Right: If you are trying to hammer metal into a wire die or shot plate, you can use a steel rod to pin your metal while you hammer the end of the rod. This has saved many fingers getting hammered! You can find a selection of these holders here.

#7 - Vice & Clamps

There are a HUGE range of vices and clamps on the market. As jewellers we want to consider the balance between things being held securely and the tools ability to mark and damage our work. I have a fairly standard, Stanley Multi Angle Vice which I like as it can clamp onto must surfaces, it's fairly heavy duty and can be posed at multiple angles. However, you need to consider adding rubber jaws or bits of leather etc to stop the metal vice jaws from marking your work.

Left: A ball vice is a popular option (and your recommended product suggestions will never be the same after searching for one!). The GRS ball vice is the main jewellery one on the market but the VEVOR brand ball vice is a very good, budget option.

Middle: One of my favorite and most used tools is a Mitre Jig. These little steel squares enable you to quickly file sheet metal, wire and tube perfectly flat. They can be used as a tube cutter and to hold tube while cutting a seat for a stone. They can hold wire while you twist it, be used as a sharp edge while folding metal or even used as a mini steel block for light hammering. (Just don't hammer on the connecting edges). These come in a huge range of price point and some of mine where £90, some £20. In all honesty, I have never had an issue with the super cheap ones so I recommend you don't pay a lot of money for one. You can find some here.

Right: Wooden hand clamps come in all shapes and sizes. The type shown here is useful for holdings rings while you sand and polish the inside of the band. The smaller holes are for holding pearls and beads if you need to ream their holes wider. These tend to review badly online as they are not heavy duty tools but as long as you don't try to grip something that is far too big, they work really well. You can find a few here.

#8 - Thermo-Lock & Pollymorph

Thermosetting plastics are great for holding small things. You heat them up until soft, place your jewellery into the soft plastic and once it cools, it is rock solid. You can use ti to help hold small elements or to help protect elements that you wish to put into a vice so the vice holds the plastic rather than your metal. When you're done, just heat up the plastic once more and remove your metal. There are two main brands. Thermo-lock (grey rod) and Pollymorph (white beads). Currently I am preferring the Termo-lock but it is more expensive. They are both reusable though so you don't need a lot. You can find both here.

#9 - Burr Depth Gauge

This tiny tool can be a game changer. It often goes under the name, Diamond Setters Helper. It holds your burrs at your chosen depth so when you out them in a rotary tool, they can only cut to a certain depth. Imagine you are trying to manually cut a set into a large, chunky bezel and you want to make sure you cut an even height all the way around. This little tool can make that easy! As someone with a natural tremor in my hands, I find this really useful.

#10 - Soldering Supports

Setting up and securing your work for soldering requires a lot of dexterity. One of the most useful things we can do as a jeweller, is start to collect a range of soldering supports and aids. From old coins or off cuts of metal to butt up against things or lift parts of your work up, to traditional binding wires to hold things together. Third hand tweezers and ring holding tweezers to hold your work in place. Stainless steel cotter split pins can hold layers of metal together while soldering or you can balance granules and domes in their curved end to stop them rocking. Honeycomb blocks and pegs are really useful too. A selection of these things can be found here.

But my favorite soldering support at the minute is cheap and cheerful, clumping cat litter! With a little water, it mixes into a clay which can hold your work during soldering. You can see it being used below.

Let Me Know Your Favorite!

Let me know your favorite tools that help with dexterity and hand grip in the comments. I'll keep adding to this blog, including demos and demonstrations of the tools being used!