Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello, on behalf of Expert Village, my name is Joe. I own The Vug local jeweler in Salt
Lake City. Today, I'm going to be demonstrating and showing you a ring stretcher. Many jewelers
use these, mainly used for bands, just plan bands. This is a basic mandrel. When you pull
on the lever, it expands the mandrel. If you put a ring on, it's going to stretch the ring
down the mandrel expanding the ring. The thing you've got to watch out with these, is that
sometimes they put a weld here where they've taken the wire and welded it together. If
you go to far, you can crack that weld and then you'd have to file it and weld it back
shut. This tool is also great for shrinking bands. These cups are shaped so you can basically
set it in there and bring it around under this piston and this piston will compress
the ring together. You do one side, flip it over, do the other side and basically you've
compacted all of the metal into a smaller size. Which is basically gong to size the
ring down.