Stainless Steel Ruler

A steel ruler is one of the first tools you'll reach for at the jewellery bench, and one you'll keep using for as long as you make. This 30cm stainless steel ruler is marked in centimetres, millimetres and inches, so you can measure wire for a ring shank, mark out sheet for sawing, or check a finished piece against your sketch.

Metal beats plastic at the bench for a few reasons. The edge stays straight and true, so you can run a scribe or the point of your dividers along it for a clean line. It won't melt if it ends up near your soldering block, and stainless steel handles water and pickle splashes without rusting.

Pair it with our free Ring Band Length Calculator. Work out the length of metal you need for your ring size, then measure it off the ruler and mark it before you cut. It's also the simplest way to set a pair of Dividers accurately, by sitting the points right in the millimetre marks.

This metal ruler is included in many of our Jewellery Tool Kits. If you're setting up a bench from scratch, a kit is worth a look, as it covers the ruler along with the other tools you'll use every day.

Worth knowing:

• Hold the ruler's edge against a piece of sheet with a light behind it. Any gaps show you where the metal isn't flat.
• Read measurements from directly above, as looking at the scale from an angle can throw a small measurement out by half a millimetre or more.