Product Review - Wubbers Looping Pliers

I make a lot of rosary style jewellery and I like to wire wrap every link for extra security. I have been making this kind of jewellery for 25 years and am pretty good at getting even loops with ordinary round nosed pliers but my Wubbers Looping Pliers changed my life. Well, maybe not my life, but my jewellery making.

 

This freshwater pearl charm bracelet was made using my Wubbers Looping Pliers and 0.6mm sterling headpins.
 

I bought my Wubbers about 2 years ago and I use them for just about every piece of jewellery I make. I certainly use them for every standard loop and wrapped loop connection I make and here is why;

Uniform loops are crucial for
  earrings to be the same length.

• Wubbers have a nice long handle with a comfort grip and they are very comfortable to hold and to use.
• They are specially designed to make loops that are a uniform size (2.2mm). Round nose pliers are tapered from the base to the tip of the pliers, which can be handy for making different sized loops. But if you are making a lot of loops and want them all the same size it can be difficult to achieve this with round nose pliers, even if you mark your working point with a marker pen.
• Wubbers make loop making very quick. Just put the wire in and squeeze, or wrap. You can adjust the position of your loop just as you would with round nose pliers.
• You can make ordinary loops or wrapped loops.
• They can accommodate different gauges of wire. Wubbers are designed primarily for 0.8mm (20gauge) wire but can handle 1mm and 0.6mm wire. Most of my sterling silver jewellery is made with 0.6mm wire using my Wubbers Looping Pliers. The Wubbers do not grip the 0.6mm as well as they do 0.8mm but as long as I hold the wire correctly the pliers work fine with it.



Close-up of Wubbers Looping Pliers.

• Wubbers Looping Pliers do not mark the wire like round nosed pliers can. I use a lot of sterling silver wire and it is softer than copper and marks more easily. With round nosed pliers you have to grip your wire between the two "noses" of the pliers but Wubbers Looping Pliers have a round bar and a channel for your wire to sit in. This channel part of the pliers are what help the wire to bend around the bar.

Wubbers are an American company but the looping pliers are available in the UK. They come with an instructional mini cd which you can play on your computer.

They are available at Amazon -

My Wubbers are easily my favourite tool and the only tool I use more than my Looping Pliers are my flush cutters. They aren't expensive at approximately £20, they are definitely worth the investment.



Perfect wrapped loops in my garnet & oxidized
sterling silver rosary style necklace.