Ring stock measurement

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi, I’m new to making rings and I’m totally confused about the charts
and instructions about how to determine the length of stock needed to
make rings and bezels. My math tells me that to determine the
circumference of 2 concentric rings, which is what a metal ring is
made of, I should add 2x’s the width of the stock to the diameter,
not 1, which is what I’m reading everywhere. Is it different, maybe,
if i use the jump ring method instead of cutting to length and
forming? I’m confused about how the extra1 width amount gets
stretched out of the outer metal since I’m short 3mm+ on an 18ga
band. I’m hoping someone can fill me in.

Thank you,
Julie

2

Hi Julie,

The length of the required strip for a band ring before bending will
be equivalent to an imaginary middle diameter: the imaginary
concentric circle exactly in between the inner circle/diameter and
the outer circle/diameter you mentioned. Theoretically, this median
diameter remains the same, while the outer diameter stretches and
the inner diameter contracts/compresses. This middle diameter is
equal to the inner diameter plus one width. Multiplying this middle
diameter by 3.1416 will give you the middle circumference, which is
the figure you need to use as the length of your beginning strip. In
practice, it’s quite accurate, and especially valuable for heavy
gauge metals where a small difference in the original strip length
can make a significant difference in the resulting size.

Note that rings which are not made from a uniform strip of sheet (e.
g., a ring of twisted wires) have different thicknesses at different
parts of the ring and thus require some thought regarding what to
use as the width figure.

Also note that if the band is wider than about 4 mm., you should add
0.5 mm. to the strip length.

Janet in Jerusalem

3

Hello Julie,

Get yourself the nifty ‘Jewelry Maker’s scale’ It’s a stainless
steel ruler; 6 inch/152mm on one side, with ring and cuff bracelet
lengths on the reverse. Very inexpensive, yet so valuable on the
bench. Mine is made by Raytech and I know that Stuller carries it.

Judy in Kansas, where temps are warming and we should have 40mph
winds carrying the warmth out of the south.

4

Forget the charts. Use a strip of paper and wrap it around your
mandrel at the size you want. Transfer that onto your metal. You
should have to hammer it up to size a little at the end. User it for
bezels also. Take into consideration the thickness of the metal.
Bezels need to be right on our just a hair big. Good luck. I’m am
artist, math never works well for me.

5

Imagine the stock that you want to bend into a circle to make a ring
is made of lots of very thin layers. When you bend it, the outside
layer is stretched and the inside layer is compressed. The layers
next to these extremes have to stretch or compress a little less, and
so on until you get to a layer near the middle that remains the same
length.

This layer is called the neutral layer.

It is convenient to assume that the neutral layer is in the middle.

To determine the length of stack needed, you simply have to
calculate the length of the neutral layer. This is equal to the
diameter of the neutral layer x Pi. The diameter of the neutral layer
is the inside diameter of the ring plus the thickness of the stock
(there is half the stock thickness on each end of the inside
diameter).

Therefore, the length of stock is…

(Inside diameter + stock thickness) x Pi.

Regards, Gary Wooding

6 
Good luck. I'm am artist, math never works well for me.

Then maybe you should get the MetalCalc app from Tim McCreight to
help you out.

Elaine
CreativeTextureTools.com/news

7 
Then maybe you should get the MetalCalc app from Tim McCreight to
help you out.

Hi,

I checked the app store for this MetalCalc app by McCreight and
could not find it anywhere. There are 4 with that name, but not that
do what we would want them to or need them to - they all deal with
large amounts of metal (like for building construction and most get
crappy ratings. There wis ONE app that included info for jewelers,
but had several one star reviews and was $3.99. I searched for it by
name and by McCreight as well. If anyone can provide a link that
would be great.

Thanks!
Ara

8 
I checked the app store for this MetalCalc app by McCreight and
could not find it anywhere. There are 4 with that name, but not
that do what we would want them to or need them to - they all deal
with large amounts of metal (like for building construction and
most get crappy ratings. There wis ONE app that included info for
jewelers, but had several one star reviews and was $3.99. I
searched for it by name and by McCreight as well. If anyone can
provide a link that would be great.

Ara, MetalCalc is Ganoksin’s online unit conversions tools
http://www.ganoksin.com/MetalCalc/

Tim McCreight’s application is called “Metalsmith Suite” and can be
downloaded at http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep816h

hth
hanuman

9

If you don’t want to calculate the length, wrap a length of wire of
the appropriate thickness tightly round a ring stick at the required
size, and scribe a line across the overlap. Straighten the wire and
the distance between the scribe marks is the length of stock you
need.

A bit of solder wire (the lead type, or its modern equivalent) works
very well 'cos its very soft, bends easily, stays bent with no
spring-back, and is very easy to mark with a scriber.

Regards, Gary Wooding

10

Hi

I use a strip of aluminium/aluminum about 5 mm wide.

Wrap round mandrel scribe with sharpie/texta measure and add metal
thickness cut and fabricate.

I THEN NOTE THE FINAL SIZE AND WRITE IT DOWN. OFTEN THE FIRST TRY
NEEDS STRETCHING TO BRING IT UP TO THE FINAL SIZE.

I write down all gauges of wire used and final band sizes.

Width of band also alters the comfort of ring.

Have 2 orders for embossed rings, made to size but felt too tight
for one lady.

It is exactly the same size as the ring she was wearing, but her
ring is only 2 mm wide on the back and the rings I made are 4 mm wide.

Going to stretch it up half a size.

Now she is a really nice little old lady and so polite so this is
not a problem for me.

She is also on holiday from Ireland and one granny of mine was
Irish.

If however if she was a Gen Y with an attitude it would have been
another case of @#$. " I ordered this ring and you did not make it
the right size. What’s wrong with you?" With death stare and sneer. I
am then thinking “Ok bitch it is the same size as the ring gage and
the ring you wear, but your comfort/bitch factor makes me want to
give you a good planishing.” I don’t usually tell them to literally
f*ck of I make very snide sarcastic comments. " I am sorry but your
hands are so ugly I think you make my designs look bad, so I have
decided not to sell to you. Have a nice day."

I am not in this business to be insulted, by people who do not
understand that rings may need fitting like a bespoke suit to get it
perfect. In gold I ALWAYS do a fitting before setting the stone and
use a thick enough shank to tap it up if need be.

I also hate the great would be designers LOL, when I moved to the
country and was selling my resin at the markets I had a few women
tell me that if I just made it like so they would have bought it. Now
this was a range that was shown in Vogue, Mode, Cleo and Cosmo
fashion magazines and stocked by some of Australia’s best cutting edge
boutiques Game Birds, Cash Palace, Koko, Clarence Chai and Von
Troska.

I would just say to them, “It is a shame you have no sense of style
or manners so I guess this is not for you!”

Richard

11 
Tim McCreight's application is called "Metalsmith Suite" and can
be downloaded at http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep816h

This does not appear to made to run on Android devices. Some people
actually don’t like to be locked into Apple’s corporate model.

Jenifer Gow

12

I use either wax wire or a little snake of aluminum foil mushed to
the appropriate cross section. I use the foil for all sorts of mock
up. Nothing beats an analog for me.

13

Works for me. I fold aluminum foil till it is the thickness of the
ring shank or bezel and wrap and cut. Very accurate and no math.

14 
Works for me. I fold aluminum foil till it is the thickness of the
ring shank or bezel and wrap and cut. Very accurate and no math.

Love the aluminum foil bit. Will try!