Chainmail Tools
My prefered tools for chainmailing.
Note: If you find different pliers and ring sizes more to your liking, please don't take these are the only option.
There are a lot of types of pliers and ring sizes that work quite well for chainmail.
These just are my recommendations based on my own experiences.
Recommended Pliers:
Ignition Pliers. For most chainmail rings sizes, ignition pliers are the optimum choice. When held with the face of the pliers pointing up, they give a very good amount of torque on the ring. When working with very strong rings like Spring Tempered Stainless, this can save your wrists a lot of pain. They generally can be purchased for about $10-$15 each from various stores.
Buying Rings:
Typing in "Chainmail jump rings" into a search engine will show several options for purchasing rings online. I have had luck
with TheRingLord.com for a wide variety of rings.
For Aluminum rings, i have gotten decent rings from Amazon. The main thing is that you get conistant sizes/colors for a reasonable price.
For Armor:
Spring Temper Stainless Steel 16g 5/16" ID - These offer an optimum strengh and minimal weight for shirts and armor that will last for your lifetime. Smaller sizes can work well, but take a lot of time to put together.
For Stainless Jewelry:
Stainless Steel 18g 3/16" ID - These offer an optimum strengh and minimal weight for long lasting jewelry.
Aluminum:
18g 3/16" ID - 16g 5/16" ID - are both good sizes for aluminum rings. I try to keep the different ring sizes at a minimum for ease of finding the right rings. Aluminum is nice because of the vibrant colors. They also mix well with rubber rings for stretchy jewelry/outfits.
Saw Cut vs. Machine Cut:
In general, saw cut tend to be a little easier to seal tightly. To me, this usually isn't enough of an issue to warrant
the premium price charged for saw cut rings. With experience, getting rings to close tightly isn't an issue.
Scales:
TheRingLord.com has a good variety of scales. I have found that stainless rings become too heavy too fast to make a good vest. The 16g 5/16 go well with Large scales. 18g 3/16 go ok with the smaller scales. I am still learning scales, but it is another nice creative outlet.