I need to make about 80 copper wire rings and figure that would be an easy way to do it. Was wondering if we have some already or if I need to buy some.
When you say ring do you mean wearable size or jump rings?
Uhm…I’m not sure. Think of rings you’d use in chain mail. I need those but for some jewelry.
You’d be better off finding a mandrel/rod of the size you want, winding them in a large coil, then sawing to cut them.
are you wanting to solder after that? A saw cut will be better to solder.
And are you wanting all same size or various?
And small rings like chain mail or larger like finger size? Chain mail, can buy, or make.
If various you could actually use a tapered ring mandrel for your mandrel. If all the same, then use something like wood dowel, steel rod, PVC pipe, etc.
Small rings, for a nice range of sizes short steel mandrels, harbor freight has a set of transfer punches for about $10. I like those
Test drive your mandrel. Meaning it probably needs to be a little or more under desired size
The temper of your wire will make a difference how much spring back it will have from the mandrel. Dead soft will fit closer, but also more subject to being bent out of shape. Half-hard will have more innate strength but more spring back from mandrel so need it under size for sure (I use half-hard for rings).
What gauge are you using? Or wire source? Do you already have? If not I’m sure several folks could have suggestions. Dead soft can be acquired many ways. Half-hard, easiest go-to is get from Rio Grande Jewelry supply. A 1lb spool runs about $30, various gauges and hardnesses
And if you really wanna make little copper rings, I can show you an easy wire-wrap design
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Well it’s just some 18g copper wire that I grabbed from Hobby Lobby. Nothing special, just what they had. I’d thought of wrapping it around a dowel but was thinking there might be another way. But maybe that’s the better way already.
Are these for actual finger rings, like the individual wire?
And yeah I think dowel/mandrel faster than ring bending pliers (no clue if we have)
The other issue is using ring bending pliers would need to be careful of tool marks. Especially if it’s the colored copper stuff. That scratches at a harsh word.
And 80? A special purpose?
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It’s linkages for linking several wooden circles together. Unfortunately I need a lot.
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I am at the space quite a bit and just ask people to direct you to me I’m the short fat old lady usually with my hair on top of my head. I would be willing to help you find exactly what you need and guide you to make the Rings you need to attach your wood pieces together. I know I will be there for a while tonight for the seed bead class but then I need to go over to the state fair class I should be back tomorrow before tour night because I usually help out on tours I’ll be there Friday night for the meeting and I think I’m taking classes or will be at the space both Saturday and Sunday just look for me I’ll talk your ear off but I’m quite willing to help you
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Ah. So making jump rings
How big do you need? I have a crazy amount of larger (8mm maybe) brass jump rings and I’ll give you some. They’re maybe 21gauge. I’d have to look
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Unfortunately 21g would be too small. As for size I think about 3/8", maybe 5/16. Really just depends on what size I can find a dowel at.
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Gotcha.
Well here’s what I have if you wanna test drive (I’ll be at CA meeting tomorrow night and can bring)
Pics:
The little gunmetal colored ones are 6mm (~1/4”) and about 22g, but are hardened for jump rings, so stronger than dead soft
The larger silver colored ones are 10mm (~3/8”) and feel like 20-21g, again hardened for jump rings
The one that is chain can be taken apart and are flat textured links from a fairly hard brass. About 9x10mm. Note they would need a larger 2mm hole to go through. They are really tough. I don’t use my little delicate jewelry pliers to manipulate them but just regular pliers.
If you want to try any, lemme know and I can bring some samples to the meeting tomorrow night. If you like something, I have enough to give you 80+ of any of them
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If your copper is the stuff I think it is, it’s probably dead-soft, which means it can distort/open easy, so be sure to keep your rings as small as possible.
That being said, if your project is a static hanging display something, no biggie. Jewelry, the rings could work open from wearing or getting pulled on
If you’re not soldering, you can snip them apart using flush cutters and they won’t be too rough. It’ll look nice sawn, but fine snipped.
Another workaround for soft wire, is to connect using closed loops (tail wrapped around neck), depending on how it works with your aesthetic.
If you want to try that, any number of us can show you.
I’ll be at ca meeting tomorrow night, and likely working on my wire jewelry so I’ll have the tools to show you if you’re around (if timing works out, bring your wood pieces to test drive).
Lemme know if you want me to bring the samples
Here’s a pic of what I mean by closed loop, can be secure for even a softer wire if it works with your aesthetic. If you zoom in on the bead connections in the chain insets and the waterfall under the stone, I’ve used a smaller wire (24g) so it’ll go through the pearls, but it would loosen over time, so I use closed loops on the construction so it’ll never come loose. Uses a little more wire/time, but secure and looks good:
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If it’s from Hobby Lobby it’s not safe to solder it. The only metal from Hobby Lobby you can heat is the model train stuff marked with K&S. Bare copper electric wire from hardware stores can also be soldered shut if you need that look.
You’re talking to the wire wrap expert though. Ditto what she said about the thin stuff opening up. I’ve tried work hardening the copper wire, or at least what they claim is copper wire, and it doesn’t work.
Oh? Why’s that? What should I get instead? I just need something about 18g, preferably copper colored but it doesn’t have to be super shiny or anything.
