I think that I'll start a Zombie Apocalypse store
 

Here's the first item that I'd sell.

Hah! One of my friends used to cut links and link his own chainmail.
It gets heavy after you get a decent sized sheet going.

You should do duct tape armor too.

http://zombie-forum.com/zombie-blog/...tape-armor.jpg

That 11 Gauge galvanized steel in the picture would be for the fast zombies, that you can't outrun anyway. Let them chow down and they just aren't getting through. I'll call it "The Human Tank." It's just galvanized fencing wire, that I got from Home Depot.

I've got some 16 Gauge hard aluminum on the way, that weight about a third of the equivalent steel wire. The place I ordered it from also sells spools of heavier gauge aluminum, steel, stainless, titanium, and niobium wire. My calculations show that it'll take roughly 30,000 rings to make a full chainmail shirt and coif, so aluminum is the only thing I would try. I also need a much faster and better way of cutting the wire than bolt cutters.

My friend used an old fashioned hand drill with a rod in the chuck. He wound the wire around it until he had a dozen or so wraps and then cut & linked them. It's still not a fast process, but it was easier than cutting it link by link.

Or you could try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTTSTKesjGQ

Oh, and for cutting... there's The Ringinator

$450 for that badboy, but if you're serious about making chainmail :idk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYCmuwovaao

Soda tabs...

http://www.geekologie.com/2009/12/09/armor-2.jpg

The tensioning rig isn't a bad idea, but I'll likely continue to do it by hand anyway. I made a hand cranked mandrel, like his, that lets me wind almost two foot long coils at one go. The rod I wind around is a 5/8" steel bar, that I drilled a hole through with my drill press.

I've also looked at The Ringinator and several other ring cutting rigs. The Ringinator doesn't even come with the drill you need to drive the thing, for a cost of $450.00. For about $50.00 I can buy a jeweller's saw and the chuck for it, clamp it into my Dremel, and build a clamp that will work like The Ringinator. I figure that I'll either feed the coils through a piece of copper or plastic pipe with a slot cut into it, to take it past the jeweller's saw blade that will cut it.

Oh, and when it comes to links I've got some good ones too :)

http://theringlord.com/cart/

My friend used to mess around with that stuff too. He never got very far before getting bored though.