Yeah, that bad. Rings are just too darn small (3/8 inch ID) in real life. Those closeups on all the how-to pages make it look easy. I have all those coils wound, so I'm wondering if I could salvage some of my time and make some butted chauses. I'm using 16g, pre-annealed rebar tie wire. The maille boards say it's great for rivetted, but I wonder if it'll work for butted. What'd you use on yours, Sir Edward?