#sponsored for this week’s
#tooltalktuesday I am super excited to show off my
@pepetools_usa Ring Stretcher + Reducer - This awesome tool will stretch (or reduce) a ring with a few pulls of it’s lever! I was fortunate enough to use a ring stretcher/reducer in college and have been in love with them ever since, they are a wonderful tool to have in your studio. If you’ve never used one here is the deal: you bolt this thing down in your studio and then it’s ready to go. By placing a ring on the top part (called the spline) you then pull the handle and it evenly applies force around your band. You can do it very incrementally and check against a mandrel as you go. The reducer works by placing your ring inside the die and then the ram pushes it down, which decreases the size. While experimenting I was able to take a size 8 and first stretch it to an 8.25 then I reduced it back down to a size 6 in seconds! What makes this one from Pepe go above and beyond is the spline is made from machined steel (instead of cast steel like many other stretchers) which means it won’t mar your metal! This also comes with a delrin reducing die and reducing ram, this material helps protect against marring when reducing the size of your ring! It saves a lot of time when you can adjust size but not have to polishing out marks! I have also found this tool can be really effective for work hardening a ring, so if I intentional make my finished ring a quarter size too small and then give it a few small stretches (careful not to go overboard) it will evenly harden the ring. I would not recommend placing rings with stones on this but its perfect for fabricated bands and castings! I have a signet ring in my collection that I can easily stretch a little if need be and this saves me a ton of time, and saves me from having to create a whole new ring. I can also remember when I was in college stretching a ring too much and popping my solder seam, so learn from mistakes ;) You can find these stretchers at pepetools.com or from our friends
@aajewelrysupply Would love to hear from those that have used a stretcher/reducer ❤️ Kindness, Community +Education!
#jewelrymakingtools #pepetools #ringstretcher
