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Featured Tool of the Week: Finger Gauge GAU-251.00

By on January 9, 2012
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by Rose Marion, Wire-Sculpture.com

Tool of the Week for
January 9, 2012

sponsored by JewelryTools.com

This week’s tool: Finger Gauges, Item # GAU-251.00

Demonstration by Kate, JewelryTools.com

This week’s featured tool from JewelryTools.com is the GAU-251.00 Finger Gauges, or Ring Sizers, which measures ring sizes 1 through 15. Finger gauges, or ring sizers, are extremely useful for making custom rings. Simply slide the rings onto your customer’s fingers until you find a size that fits but doesn’t stick – and watch how the knuckles fit, too.

Then, to be sure you’ve got an accurate measurement, place that exact finger gauge on your ring mandrel to check it. This way you’ll be able to create custom rings the fit your customers’ fingers precisely!

Here’s a cautionary tale of ring sizers: ask your customer if their fingers swell or shrink much, for example shrinking in cold weather and swelling in heat, because you may want to use a slightly different size than the ring sizer tells. In my case, my first experience with a ring sizer was after my boyfriend of a few years subtly suggested I find out my ring size. I was giddy and trembling as I walked up to the jewelry counter and asked to be sized. My palms were sweaty and I was shaking! Pretty funny, looking back. The salesgirl was so kind, slipping ring after ring from their ring sizer on my ring finger until the perfect one fit. Well, as you may have guessed, my fingers were swollen, so when he "popped the question" my ring spun a bit – but we had it sized down a half size, and no trouble since. Now I know to account for nerves and finger swelling when I make rings myself!

 

Click below to see GAU-251.00 on JewelryTools.com:
Ring Sizing Gauge
Click below to see ring sizers on Wire-Sculpture.com:
Ring Sizing Gauge

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4 Comments

  1. avatar

    Diane

    January 12, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    If the person you are making the ring for has severe arthritis, their knuckles may be signifantly larger than the ring area. If it goes over the knuckle easily the ring twirls around freely. I would suggest, fitting the ring to the knuckle and including an adjustable ring guard on the ring when you give ot sell it to them. Then as a thoughtful enclosure, give them a spare ring guard with instructions for installing it in case they damage the first one. Write the instructions down as they probably will not be the one putting the new guard on the ring. Ring guards are fairly cheap. My one friends knuckle are roughly 1/4 inch larger than her ring area so this is a necessary item if she wants to wear rings.

  2. avatar

    Janice Fingado

    January 12, 2012 at 11:43 pm

    My story of sizing rings is just as funny: A couple came to me in August asking for an engagement ring, wedding band for her, and wedding band for him, all to be made on the squared-off finger-shaped mandrel. He was a winemaker in one of the famous vineyards in Kelowna, BC, Canada and they had been out in the grapevines the day they came to be measured and decide on the design: a Pentagon-shaped amethyst with an underlying Star design in the facetting and sterling settings, the man’s to have a sweat-soldered cut-out, oxidized “star”. Work accomplished, and before setting the amethyst I called them for a fitting: on a cold, rainy day in November. All three rings fell right off!!! It wouldn’t have been a problem if they had been round, but sizing three Square shapes?? It was done in time for the Dec. wedding, they’re still married, two kids. I treasure the photograph they sent me, showing both hands, with the rings………

    • avatar

      dalecgr

      January 13, 2012 at 10:00 am

      Cool story, Janice :)

  3. avatar

    Heidi

    January 24, 2012 at 3:51 pm

    Thanks so much for all the wonderful tips that just keep coming. Wonderful that we can share this information thanks to the generosity of those taking to time to post all the little tid bits that can really help a learner.

    Whilst Diane mentions larger knuckles, I have the opposite problem. My hands are small and I have no knuckle shape to speak of. Add to this the issue Dale mentions of fingers swelling with temperature changes and I can only wear my wedding ring half the time.

    The ring needs to be small enough to not fall off every time I wash my hands, and large enough to get onto the finger to start with; so, without any knuckles to act as a bumper this leaves a very narrow window of sizing which is only valid for half the year…

    Ahh well… I still got the important thing held tight.

    :)Love you Lukey!