Jewelry Making Tool Review: 4.8V Automatic Wire Twister

One of my friends in high school played the harp, and you wouldn’t expect it (I sure didn’t when she challenged me to a thumb wrestle), but playing the harp gives you very strong fingers! Harpists have to practice plucking a myriad of strings precisely and just hard enough to get the right volume and tone. Well, me not being a harpist, I have weak little fingers, and they just don’t like twisting wire. I lost the thumb wrestling contest, but lucky for me, I found this large automatic wire twister in the office today, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on it with you!

I’m really excited to share my review of our Automatic Wire Twister, one of the many jewelry making tools we carry. We have both the small (3.6V) and large (4.8V) versions in our office. The small version spins easily at 200rpm, but the large version can reach up to 400rpm. Both wire twisters come with rechargeable batteries, and have an average recharge time of 4-6 hours. Although the small one works great, I have to say I think I like the bigger one better!

The small wire twister fits easily in my hand, is fairly light for a machine that’s equivalent to my husband’s power drill, and can even twist itself in half, allowing you to operate it two ways (see below).

However, I prefer the grip of the larger power drill for my jewelry making. It fits snugly in my hand and has good grip-holding texture. Here’s a picture of the larger drill:

This drill has a larger battery pack for longer battery life and more power (twice as much revolutionary power as the 3.6V), so the drill itself has a more traditional “power drill” silhouette. The larger battery barrel at the bottom lets me rest the drill on the desk when I stop working, and it stays put—the smaller wire twister has a nifty rotating handle, but it will roll to one side when you put it on the desk. This way, if I’m working on a delicate piece with my fingers, I know exactly where my twister is when I need it again—I don’t even have to take my eyes off my work. You can even let the twister stay put on the table if you keep your hand steady on it, and feed the wire straight into the bit.

The large 4.8V drill operates by squeezing the on/off switch with your forefinger, regardless of which hand is your dominant hand. This is easier for me than the smaller drill, which operates by pressing the switch with your thumb (or, if you’re left-handed, it might be with your forefinger). I think the drill is pretty easy to use, and I really like the way it feels in my hand!

One last feature of the large 4.8V wire twister I noticed when I picked it up to use it for the first time: like my husband’s power tool, the wire twister has a key to change the drill bit. This key is stored in a snap-in compartment in the base of the battery pack, so it’s always handy and you’ll never lose it! This is helpful if you’ve accumulated several wire twister heads and you like to switch between them, or if you have other jewelry making drill bits that you use for drilling holes in metal sheets, reaming beads, and even unscrewing screws around the house! In contrast, the smaller twister self-locks, so it doesn’t even need a key.

Both wire twisters operate in forward and reverse, so you can twist your wire whichever way you like. Both wire twisters are completely battery operated, so you don’t have to worry about tripping over cords while working on your jewelry, or wasting time searching for a free outlet. Both wire twisters also come with A/C chargers, so when you’re through with your twister, just let it charge overnight, and it’ll be ready to go in the morning.

One of my favorite things to do with a wire twister is take a piece of square wire and wrap it with a ring or bracelet. Simple as it sounds, I love the effect just one piece of twisted wire can add. I also like to make rosettes with twisted round wire and add beads to make elegant necklaces. What are some of your favorite wire twisting projects?

Well, that’s all the scoop I’ve got on our automatic power twisters. As far as our other jewelry making tools, I’ve got my eyes on a new tool kit we’re putting together to review next—I’ve heard it’s got a nice case, a whole set of good pliers, and a ruler. I love being able to measure my pieces as I go, so I love that a ruler might come with the set. As soon as we finalize the set, I’ll let you know all about it!

Summary

3.6V Small Automatic Wire Twister

Twists at 200rpm
Rotating handle for increased control
Thumb operates drill (left-handers may use forefinger instead)
Chuck is self-locking

4.8V Large Automatic Wire Twister

Twists at 400rpm

Flat base to rest on table
Forefinger-operated
Key operates chuck

Jewelry Making Tool Review: 4.8V Automatic Wire Twister is a post from: Watthamai Crafts

When the book was published a few years back I had already been making jewelry for quite some time so I wasn't really interested in getting it.

