Chainmail

[Bo-Starr No.435657]

Well, I've taken the time to start making some chainmail. Going with a basic 4 in 1 pattern. I've had a fairly good start so far. I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips for a complete newbie? Good ways to coil wire? Anything is greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous No.435663]

make a coiling jib for hand cranking - pretty much a straight rod with a handle on the end.

using a power drill will save you 10 seconds, but when the moment comes that you get distracted, you stop thinking or whatever, a hand crank is'nt going to try to rip your finger off.
its really not worth the risk, for the energy or time saved.

[Anonymous No.435674]

theringlord.com

Best website to buy rings from.

[Anonymous No.435677]

>>435657
i am making chainmail using the 4x1 pattern also, i find it is easier to make a bunch of the 4x1's and make rows. then attach the rows together till you have the desired length/width

[Anonymous No.435722]

>>435663
+1 for hand cranking. Drill a hole in a metal rod, make something that can hold it, and silently make those rings. I wear gloves when coiling because I run it through my hand as it leaves the spool to keep the tension up as it feeds into the rod. If I have a big project, I'll spend a day just pumping out coils... nothing worse than running out of rings and needing to make some from wire on the fly.
Oh! Also!
I like to keep a box of pre-closed rings and a box of open rings. For me it saves assloads of time with any euro pattern.

[Anonymous No.436289]

What are you making this for. 4:1 is awful if you actually want any protection, be it for smashing each other with wooden swords or anything. It's basically a joke for armor. It works if your swords are made out of foam and you just want to look cool.

8:1 mixed with 6:1 in areas that need to turn is generally decent way to go. Alternatively you can just use thicker links, which makes them stand up to something. Weight really increases either way, though.

[Anonymous No.436480]

>>436289
>What are you making this for. 4:1 is awful if you actually want any protection, be it for smashing each other with wooden swords or anything. It's basically a joke for armor.

which is why it was the default weave used for 1,500 years in europe, from the Roman lorica macula to the 15th C mailshirt.

Yes, clearly, its a joke.


Alternatively, you might know nothing about the subject. OP, ignore this arsehole.

all mail links are iffy if they're made from poor materials - a mild or galvanised steel wire, for instance, is nothing close to the strength of a a drawn carbon steel spring wire / piano wire. butted mail is easily distorted and forced apart, compared to riveted links. riveted links are in turn easier to force apart than punched rings.

punched rings are used for 50% of a shit in plenty of medieval examples, it's much faster than closing all the links, after all.

the problem with spring steel wire is you need to anneal it (softening), do the work to shape it (making the link ends to be riveted closed.) and then reharden it to get full effectiveness. though even an un-hardened carbon is somewhat stronger than mild, and far harder than butted.

note most modern mail links are larger than historical originals, which are often around the 1/4 inch / 6-7mm dia. size, rather than the 3/8ths / 9mm sizes of modern stuff.


have a pic of genuine 15th C mail links.

[Anonymous No.436509]

Get gloves for coiling, strong ass work gloves.
A cheap way to get wire is as 'electric fence wire', they have it in quite a few gauges, and usually insane lengths. I got mine from Grainger (Online seller), it came in the wrong gauge, I told them, they sent the right gauge and let me keep my mile of wire that was in the wrong size.
I got my mandrels from an ace hardware store, just mild steel, I think it's three feet long, it's a bit clumsy but you can cut it down, I learned to get over it though.
I drilled a hole through one end, put powerdrill around the other, spin, get coil.
When you put the wire through the hole, if you wrap it around, make sure at the end it pokes out to empty space and away from where your glove's going to be catching it every rotation.
For cutting, it basically goes wire cutters < snips < dremel < saw. You're not going to be using a jeweler saw for anything less than silver, or at least won't in my opinion. If you're using a dremel, do not use it on galvy. Zinc melts, gets in the air, gives you galvy fever, shit sucks. If you're going to anyway use a mask for metal grinding.
While you're spinning the dremel with a power drill set it to it's lowest setting. I never had anywhere near a problem, but it's better to be safe.
Some fingerless gloves might be nice for weaving the rings, I just got callouses so I don't mind it anymore.
The one method most people seem to prefer is pre-closing a bunch of rings, and then opening a ring, and adding 2 closed rings for a new row/column, and one for the completion of a row/column.
If you here people talk about AR, it's aspect ratio, it's the wire diameter the inner diameter of the ring if I recall correct. Generally, smaller inner diameters look nice, and it's not a problem in 4 in 1.
MAKE SURE YOUR SHIRT LIES RIGHT. When you hold it up it should be able to stretch left and right like an accordion, it looks bad if it's not, and actual chainmail did it to put more between you and it.

[Anonymous No.436514]

>>436509

Diameters become much more important when working on more advanced weaves. Some weaves (Byzantine is the easiest example) simply do not work outside of a certain AR range.

I use a jeweler's saw on my brass, bronze, and copper as well. Many people like the look of the semi-precious metals as jewelry.

[Anonymous No.436548]

>>436289

What are you doing nigga? Shooting each other with arrows or stabbing each other with stilettos?

[Anonymous No.436568]

tfw you want to make a titanium 'mithril' shirt and do super tiny rings.

tfw you need to stop reading Lotr

[Anonymous No.436572]

>>436568

What? That's entirely possible if you have the monies.

[Anonymous No.436580]

>>436568
If you've got the tools and money, titanium being a bitch to work and expensive, you could accomplish this. Probably be easier just to use a nickel plate or an anodized layer, if you just want the stuff just for show and not for reenactment.

[Anonymous No.436597]

>>435674
I've heard lots of good things about this site. I bought my rings from metaldesignz.com, good prices, but the shipping was a bitch. Very clean cut rings.