The Basics: Tools

Sorry about the update gap. I thought I would have free time within the last day or two to write this post (I knew it was going to be a long one) but all of a sudden I had plans. Weird. Anyway, on to business.

This post will detail the various tools I use in making my chainmaille projects. I have a couple completed samples and projects I will show in future posts, and I will explain why I used certain pliers and not others for each project.

Head on past the jump for a description of all my various mailling tools!

In the world of chainmaille, the tools used by in each mailler are extremely unique to that person. Almost no two people use the same set of tools, though they may have one or two sets of the same things. Even if they have some similar tools, their style of using them will almost certainly vary greatly.

A lot of maillers who start from scratch in their work tend to be very resourceful in the tools they use. There is a lot of recycling, modifying, and scrounging for the best tool for the job. The results are often as fascinating as they are effective.

As for me, I bought all my tools from the get-go, with the exception of one pair of long nose pliers I bought to  match a pair I already owned. And with that, let me start by showing off my various pliers.

Note: Chainmailling requires 2 pairs of pliers, one in each hand.

Acronym Guide

• AR - Aspect Ratio
• II - Inner Diameter
• AA - Anodized Aluminum
• swg - standard wire gauge
• TRL - The Ring Lord

Pliers


Pliers come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes for all the various tasks they are designed to perform. There are a few notable aspects of the different types which make a set more effective when doing different weaves or working with different materials. I will discuss these aspects in each set of pliers, and the pros and cons of each.

Long-Nose Pliers - $3, Home Depot

My First set of pliers. Now unsuitable for most of my work.

These were the first set of pliers that I used to weave chainmaille. The set on the left I owned for some time before I began mailling, and I bought the second pair on the right to match it (hence the difference in grip sizes). These pliers are the largest of the ones I own, and they have now been set aside for various reasons.

First and foremost, they have teeth. When working with anodized aluminum (or AA), which has been given a color finish, toothed pliers scratch the rings up very badly, no matter how much care you take in handling them. These pliers even tend to mark bright aluminum(cleaned and polished). The teeth do, however, improve the grip on rings, making it much easier to handle complex weaves without dropping them. When working with stronger materials such as stainless steel of even dirty aluminum, these pliers would be fine, but they do have another disadvantage.

These plier do not have springs, and believe me that is a big deal. It is very awkward and annoying to have to open and close each plier with one hand, and after an hour or so you have twinges in hand muscles you were never aware of. Always. Get. Springs. It will make your life so much easier.

Other things of note: These pliers go from a wide tip to a broader face( part of which has no teeth). This allows for a good amount of maneuverability, letting me work with a variety of rings sizes and ARs. Having a broader inner face on the pliers gives you a lot more torque when opening rings, and also keeps the rings from warping when you open and close them. I will discuss the warping problem in detail with another set of pliers.

Needle-Nose Pliers - $2, Harbor Freight Tools

 Good for detail work. No idea why the picture is upside-down

Needlenose pliers, as you can see, have a long, narrow points and inner faces. These pliers are good for working with small rings and moderate to high ARs, thought they might get cumbersome with some of the lower ARs. Note that they have springs. Wonderful, fantastic springs. It also has no teeth, so it won't mark AA rings. These two traits, springs and a lack of teeth, are found in all the rest of my sets of pliers. These pliers are also useful when working with non-chainmaille components, like joining rings for jewelry clasps and the like.

The greatest advantage and disadvantage of these pliers is their narrow inner face. This allows for a great deal of control in movement and the ability to work with small rings in small spaces; very useful when fixing errors in small ring work. But this also introduces the problem of warping.

When the inner face of the pliers are not wide enough, there is a risk that when you open or close a ring you will accidentally bend the ring, making the closure inconsistent. Instead of the usual flat ring, you will now have a sort of "V" shape when seen from above. (cue the shitty MS paint drawings)

Unwarped                              Warped

If too many rings are damaged this way, they become unusable in the weave. This must also be carefully avoided when repairing or replacing rings in a weave, as they can get warped in the maneuvering.

