essential tools

Anneal
Heat the metal to red to restore its malleability. It is the opposite of hardening.

Bigorne
Small anvil with two pointed horns: one is round and the other is flat. This tool is used to rivet and forge small parts.

Binocular magnifier
It is a magnifying glass which is very useful for seeing the small details.

Bocfil
Tool specific to the jeweler. The bocfil is a frame used to keep a saw blade taut, which is why it is also called a "saw holder". It allows you to cut metal.

Borax
Also called colloboron or flux, borax is a particularly clean salt (sodium borate) that facilitates the melting of various metals. It prevents the metal from oxidizing in the heat of the torch and allows the solder to flow to the desired location.

Bouterolle
Steel or boxwood stem which ends in a ball. The punch is used to stamp a metal plate to give it a domed shape.

Brazing
Assemble two pieces together with the addition of another metal (solder).

Brighten
Operation which consists in giving the work its final liveliness. This is the last polishing step that is performed with cotton discs.

Cabrons
Wooden sticks on which we roll emery paper. There are flat, half round and triangular.

1/10 caliber
Precision measuring tool.

Cannetille
Metal wire that is wound on a mandrel or a rod (depending on the diameter of the desired rings) and which is then cut with a bocfil to make small rings.

Chisel
Tool used for chiselling metal.

Cloisonne
Goldsmithing technique used for the manufacture of jewelry and enamel decorative objects. The patterns are made from bands of metal welded to a background of the same metal. These small metal bands have the role of creating small closed spaces that are filled with enamel or possibly stones.

Compass
Tool used to measure a distance and to keep it, to carry over to infinity precise measurements, to draw pretty perfect circles, to mark metal parts and then cut them. The compass is made up of two tips to be engraved at the ends.

Conical brush
Tool that allows you to perform a finishing polish on rings and bangles.

Crimp
Action of fixing a stone on metal. There are different settings: the closed setting, the grain setting, the mass setting ...

Cylinder head
Lower part of a faceted stone.

Deburring
Technique which allows to rid a piece of metal of its burrs.

Diamond point reamer
It is used to enlarge the hole of the pearls. It also allows you to drill a gemstone . To use it, the bead (or fine stone) and the reamer bit must be submerged in water.

Double cylinder clamp
Tool for shaping flat bracelets or plates, making curves without scratching or marking the surfaces.

Dremel
It is a brand of tooling and a multi-purpose tool that can be used on different media, such as leather, wood, glass, stone and metal. It allows you to sculpt, engrave, sand, polish, cut.

Electroplating
Process which consists in precipitating, by the action of a galvanic current, a dissolved metal.

Embrace
Sand or sand with emery paper. This makes it possible to prepare the jewel before polishing.

Fire point
Steel point which allows the brazing spangle to be moved under the flame.

Forest
Tool used for drilling. A drill bit is a steel rod with the end sharpened to drill holes. There are different sizes of drill bits.

Granulation
A technique that allows you to texturize a piece of metal by fixing tiny granules of metal with a weld.

Guarantee hallmark
Hallmark which guarantees the title of the metal used.

Hammer
Multipurpose tool (hammering, forming, forging ...).

Hand chuck
Tool that allows you to drill polymer or resin parts by hand.

Harden
Make the metal harder, by hammering it, stretching it or rolling it. A hardened metal is thus more difficult to work. In order to restore its malleability, it is necessary to proceed to an annealing, that is to say, to heat it to a certain temperature using an oven or a torch.

Heap of jeweler
Metal support, also called a typing block. It is ideal for shaping metal parts, leveling, hammering wire shapes and for punching.

Hover
The action of hammering metal with a hammer to make it flat.

Inalterity
A metal is said to be unalterable when it does not change over time.

Jewel primer
These are all the small elements that make it possible to create a piece of jewelry, such as clasps, nails or rods, ear studs, rings ...

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Laminate
Reduce the thickness of a metal plate by pressure passing it through a rolling mill.

Maker's mark
Hallmark of the jeweler who made the jewel.

Mallet
Hammer with wood or boxwood head.

Malleability
A metal is said to be malleable when it is easy to shape.

Mandrel
Steel rod on which we wind wire to make rings (cannetille).

Mats
Small pieces of solder cut with shears.

Metric triboulet
Tool allowing very precise measurement of the finger circumference from a ring. It comes in the form of a graduated cone.

Mohs
The Mohs scale is a scale from 1 (very soft) to 10 (very hard) which compares the hardness of minerals.

Needle
Tool used to point metal cleanly and precisely.

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Peg
Wooden piece that is fixed with a vise on a jeweler's bench or a corner of a table. It serves as a support for working metal and also for the hands of the jeweler. The ankle is generally notched with a V in its middle to facilitate the work of cutting with the bocfil.

Pliers to form the ear hooks
Tool for making ear hooks easily and quickly.

Polishing
This is the terminal phase of the jewel. It consists in making the surface of a part shiny.

Polishing machine
Widely used by jewelers, this polisher allows you to finish your jewelry and metal components.

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Ring sizer
It is a set of numbered rings of different diameters which is used to know the size of the fingers.

Rock
Hot bath of water and sulfuric acid (9 or 15 parts of water for one part of sulfuric acid), used to pickle the metal after annealing or welding and to remove traces of oxidation due to annealing or brazing. It also removes traces of borax. In short, it cleans your jewelry. Be aware that there are other less harmful solutions for stripping metal.

Rolling mill
Tool composed of two steel cylinders which reduces the thickness of a metal plate.

Scribing point
Also called Carbide Tip Pen, it is a tool that allows you to trace points, lines or designs by engraving metal.

Shear
Tool used to cut metal plates or solder spangles. It is a reinforced chisel for the use of jewelers

Soldering pliers
Also called fire clamp or curved cross tweezer, this clamp is specially designed to hold parts during welds.

Stall
Engraving and crimping tool.

Stamp
Action of printing a relief in the metal by striking a punch and a die.

Stamping
Work the metal using a snap button to give it a rounded shape.

Stamping thimble
Small steel cube with half-spheres of different sizes on the 4 sides. It is used to give a rounded and domed shape to the metal with the help of the stubs.

Strawberry
The cutter is a steel shank with a grooved tip that attacks metal while turning. The round bur being the most used in jewelry, but there are many others (the bell bur, the cylindrical crack bur, the lens bur, etc.).

Thimble to arch
Small steel cube with grooves of different sizes on the 4 sides.

Triboulet
Cone-shaped tool for shaping rings or bracelets.

Torch
Essential tool for welding or brazing.

Tweezer
Small specific pliers whose branches stand out. Ideal for catching small parts or small straws.

Twist pliers
Also called twisted pliers or brake pliers, it allows you to wind and twist several metal wires (copper wire, brass, 925 silver, gold-filled) quickly and regularly.

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Vernier caliper
Instrument that allows precise measurement of height, length, diameter, thickness and depth of jewelry components.

Wedge vise (hand vise)
Fixing tool specific to the jeweler which allows to hold a small part (rings, ...) Ideal for holding small works during sawing, polishing or any other operation.

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