This is what I got:
The tarnish resistant will have a coating on it which will interfere with soldering. And burning it, who knows what’s in the fumes and what your wire will look like. Better to save this for a different project if you wanted to solder
Bare wire sources:
Local
You can go to Home Despot, look in wiring area, see if they have single strand and bare (or can strip it) in correct gauge…barring that, you know those big multi strand wire cables on the giant rolls? find one with the internal strands you need, buy a few feet and strip all of it (a lot of folks use a sacrificial vegetable peeler, the kind you can pull, pull a strip then can pop off that tough outer stuff to get to the gooey middle). You’ll have a lot of wire fast and cheap.
Parawire.com has bare wire. Beware that they sell A LOT of enameled wire variants. Pay attention to the page you’re on.
Here’s link to the bare wire page
https://parawire.com/cbc-metal-supply/metals/bare-wire/
Also I’ve gotten nice wire from this place. Their gauges go quite low if you want thick wire. Copper is what I got from them and it was nice, and was worth not spending time stripping cables and paying a bit of shipping
http://www.whimsie.com/copper%20craft%20wire.html
Also here Rio, the go-to for jewelry folks. One advantage here is you can get half-hard temper. Disadvantage is their put-ups are 1lb and 5lb, which might be more that you want
https://www.riogrande.com/search?q=copper+wire+&c=ca013df5-798f-46bf-b349-a7b80157f959&t=1&pagesize=32
Well shoot, this is a deeper rabbit hole than I foresaw from the opening. I’ll go by HD tomorrow and see if they have what I need. Amazon doesn’t seem to have anything that doesn’t have coatings, even though they say they’re bare.
So wire from Home Depot in the wiring section, is that half hard or full hard? From reading the differences, I think I need full hard as there’ll be four of those 80 or so rings that are supporting the entire weight of the necklace.
Most random wire you find will be dead soft unless it says otherwise.
Then usually if you should get hold of tempered wire, it’ll likely be half-hard, which is actually fine. That’s to allow a bit for work-hardening in the handling of it, but it has some innate strength and spring.
Full-hard…you’ll have a lot of trouble finding that. Maaaybe Rio. Honestly, it’s be a PIA to work with and overkill for your needs. Diminishing return for effort of sourcing and messing with it
Another thought is does it HAVE to be copper? There might be another metal that would complement your project but be stronger
Here’s another place to look for rings. Its a go-to place for folks to buy chainmail rings. They have a HUGE range of dimensions, gauges, materials
Sooooo…one ring alone obviously isn’t as strong as a group. And there are constructions that can share the load of the weight. Think chainmail. An individual ring might not be that strong but the group are. Or one ring as a connector might get stronger if paired or tripled or a series. You get the idea.
You’ve mentioned wood…and if it’s jewelry, a necklace, it’s not gonna be That heavy???
I think you might be getting a lot of answers and guessing because we ARE guessing.
If we had an actual idea of this project, like see the pieces or construction, something to give feel for scale, then idea of what you’re doing with the rings…
I’m guessing you might not want to post Super Secret Project out here or you would have. But if you are willing to share more on the project design, pics of your wood pieces if they’re done, or even a quick crappy sketch…that might make a huge difference on suggestions or lend itself to another direction once someone can visualize it better
So, a sketch or something would help, and if you don’t want to post out here, feel free to pm me if you want.
I play with wire jewelry A LOT and am always having to balance aesthetics, mechanics, construction challenges, durability. I’m happy to help, but an idea of your actual design could make a big difference in suggestions
It’d help a lot, because I think we’ve gone from starting with mushy dead soft craft wire to possible unnecessary overkill on strength 
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Also, re the four supporting the weight…
If those four are the main load-bearing rings, the rest are less critical to support weight, then you might consider a different thing (again, pic would be helpful here)…
I have a construction I do on my necklaces where there’s a point that bears a lot of the weight, and I don’t solder, but can’t go aesthetically to a much heavier wire, and need something that looks normal in that spot, so I do this little shape that take serious amounts of pulling to distort, probably something else failing first…it’s kind of a double-S thing, hard to explain…
Here’s a pic, see arrow in upper left. The double loop looking bit that connects the chain and supports weight of entire necklace. Really strong and even if it got pulled it won’t open enough to let anything come apart.
Start with shaping top loop in middle of piece of wire, then loop around one tail one direction, the other the other way, so you have two opposite facing loops in the bottom. Trim. Open things enough to wiggle on (it’s a PIA), close things, then there’s a little wiggly trick to get everything visually close again and not sprung looking. Super strong connection with the opposite facing loops.
If that doesn’t make sense, if you want to try, I can show you in person or take a few step by step pics
All of that. Their copper color wire isn’t copper all the way through. It has a core of God knows what mystery metal then is coated/plated with the copper finish. Zinc poisoning and lead are the biggest concern since its extra bendy.
The copper wire you’ll find right above that one has the mystery coating on it. Again, bad juju or worse to vaporize things you cannot identify.
If Home Depot doesn’t have any bare electrical wire thin enough you can strip some covered wire. But honestly Rock Barrel is within spitting distance of the space and has several gauges including some of the small stuff.
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Oh I didn’t know Rock Barrel sold copper wire. Love that place but only been for the minerals and what not.
Another thought is does it HAVE to be copper? There might be another metal that would complement your project but be stronger
Doesn’t have to be copper, but the main piece is going to be dyed blue per request and they wanted copper/bronze and blue color scheme.
@kyrithia
There’s nothing secret about the project, just didn’t post a picture because it didn’t seem relevant. I just need little metal rings, preferably copper in color, to join wooden circles together. Here’s a picture of the planned necklace with copper wires (not shown) joining the circles.
It’ll be suspended from that choker thing at the top so needs to have four pieces strong enough to do that.