How to Make a Dowel Rod Tool for the Viking Stitch

The tools used to create Viking-knit chain include wooden dowels, metal wire-wrapping mandrels and Allen wrenches. When wooden dowels are used, the diameter of the dowels used by jewelers typically range from 5/16 inch to 1 inch in diameter. Metal wire-wrapping mandrels can be purchased with or without rubber handles. Some jewelry designers prefer to use an Allen wrench that is held by a vice when making Viking-knit chains. Jewelry makers may keep dowels in a range of sizes, each with a different number of metal loops, or petals, to produce different styles of Viking-knit chain.

Instructions

1

Cut a 36-inch wooden dowel into four 9-inch pieces using a fine-tooth hand saw. Use fine-grain sand paper to remove the rough edges from the cut ends of the dowel. The most common size of dowels used to make Viking-knit chain are 3/16-inch to 1/2-inch in diameter.

2

Purchase wooden dowels in different diameters. Prepare the dowels for use as described above. Experiment using dowels of different diameters to see what kind of Viking-knit chain results.

3

Attach a small, portable vise to the top of a table. Place the long end of an Allen wrench in the vise and tighten. Experiment with different diameter Allen wrenches to see the Viking-knit chain that each produces. A 3.5-millimeter Allen wrench is used by some jewelry makers.