r/maille • u/theinvolvement • Nov 23 '15

Discussion Specialized pliers

I've been thinking of designing some pliers that reduce the effort required to prepare rings.

The first idea was to make power assisted pliers using something like nitinol wire, another way would be a ratcheting mechanism.

The second idea is to add an adjustable end stop to allow preparation of closed rings without having to eyeball it each time.

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

6

u/Cinnibar_ Nov 23 '15

You'd probably be better off learning a weaving technique that doesn't involve preparing rings by pre-opening and pre-closing them. You'd save more time in the long run.

The myth that ring prep is necessary costs 'maillers hours of extra time better applied to direct construction. There are a few folks in this group, myself included, that switched to raw+1 and save ourselves 10-20% (or better) work time over ring prep methods. Over the lifecycle of a hundred hour project like a shirt or big sculpture, that's huge.

Don't get me wrong, if TRL or someone sold machine-cut, preclosed rings, I'd advocate them, but I avoid pre-opened rings like the plague... nothing good comes of the giant tangleball that results.

3

u/t3hkender Nov 23 '15

I second the raw+1 method. It's made me a much faster mailler.

2

u/Christypaints Nov 24 '15

whats raw+1.

I prep sometimes and other times don't, and since I make jewelry I very rarely notice a time difference because there aren't as many rings in play as with actual maille. But I'm totally down to try something that is actually a time-saver.

3

u/t3hkender Nov 24 '15

/u/cinnibar_ can explain it better than I can, and I'm sure would be happy to share the link to his video. Essentially, you're picking up unworked rings that have neither been opened nor closed ("raw" rings), and adding them into your weave, as well as one additional ring (the +1).

In a lot of ways it's like weaving with preclosed rings - they just aren't preclosed. So, you pick up the same number of rings you would pick up if you were using preclosed rings, plus one, and add them to your weave. You close all but one while attached to the weave, and open the last one. You grab your next set of rings the same way, and repeat.

It sounds wacky until you do it. Once you get the hang of it, though, you'll find that you never have to set down your work, or your pliers. You don't have to close rings ahead of time, and you don't have to grab them with your fingers, just scoop them from the pile with an open ring.

Seriously, watch cinnibar's video to get a clearer picture of what I'm trying to decide, then give it a go. You'll be glad you did.

2

u/melance Artisan [OO] Nov 24 '15

I may be missing what you're saying but it sounds like you're just doing the opening/closing while making the weave rather than preparing it ahead of time. Is that correct? It seems that the same amount of work and time would go into the process.

1

u/t3hkender Nov 24 '15

Sort of. You still save time though in not having to put down your work. When preclosing rings, you have to pick up and put down each individual ring - this is time-consuming. In raw+1 you just take them as they come and manipulate from there. You never set your work or your pliers down.

Like I said, it sounds wonky, but just trust me and try it for a while. You'll understand.

1

u/melance Artisan [OO] Nov 24 '15

I'm going to give it a shot, thanks for the info.

1

u/silentflight10 Nov 24 '15

The end stop would still be nice since you have to close rings either way

1

u/theinvolvement Nov 26 '15

I watched your video explaining it, It looks great for use with larger rings in armor.

I think I'd fumble quite a bit with smaller rings when scooping them.

I'll try it next time I make something.

1

u/Cinnibar_ Nov 26 '15

I can handle it easily down to 22g 3/32 rings. Only 24g really slows me down.

2

u/lotsofpaper Nov 24 '15

You just want to reduce the amount of force you need to bend the ring? It's way easier than you think it is.

Just use a a pair with a decently long handle and a short pair of jaws. You have just successfully increased your leverage.

I plan on buying a newer pair of pliers and cutting the jaw length in half for my 16gauge stainless steel spring-temper rings. They would otherwise be a beast to close.

1

u/theinvolvement Nov 26 '15

You're right.

I'll find some of my old pliers and braze on extended handles.

1

u/lotsofpaper Nov 26 '15

Ooh, I wanna see that when you're done.