Chainmail Tools Today – Making Rings in no Time

There are many modern tools that help to speed up the process of making riveted chainmail. Here is a selection of tools used by modern mail-makers all over the world.

Tools for Coiling Wire

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If you take care of your safety you can use an electric drill to coil wire into a spiral. It helps to have a guiding help like the wooden block in the left picture. It is very to be able to insert rods of different diameters into an electric drill. You can also have that advantage with a manual crank as Mike Cervantes proved in the right picture.

Tools for Cutting Chainmail Rings

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Modern bolt-cutters are a powerful tool to cut overlapping rings for riveted chainmail. They give you a lot of leverage. You can use them to cut perpendicular or at an angle. The cutting device by Amadeis has a rail do guide the spiral. That way he can cut butted rings at extreme speed.

Annealing Devices for Chainmail

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If you can not use a wooden fire for annealing rings, there are modern tools to do that. In an electric annealing-oven, you can heat a bunch of rings at once. This ensures that the rings cool down slowly. This is a really good way to make rings soft. If you only have a few rings at a time, a gas torch can help you speed the process of annealing up. Just make sure to remove the heat slowly.

Tools for Flattening – Round and Flat Rings

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It is possible to flatten chainmail rings with nothing but a hammer and an anvil. Yet some people swear on guiding tools. In the left picture, Christian is using a blunt chisel to strike the overlap for round rings. For flat rings, you can use a rod in a pipe as Mike Cervantes does. It helps him to hit exactly perpendicular.

Tools for Making Rivet Holes into Rings

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For punching rivet holes, I prefer a handheld punch. Yet you can also drill the holes as AL Eferl does. Yet consider that the thin drill bits tend to break easily. Mike Cervantes has a modified punching plier for this purpose. He took out the exchangeable parts and shaped them to his vision. That way he can punch holes for wedge rivets and round rivets.

Tools for Cutting Chainmail Rivets

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When you cut rivets from wire, it is good to have some consistency. Christian Haffner is doing that with his cutting pliers mounted on a board. A metal wall next to the pliers is determining how long the rivet will be. Mike Cervantes is pushing his wire into a pipe. Then he is striking a sharp rod inside the pipe to cut off tiny bits of wire.

Homemade Chainmail Riveting Tool

A rivet tool is ideally a set of pliers with a strong lever and a dent in each jaw. These riveting pliers by Mike Cervantes even allow him to exchange parts. Alternatively riveting can also be done with a hammer and a small dent in an anvil.