What are the requirements for making chainmail? The first things that come to mind are time, patience, hand strength and dexterity, an ample supply of rings, and today's feature: a trusty set of pliers.
Most chainmailers have strong opinions about their pliers. I'm no different. We like to talk about what works best for us and make recommendations to beginners on what to use.
Below is a photo of my pliers. They are simple, small, and inexpensive. I love them. Some mailers insist on the expensive brands, spending hundreds of dollars on their pliers. But I find that the simple ones work just fine for me. They are smooth-jaw bent-nose Pittsburgh brand pliers from Harbor Freight Tools. I've never had a problem working with them so I've never seen the need to buy a fancier pair. They may lack the extra long or paddled handles of more expensive pliers, but personally I've found those more annoying than helpful. It all comes down to personal preference.
Regardless of the style and brand, the most important aspect needed for chainmail pliers is that the jaws are smooth without any teeth. If the pliers have gripping teeth then the rings will get damaged with the finish dented and scratched. My pliers are smooth, but I also took some coarse sandpaper to them when I first got them to get rid of any smaller interior ridges. I also gave them a good wipe down with a rag to get them nice and clean.
Another feature of my pliers is their long bent nose. I really like working with this shape. The length gives me room to work with, allowing me to grip both small and large rings with the same pair of pliers. And the bent nose gives me two different grip options for working with my rings. Most of the time I grip the rings with the "elbows" of the pliers as shown below. This maximizes the amount of plier contact with the ring and gives me a lot more control.
I also occasionally flip the left pair of pliers over and use just the tips of the pliers to grip. This is needed sometimes for smaller rings or for hard to reach places in a weave.
It's Small Business Saturday! And it's also the one year anniversary of my newsletter. Miss any newsletters? Check out all the past issues on my blog page.
Comments