Steel in Jewelry

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved

Steel is an alloy of primarily iron, with a smaller amount of carbon - or sometimes chromium, manganese, nickel, tungsten, or vanadium.

Carbon steel is noted for its extreme strength and hardness - so it's not very useful for jewelry artists.

Low-carbon steel, on the other hand, can be soft and pliable enough to be a very useful (and different) jewelry making metal.

These are inexpensive forms of steel that are relatively easy to shape.

When annealed, they are soft and flexible enough for many jewelry projects.

In a hardware store, look for annealed mild or low-carbon steel wire in the form of "tie wire" - you'll get practically a lifetime supply for just a penny or two per foot.

Jewelry artists can also find jump rings of mild steel for chain maille projects.

Steel with an outer layer of zinc which makes it virtually rust-proof.

Galvanized steel is used sometimes for jumprings in chain maille projects, or in hardware components for "extreme urban jewelry" styles.

Stainless steel is an alloy of primarily steel with a smaller amount of chromium.

It doesn't stain, tarnish, or rust as easily as regular steel.

Since the turn of the 21st Century, stainless steel has made a huge leap in popularity as a jewelry making metal.

It's a low-maintenance, low-cost metal that jewelry artists are likely to encounter in wire, cable, or sheet form - and as chain, pendants, or findings.

Stainless steel has become especially popular in chain maille as well as in rugged, contemporary, and men's jewelry designs.

Surgical steel is a (supposedly) hypoallergenic metal that's most often used in earring findings and body jewelry - in fact, it's the most common body-piercing metal in the U.S.

However, although it's thought of as an allergy-free metal, some people do have allergic skin reactions to surgical steel.

That's because surgical steel usually contains tiny amounts of nickel, which is a common metal allergen.

In my opinion niobium, titanium, and plastic are all safer than surgical steel for metal-allergy folks.

I personally don't use any surgical steel in my jewelry because of allergic reactions people have told me they've experienced when wearing it.