This can be aircraft snips, wire cutters, fence cutters, or anything else that will cut the wire. If you want to be historically accurate, you can use a chisel. You now have several choices to make. The first is what type of wire to use. Different metals are available, and these include iron, galvanized steel, brass, copper, stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, and others.
Galvanized steel is a good place to start.
The next decision is wire gauge. 14 or 16 gauge is common, but it is up to you. 14 gauge is recommended for most armor work. Now you have to choose link size. Once you've decided what size you want, get a steel rod with the same diameter and build it into the winding jig described above.