The Bench Journal

Pickle bath setup for sterling silver
Pickle bath setup for sterling silver — what works, what to avoid
Mastering the post-solder pickle bath is crucial for a clean sterling silver finish. Learn the essential setup for safety and efficiency. Avoid common pitfalls that can damage… Read more...
Best soldering torch for UK jewellers
Best soldering torch for UK jewellers: butane, propane, oxy/gas
Choosing the right soldering torch is crucial for UK jewellers, impacting efficiency and success. This guide breaks down butane, propane, and oxy/gas options to help you select… Read more...
A selection of five budget-friendly jeweller's hammers arranged neatly on a worn wooden bench block.
The best jeweller's hammers under £30 — UK picks for 2026
Spend any time in a shared workshop, from the Birmingham School of Jewellery to a co-op in Hatton Garden, and you'll see two types of tools: treasured heirlooms and cheap… Read more...
A tapered round ring mandrel and a stepped bracelet mandrel lying side-by-side on a worn wooden bench.
Round mandrel vs stepped mandrel: which to buy first
Walk into any working jeweller's studio, from a small setup in a spare room to a bustling workshop in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, and you'll find a mandrel. It's as… Read more...
A jeweller's workbench with a steel disc cutter set, brass hammer, and silver sheet metal.
Disc cutters explained: a practical guide
There comes a point in every jeweller's journey when sawing out a perfect circle becomes a chore. You can get close with a 2/0 blade and a steady hand, but... Read more...
A selection of essential wax carving tools arranged neatly on a wooden bench pin.
Wax carving tools: how to choose your first set
There's a unique freedom in wax carving. It’s a quiet, sculptural process that allows you to create forms—flowing, organic, complex—that are a real struggle to fabricate directly… Read more...
Close-up of a perfectly clean, unpitted silver solder seam on a sterling silver ring shank, torch in soft focus in the background.
How to solder sterling silver without pitting
It’s a familiar story. You’ve spent hours filing a perfect joint, you’ve set up your piece with care, and you bring the torch to the metal. The solder flows… but... Read more...
A jeweller's pitch bowl with a piece of silver being worked with a chasing hammer and punch.
Repoussé and chasing: a beginner's bench guide
There are few techniques that feel as ancient or as transformative as coaxing a three-dimensional form from a flat sheet of metal. It feels like alchemy. But the process of… Read more...
A selection of textured silver samples on a dark jeweller's bench, lit from the side to show detail.
How to texture silver: 8 methods at the bench
The surface of a piece of silver is a canvas. A high polish is one option, certainly, but it’s far from the only one. Texture adds depth, character, and a... Read more...
A neatly arranged canvas tool roll on a wooden jeweller's bench, showing pliers, files, and a saw frame.
Jewellery school kit: what to actually bring on day one
You’ve got your place. The letter has landed, you’ve sorted your accommodation, and now a list of required materials has probably arrived from the college. It’s an exciting,… Read more...
A flat-lay of essential silversmithing tools on a worn wooden workbench.
The 12 tools every new silversmith needs (and 6 to skip)
Walk into any jewellery supplier, online or in Hatton Garden, and you’re hit with a wall of tools. Hundreds of them. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and even easier to... Read more...
A well-lit, organised jeweller's bench with a GRS bench peg, showing hand tools neatly arranged.
Setting up your first jewellery bench: a UK buyer's guide
The leap from a college workshop to your own space is a daunting one. The temptation is to either buy a complete, pre-packaged kit of questionable quality, or to spend... Read more...
Watch in a wooden case holder with two hand levers over the dial, plus tweezers and a loupe
Removing watch hands without damaging the dial: an amateur's guide
Watch hand removal is the operation where amateurs lose dials. The hands sit on tiny pressed-fit tubes called the "cannon pinion" (minute hand), "hour wheel" (hour hand), and… Read more...
Watch repair tools on linen: a watch in a wooden case holder, screwdrivers, a loupe, tweezers and pliers
A watch-repair starter kit: what amateur watchmakers actually need
Let me be straight with you: full watchmaking is a different discipline from jewellery making, and a true watchmaker's bench takes a different kit (and several years of training)… Read more...
Maker's mark stamp set inside a silver ring on a steel block, with a hammer above
Stamping your maker's mark cleanly, every time
The maker's mark is your signature. It tells customers, future buyers, and (eventually) the Assay Office who made the piece. Done well, it's a small, sharp, perfectly aligned… Read more...
Disc cutter set with round, teardrop and star cavities, its punches and a few cut discs
Disc cutter sets explained: what 7–21 mm gives you at the bench
A disc cutter is one of those tools that looks more complicated than it is. The first time you see one — a heavy steel block with shaped cavities and... Read more...
Hands-free soldering set-up: third-hand base with tweezers, soldering block, pick and copper tweezers
Setting up a hands-free soldering station for the home bench
The hardest part of learning to solder at home is not the soldering technique. It's that you have three things to do simultaneously — hold the workpiece steady, direct the... Read more...
Two soldering tweezers and a third-hand stand laid out on linen
Cross-lock vs reverse-action tweezers: choosing soldering tools for the bench
Tweezers are the most-used tool on a jewellery bench by a wide margin. You'll touch one in nearly every operation: holding a setting while you solder, retrieving a hot piece... Read more...
Silver ring on a size-marked ring mandrel, with a wooden mallet and bench tools around it
How to size and stretch a ring without distorting the metal
The first time a customer brings you a ring that's a size too small, the panic is real. Make it wrong and you've either cracked a shank, distorted the band... Read more...
Three ring mandrels on linen: plain steel, size-marked metal and tapered wood
Steel, aluminium, or wood ring mandrel — what you actually need
A ring mandrel is the most-handled tool on a jewellery bench. Every ring you make, repair, or resize touches one. If a hammer is the tool you reach for, a... Read more...
Side cutters snipping through a length of silver wire
Cutting hardened jewellery wire without damaging your jaws
The first time you put a pair of brand-new side cutters through a length of memory wire, two things happen. The wire splays open like a flower under the jaw,... Read more...
Three pairs of jewellery pliers laid side by side on linen
Bench pliers vs parallel-action pliers: which to buy first
The pliers section of any jewellery-tools shop is a confusion trap. Round-nose, chain-nose, flat-nose, bent-nose, snipe-nose, half-round, parallel-action, ergonomic, mini,… Read more...
Silver sheet glowing dull red on a charcoal soldering block, with brass tweezers beside it
How to anneal and forge silver at the bench: a UK step-by-step
Sterling silver is brilliant to work with right up until you ask it to bend a second time. Hammer it once, planish it, pull it through a draw plate —... Read more...
Small hammer with a brass head resting on the edge of a wooden jeweller's bench
Choosing your first jeweller's hammer: a beginner's buying guide
Every beginner asks the same question, and they ask it before they've ever held a piece of annealed silver: which hammer should I buy first? It's the right question —... Read more...