Can anyone offer do's and don'ts on doing your own rigging

I am replacing all wires on my mast using '1/8' 1x19 wire but find it very hard to work. I have to clamp the swage, thimble and wire loop into a vice and force the swage up the loop as far as I can before using the swage tool to crimp it before it slides back. Muscles I haven't used in years are complaining vigorously.

A number of chandlery shops said to use 7x7 and not 1x19 wire as it was: too stiff to bend around a thimble, must not be hand swaged, and that wire failure was feasible if there was 'ballooning' of the strands around the thimble. My cat builder said use 1x19 as it was standard equipment.

I found little info on rigging online and so welcome tips from those who have done their own.