Making earring findings

Hi

I have started making my own findings and earrings... I find that the start of the earring is too sharp and hurts my ear when I put it on... is there a technique to use smooth them over?!

B xx

You could file them a bit and then use some sandpaper to finish it off, there is a tool it's basically a burr cup I think Palmer metals sell it as a wire rounder. They do here is the link if your interested Bea

http://www.palmermetals.co.uk/shop/tools/miscellaneous-tools/wire-rounder.html

Oh thank you for the link, I like! I shall purchase :-)

I usually use a 1mm cup burr or micromesh files for 0.8mm earwires. I personally found the 1.8mm cup on the Palmers one too big for earwires, although it's useful for thicker wire.

the wire rounder tool is a total waste of money and is completely the wrong size for earwires. Just get cup burrs and a pin vice and you'll not only save on the price, but be able to reuse the pin vice with more burrs when the first one wears out, rather than just throwing the whole thing away.

As a rule of thumb you need to go up two sizes from the wire to the cup as they are measured by outer rather than inner diameter, so for 0.8mm wire, you need a 1.2mm cup burr. Here's a box of six of them for not much more than the cost of the other tool: http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Cookson-Burr-Cup-No-411-1.2mm-Box-Of-6-prcode-999-6360.

Cup burrs, however you hold them, should only ever be turned in one direction (clockwise looking down the neck towards the cup). It's hugely tempting to just twizzle back and forth, and this will destroy them very quickly indeed!

It's really important to round ear wires, a sharp end can cause minute cuts inside the hole, which can very easily get infected. Never, ever use plated wires as the plating can chip and flake at the point where they're cut, and this debris can also get inside the hole. Some people happily wear commercial plated wires, but these have been plated after cutting.

If you don't have a cup burr, it's very easy to just file them smooth with emery paper, wet and dry, micromesh or a fine nailfile.

I meant to ask this earlier - have you got a tumbler? Whatever you've used to make your ends smooth, tumbling will get them super smooth and shiny.

B****y h**l! I bought those burrs from the shop next door to Cooksons last year for £20. I think they saw me coming