Wire: 20, 22, 24 ga. Haven't tried 18 yet, 28 is too fine to be useful.
Pliers: I only actually use round-nose and chain-nose. I have some others, but find I just don't use them. Decent flush cutter is important, use that all the time.
File: mostly I try to bury the ends in the piece, but if it's out the end must be filed.
Pick: you could probably use a solder pick or a nail. Used to get in small places and push or pull things around. I have thought a tiny crochet hook would be useful, but I don't have one yet.
Tweezers are handy sometimes.
Soft cloth or thin soft piece of leather is used to straighten wire coming off the spool. Pinch the cut pieces in the cloth or leather, then pull the wire through.
Wood dowel: soften the ends a bit and use to shape wire of the front of the piece without marring it. Coil around it for big loops, chain etc. I swiped some clean dop sticks from the garage. I use 1/4" and 3/8" mostly.
Nails: if you use nails, clean them up and file the points smooth. I use nails for different sized coils, and to loop over the bail. Once I bend the bail over, I leave the nail in it, it protects it some from being squashed.
Sometimes I use a rawhide mallet to harden the wire.
Coiling: you can use square or rectangular things to coil around as well as round. There are tools you can buy, but I use the hand-held drill for that and for twisting wire together.
Table clamp: the kind that clamps onto a table, and has another clamp on top. I use this all the time. In the photo, bottom left, there is a spool of wire on it. Stick a nail or dowel in the clamp, put the spool on the nail. So I wind it out against the centimeters marked on my matboard to measure and cut. To coil, with the wire spool on the clamp, I put a nail or dowel in the drill, stick the wire in by the nail, hold the drill between my knees, crank the drill handle with my right hand, guide the wire with the left hand. Wire always seems to want to fight back, it needs to be guided.
There are any number of tasks for which you need a stable point besides your two hands. Say you want to bend a long wire in the middle. Loop the 2 ends together into one hand, put the loop over the nail in the clamp, and pull, guiding it with your free hand.
Measuring: the flexible sewing tape is marked in inches and centimeters. I measure the perimeter of cabs, then measure where I want the securing loops or whatever to go. I marked centimeters on my work surface to measure wire when cutting.
Paper & pencil: Once measured, if I don't write it down, I forget. I usually trace the outline of the cab, and plan what I hope will happen. Often it works out differently, but it's a starting point.
Work surface: wood didn't work for me, because a) it was hard and stuff bounced around too much, and b) it's hard to see wire against wood grain. I tried chamois, little chunks came off and floated around. Jim gave me some matboard, thick cardstock used for mounting photography. It has a toothed surface, not real smooth, so stuff doesn't bounce, and it's white so I can see. It can be marked however you wish, and can be replaced when worn. But it seems pretty tough. Mine is secured with a good tape, and I like this best so far.
Containers: Someplace to put pliers and stuff so they are easily available. You can see my 2 short pottery crocks. You could try canning jars, they need to be heavy enough for the weight of the tools.
Often you will have coil and small pieces of wire left over. A desk drawer organizer or small containers to hold these are helpful, save time and wire.
Lighting: good room lighting and a desk lamp. I use a daylight lamp, good light helps a lot.
Jig: I use the jig a lot because I am a spaz. I believe most people do it freehand, though.
Cut wire can be sharp enough to stab you. It likes to fly around when you cut it, try to prevent this. I keep track of pieces that get away from me, I have inside dogs and they could pierce themselves or accidentally ingest the small cut pieces. This would apply to small kids too. So I crawl around and pick up after I work with wire.
There are a lot of devices and conveniences available, I get along with the above.
Shannon is more knowledgable than I am. Shannon, what do you think people need to do it?
