Originally Posted by
katsup
. I've had good luck with the metal handle from a binder clip as well.
These binder clip "handles" do work well. Strong and light. But none of these ideas work well if there is crud in the wee slots that the quick link pins ride in, one in each link half. Best to have something like a tooth brush or eyelash brush to sweep out those two slots, and the center of the link so it's all clean. Then the link can be compressed and released. It takes very little crud to prevent the quick link pins from popping out of the 'keyholes' and releasing.