How to prevent making nicks and marks in wire?

Hello everybody! I hope this topic has not yet been discussed to death, but I did a search and nothing really came up, so... How can I prevent nicks and marks from my pliers when I work with wire? I have tried several things that were suggested to me: I put both masking tape and duck tape over the plieres. (Not at the same time, of course.) While that was good in the beginning, the surface of both eventually got destroyed and there wasn't really any protection any more. Plus, the sticky stuff made the wire all nasty and slippery, so it was actually harder to get a good grip. (And I had to clean the sticky stuff off afterwards.) Now somebody suggested to superglue thin leather on the gripping surfaces of my pliers. Haven't yet tried it and hope for some input from you. Does anybody know a foolproof solution? Thanks in advance. Jennamyria

Reply to
Jen
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No one foolproof solution, but for larger plier jaw sizes, you can get them with nylon surfaced jaws. Also, there are several suggestions in the thread called " I need a very small plier with nylon jaws....", which was started a couple days ago in the rec.crafts.jewelry newsgroup. I, and several others, posted suggestions to what is, essentially the same question.

Hope that helps.

Peter Rowe

Reply to
Peter W. Rowe

Rio Grande sells something called "alligator skin". It's like tape, and you wrap it around your pliers, bu then it comes off, so you can put it on and take it off at will. I think it's great!

Reply to
Beadbimbo

Rio Grande sells special pliers.... with nylon jaws....

also - I hear you can go to the hardware store and buy that plastic tool dip stuff.

it wears off too - but a whole can would probably last a long time.... Cheryl of DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass

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Reply to
Cheryl

I have some of that Tool Magic (the plastic tool dip stuff). It works well, lasts a long time, and it's fully removable, leaving no residue. BUT, it's a huge PITB to put on! I've only done it once. You have to dip the pliers, and pull them out s-l-o-w-l-y...I mean, SLOW. Then, you have to hang them so that they dry, without touching anything, over night (I had problems with that-the heater kicked on at night, and the slight wind sent them spinning, and bumping into the pegboard). Then, if you want a thicker coating, you have to do it again....

A 2oz jar cost me about $5, and it will last me forever. Probably longer, since I'm not likely to go through that very often. It sure is fun to peel off, tho ;o)

My friend is a successful jewelry artist, with shops on Melrose & in Fred Segal, and her wirework often has tiny nicks or dents in it (usually in the ends of earwires). Her stuff still sells for hundreds of dollars! I usually only worry about it when it's in a prominent place (like a flat coil used as decoration).

Reply to
Kyla

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kyla" :

]I have some of that Tool Magic (the plastic tool dip stuff). It works well, ]lasts a long time, and it's fully removable, leaving no residue. BUT, it's ]a huge PITB to put on! I've only done it once. You have to dip the pliers, ]and pull them out s-l-o-w-l-y...I mean, SLOW. Then, you have to hang them ]so that they dry, without touching anything, over night

you do. mine dried in a couple of hours [low humidity, heat, etc] but i love the stuff, even with it being a PITA!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

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's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

Reply to
vj

my experience with superglue and leather shows that the leather gets hard and rather brittle. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

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Reply to
Sjpolyclay

I'm not that picky. I don't worry about it.

Becki "In between the moon and you, the angels have a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right." -- Counting Crows

Reply to
BeckiBead

It does wear off after time, but works good! And it's easy to re-dip. You can also use shrink-tubing. Put it on the jaws, use a blow-dryer to shrink it. Makes a nice pad. When it wears out, just replace it. Alligator skin type tape works best on protecting fingers. Since it is fabric, it can leave tiny impressions if enough force is exerted on the metal... (We're talking really strong hands here...) Barbara Dream Master

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Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~~ Albert Camus

Reply to
Barbara Otterson

Try using round nose pliers and leaving your wire long so you can use leverage to bend it rather than another pair of pliers.

-Stanley A&M Jewelers Baltimore, MD

Reply to
sbright

Hi Jennamyria,

Reply to
Dave Arens

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