Rob MacLennan

You need a rig that will hold the coil in place while cutting and that will let you cut the whole coil in one go. You could either build something (I did), or use a commercial solution like a Koil Kutter.

Come to think of it there looks to be an off-centre deformation in that ring, in the bottom left.

Very strange. Can't say that I've ever had that problem. See if you can make out what I'm doing in this brief video and compare to what you're doing.

Could you post a picture for clarification?

Sink cut-outs, edge cuts, corner cuts.... Whatever you can get cheap Counter makers start out with standard size slabs and cut to suit, so there can be a fair bit of waste cuts.

My first replica sword purchase was a cheap broadsword, with all the balance of a crowbar. I've since learnt

I've got a Rawlings nylon waster longsword and it would give a good crack on the skull to an intruder, but a bat or bokken would do a better job.

I bought a "tooling side" some time back in the late '80s/early '90s to make a quiver with. Finally used some of the last bits last year, to make a pair of bracers for a friend. It was a bit on the tough side, but still workable. I did end up destroying a cheap four-prong punch on it though. *EDIT* I think that I do still have enough of it to sole a couple of boots though, which is the plan.

@Paladin An excellent point about cost. Though I only do the rare leather piece I've been diligently watching the sales at Tandy in order to stock up, and minimize my long term costs. If I take care of it, I think that I've got enough leather of various types for at least the next 5 years, possibly more, based on my limited use.

A marble or quartz slab for tooling can be had as an off-cut from a counter making contractor, for not a lot of money. It's garbage otherwise.

The only seams that I could potentially see in a scale vest would be if you were to do a scale approximation of a Bladeturner chain shirt, with 45 degree seams at the shoulders, but that would be a needless complication. In the above-pictured version you could run scales horizontally along the rings used to join front to back, in order to camouflage the seam.

I don't know a useful way of stabilizing a horizontal line of scales, short of running a taut string or wire through them. Generally speaking I use triangular bottomed arm and neck holes so that the weight of the scales makes them hang properly, rather than sagging like that.

Skin lotion perhaps?

Like this:

Plasti Dip would do the job, though you'd be better off buying pliers with replaceable rubber or plastic jaw covers. TRL has pliers with nylon covered jaws, and also sells replacement covers. I generally do OK with toothless jawed pliers. I just don't reef the hell out of the rings. https://plastidip.com/