BCU - Fire
Chainmail Entrance
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Necklaces
Shirt
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Chainmail
How I Do ItA lot of the sites around are trying to make SCA Approved chainmail. I'm not! I'm making chainmail because I think it's neat. I'm not concerned about whether this stuff will stop a bullet at 100 yards, my philosophy is to don't get shot. I also am in the position where there are always a couple of very young kids running around while I'm working on the chainmail. This means that I don't want a lot of little tiny links laying around to attract small fingers and mouths.
So, I've kept the whole kit very compact. If you will follow the numbers on the photograph, the procedure goes like this:
1/ 20 ga. Galvanized Steel Wire - light, easy to work with, and has a million household uses.
2/ Robertson Screwdriver - conveniently it has a .25" shaft and a good grip which allows me to hand wrap the wire.
3/ Wire Coils - after winding them around the shaft of the screwdriver, they get stretched out to easy cutting and create open links.
4/ Individual Links - Yep, little pieces of wire cut from the coils so that the ends don't touch (open links).
5/ Pliers - I use one pair of snub nose and one pair of (almost) needlenose pliers to close the links as they are woven together.
6/ Pruning Scissors - Had them handy, they'll cut 20 ga. wire, and they didn't need grinding (which is really good because I don't have access to a grinder).
7/ King's Maille - this is about three quarters of the belly panel of the shirt (shown is roughly 10,000 links).
8/ Carry Case - everyone needs a knitting bag. Due to the nature of my knitting I felt that an ammo box made a fitting carry case. It's strong enough to carry everything, and everything fits inside.
There is nothing special about my rig, I didn't need to buy anything (except wire), and I didn't need to modify any of my tools in bizarre fashion. I wasn't sure if I would like doing this as a hobby, so I certainly didn't want to spend a lot of money and time creating a specialized set of tools and coiling rods just to give it a try. Partly due to the tools I am using, I have limited myself to working with just 20 ga wire and only .25" links, but you can still do a lot with them.