Wide-Nose Pliers - $2, Harbor Freight Tools

Meh.

Not much to say about these, mainly because I now own a much, much better version of them. They have a wide inner face, but because they are so blocky they are difficult to maneuver and cannot be used with a wide range of rings except for opening and closing.

Strong, but not very nimble.

As with all of my currently-in-use pliers, these have springs and no teeth. For pre-closing a large amount of 16swg 5/16" Bright aluminum rings, they are fine. But I have better pliers than these. They would probably be of more use on a heavier material with a low AR because they provide a large amount of torque.

Bent-Nose Pliers - $2, Harbor Freight Tools

It is difficult to see their true advantage from above

Bent nose plier have many of the traits of long-nose pliers at first blush. They have a nose which widens as it nears the handles, and they are fairly short. They differ in that they have no teeth and they have springs. These are among my most favorite pliers, and they are the ones I most commonly use alongside my TRL wide-nose pliers(up next). They are absolutely invaluable when doing repair work and fine weaving with small rings. They work very well with a variety of ARs and sizes.

Solid.Versatile. Bendy.

Because of their unique shape, I can pick up rings in different parts of the plier to prevent warping. The bent nose also allows me to thread new rings into tight weaves with much greater ease than any other of my pliers. Because they taper to a small enough point, I can work with smaller rings easily. These are my second most-used pliers, and I keep them close at hand for most of my projects.

TRL Brand Wide Nose Pliers - $5.75, The Ring Lord

My pride and joy

These are, by far, my best pliers. They are designed specifically for weaving chainmaille, and you can tell from the moment you start working with them that they do it well. Unlike the rest of my pliers, these have smooth PVC handles; the grips on the others are a rough, grainy plastic that you find on most hardware store pliers. The grips don't matter much to me(thought my long-nose pliers did start to give me callouses) but it is something you may want to consider if you're ever in the market for these types of tools. They have no teeth, and in fact the inner faces of the pliers have been smoothed and polished. No chance of marking AA rings here. The spring mechanism is more solid than my other pliers, and it is not interlocking; I have a feeling it will be more consistent and long-lasting than the springs on my other pliers.

This is why they rock.

The Secret to why these plier are awesome lies in the fact that they taper down away from the inner edge. This means that while they have the broad face which is good for controlling rings and getting consistent, unwarped closures, they also are much more maneuverable than the plain wide-nose pliers. These can work easily with several rings sizes and ARs, and I have no trouble manipulating rings even in tight spaces.

Other Tools

Here are some of the other tools and things I use in my work. 

Closed ring container

Old prescription bottles work great for this

This is just a simple container for separating out pre-closed rings. Having rings closed beforehand greatly speeds up work on weaves which can use them, such as European 4-in-1 (the most common sheet weave)

Split Ring Plier

looks like a hideous fish-monster

A very unique set of plier with a very unique purpose. I will go into more detail about these when I start working with scale maille.

Tackle Boxes

Perfect for ring storage

Tackle boxes are cheap, easy to find, and ideal for storing and transporting chainmaille rings. You can find them in a variety of sizes, and you can use the included adjusters to make different compartment sizes and numbers to fit your current ring selection. I find them to generally be cheaper and better designed than bead boxes or other task-specific jewelry cases.

This tackle box also holds my most commonly used pliers and has a compartment for closed rings.

Jeweler's Magnifier - $5, Harbor Freight Tools

Makes me look like a mad scientist

Since I wear glasses, I can use this clip-on magnifier to help me see finer weaves. It has proved very useful in detail work and repairs. It has 2 lenses, one 3.3x and one 5x. These can be combined to get 16.5x magnification. Sadly, you can't use them without glasses, but there are standalone alternatives for those without.

I hope you found this post informative, if you have any questions about my tools or cases, feel free to add them in the comments.

As I get more tools and cases, I will do individual profiles on them or include their descriptions in along with the weaves or projects with which I used them.