Now that I focus more on teaching jewelry making I am always looking for jewelry making information that can help beginners, so I decided to get the book and review it.

Here is an overview of the contents of the book and my opinion about each section. If you are new to beading and/or jewelry making I hope you will find this useful.

The book is divided into five parts: Part 1: Creating Irresistible Jewelry, Part 2: Discovering Simple Jewelry-Making Techniques, Part 3: Implementing Design Ideas, Trends, and More, Part 4: Building on Your Jewelry Making Hobby, and Part 5: The Part of Tens.

The first part, Creating Irresistible Jewelry, covers from A to Z everything a beginner needs to know about the different strings, chords, and wire options available. There is also a complete explanation of the basic jewelry making tools and the different kinds of connectors (head pins, eye pins, jump rings, etc.) and clasps.

There is also a very comprehensive explanation about bead types, crystal beads, pearls, and stones. A small section is also dedicated to explaining where you can find jewelry making materials both online and offline.

The section finishes with a chapter dedicated to explaining how to best set up your workspace.

So Part 1 of the book is basically a description of "what" whereas Part 2, Discovering Simple Jewelry-Making Techniques, gets into the "how."

Not surprisingly, it starts with stringing and knotting and how to use crimps. The next chapter is dedicated to Bead Weaving and focuses primarily on weaving with seed beads.

I thought it was a little unusual to focus so much on seed beads as there are many beautiful pieces you can make weaving with beads other than seed beads. So I think this chapter could be greatly improved by showing more details in that area, but still it does cover basic weaving patterns.

Part 2 ends with a chapter on wire wrapping which includes how to choose wire, basic wire wrapping techniques, and a nice section on how to use a wire jig.

So Parts 1 and 2 take up about half of the book and really cover everything you need to know as a beginner. I should also mention that there are simple projects spread throughout both sections so that you can practice what you are learning as you go along.

Looking at this from the perspective of a complete beginner, I think Parts 1 and 2 of the book are all you really need.

Part 3 of the book consists primarily of beading projects, and while they are all very nice pieces of jewelry, there are very few graphics showing step by step how to make the pieces. In my experience working with beginners I think many would find it difficult to make these pieces without detailed instructions or hands-on help like a class or video.

So if I were a beginner, I would learn everything in Parts 1 and 2, and put the book on the shelf for a while, and then maybe revisit Part 3 later after I had gained more experience.

Part 4, in my opinion, goes off on a tangent that I don't think has much to do with learning beading and jewelry making.

Things are covered like how to decorate other objects with beads, making jewelry with kids, hosting a jewelry party, and tips for what to do if you want to turn your jewelry making hobby into a business.

I will say that the part about turning your jewelry making hobby into a business has some very good tips, especially on how to correctly price your jewelry. It shows you how to make sure that you include a cost for how long it takes you to make a jewelry piece. Most jewelry makers forget to do this and it leads them to significantly underprice their jewelry.

The final section, Part 5: The Part of Tens is so named because it gives you three chapters of Top Tens. The first top 10 is jewelry suppliers. It is good but a little dated. New suppliers have emerged since the book was published that are better than some listed in the book.

The second top 10 is common jewelry making mistakes to avoid and has very good tips for avoiding mistakes that beginners commonly make.

The third top 10 is ideas for making money selling your jewelry. There are some very good ideas in this section.

Overall, I would recommend this book to beginners as a good resource to get started. But keep in mind that if you're learning style is more suited to learning by seeing things in action then you may have trouble actually learning beading by looking at this book simply because there are not a lot of "how to" graphics.

The book is available at many bookstores and also at Amazon.com.

Jewelry Making And Beading For Dummies – Book Review is a post from: Watthamai Crafts