Skip to main content

Using A Bead Reamer


A while ago I bought a set of diamond coated bead reamers and thought it was about time I tried them out.

I got them from Cooksongold for just under £9 and they arrived in a plastic pouch. There are four bead reamers in the set: two thin round reamers - like a smaller version of a round needle file - and two conical shapes - one with a barrel shaped body. 

So, what do you do with a bead reamer? They are designed to be used to enlarge a hole in a bead and can also be used to smooth the area around the hole. Back when I used to make a lot of bead and wire jewellery, every now and then I would come across a couple of stone beads from a string with "wonky" holes. By that I mean when the hole was drilled in the bead it didn't meet properly in the middle causing a narrow area that stopped the wire going through to the other side. 

I thought I'd try out the bead reamer on a stone bead with this problem.


The 20g copper wire will only go about halfway through the bead because the hole isn't straight.


I used one of the round reamers and twisted it inside the hole a few times before doing the same at the other end. I checked it with the wire and it went through nicely.


It was really easy to do as the diamond particles on the reamer grind the inside of the stone away making the hole bigger.

Another use for the reamers is to enlarge the hole in a pearl. I have quite a lot of pearls......


.... and some of the smaller sizes have pretty small holes. Sometimes I like to use a thicker gauge wire especially for pearl dangles so being able to make the hole in the pearl bigger is very useful.


This potato pearl is about 5mm and the hole will take 22g/0.6mm wire.


I wanted to be able to use 20g/0.8mm with it so I used the thin round bead reamer.


I did the same as before and twisted the reamer in the hole a few times before doing the same at the other end and it very quickly enlarged the hole. You can see the dust from the inside of the pearl on my finger in the photo.


The hole was soon large enough to take the 20g/0.8mm wire. Some of the coloured coating/dye {not sure what they do to these pearls to colour them!} did come off around the hole but not enough to spoil the pearl.


If the bead was used as a dangle or bead link the wire wrap would cover the small amount of "damage" to the hole.

I also tried the reamer with a ceramic bead. I occasionally make bangles with a ceramic bead threaded onto them. The hole in the ceramic bead obviously needs to be bigger than the bangle wire.


The reamer did the job but it did take a bit more effort than the pearl and stone bead.




Here's the before and after photos of the hole and you can see it is bigger after using the reamer.

I did try using the conical shaped reamers with the ceramic bead but found they weren't as succesful as the thin round reamers. When I put any pressure on them they pushed down into the handle and the handle moved but the reamer stayed still when I twisted them.


Pulling them out again and adding a bit of super glue would no doubt sort that problem out.

On the whole I'm glad I bought them as they make it very easy to sort out any problems you might come across with rogue bead holes.






Copyright © 2016 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

Comments

  1. I've only got one bead reamer but have found it a pretty handy tool to have. I'd not come across the conical reamers before, so it's interesting to learn about them (and their limitations at times!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great demonstration Tracy. Bead reamers really come in handy for me when working with pearls.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing your tips and experience. You're jewellery pieces are so beautiful and unique. It's a great idea to design your own bespoke jewellery pieces, and flaunt your unique style and individuality through them. If you have more intricate or difficult designs in mind, there's also some great jewellers that can help put your ideas into motion!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pretty sure that if you add water, your diamonds will stay put on the reamer, and so it will last longer. Just dip the reamer and the bead in water periodically as you work. Love your work and your blog, btw.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks you, and thanks for the tip with the bead reamer.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Your comments and questions are very welcome!
If you would prefer to contact me directly please use the contact form on my "get in touch" page.

Popular posts from this blog

Combining Soldering And Enamel

The need to make cute, brightly coloured enamel studs propelled me into the world of combining soldering with enamel a couple of years ago. I knew from reading up on it that it was possible to enamel and solder on the same piece but wasn't too confident I was able to do it back then. It was a slightly embarrassing occurance that made me just get on with - I'd made some enamel studs with glued on stud posts. I'd used 2 part epoxy resin which was a job in itself as it set hard after 5 minutes so I had to keep mixing more up. The finished studs looked ok but that little voice in my head kept asking "are you sure you want to use glue?" I wasn't but didn't think I had any other way to do it so I used glue. I sold my first pair and merrily sent them on their way to Canada. A couple of week later the buyer got in touch to say the stud post had come off one of the earrings and the other was hanging off. I was mortified, apologized profusely and refunded her m

Etching Silver Using Nail Art Stamps

So my love/hate relationship with etching sterling silver continues. I've tried a few times now and always end up with different results most of them not that great to be honest. I've tried connecting the silver and a piece of copper to a 9v battery and also heating the ferric nitrate. Sometimes the results are good sometimes not so good. I currently have an etched piece of silver sheet waiting to be reticulated and rid it of the mess that is the etched "pattern".  I now know that using stamps and Stayz On ink just doesn't work with silver - the time needed to etch using ferric nitrate is much longer than etching copper and the ink starts to wear away after about an hour. This results in the pattern being patchy as the resist is eaten away and the silver ends up quite lumpy and course looking. I have yet to try using pnp paper. I don't know why but it all seems a bit of a faff to do. I don't have a laser printer so would need to find somewhere or

Embossing Metal With My Sizzix Bigshot

I must admit up until a few weeks ago I was vaguely familiar with the name Sizzix but as to what you actually did with a "Sizzix" I was completely in the dark! That was until I stumbled across a video from Vintaj showing how you could use their embossing folders with a Bigshot to create designs on metal ("metal" - my favourite word after chocolate!) I was really impressed and itching to have a go, I just needed a Bigshot........ I waited a few weeks then when the urge to possess one overcame me I went out debit card at the ready..............and the shop had sold out! So I trundled off to The Range on the off chance and came home clutching my own surprisingly heavy pink and black wonder machine. It sat on the dining room table for a couple of days while I waited for the embossing folders I'd ordered online to arrive then the time came to start playing! I started with some pre-cut 24g copper hearts and the Wildflower Vines and the Butterfly Swirls Deco