Main > The Armoury
12th/13th century riveted mail hauberk and chausses - Knight's Templar kit
B. Patricius:
Introduction:
Greetings all!
I know plenty of people have wondered, pondered, and tried a bit at making riveted mail. For me, I don't know why, but it's one of my favorite types of armor and time period. So, I need some :D
I've decided that here, I'm going to keep a journal of my journey in mailing. Also, I'm hoping this can become a sort of future reference for anyone else interested in this medieval craft.
I've made some mail pieces before, mainly a nice Gallowglass coif with the hexagonal mantle. But it was your textbook homebrew of 16ga galvanized fencing wire, and butted.
So, in the Adrian Empire, if I don't want to wear plate, they require us to wear mail, for the very properties that it's good for. Worst case scenario, I may in fact need to depend on this mail to keep me safe from harm if the worst should happen and a weapon breaks. Needless to say, I'm totally jazzed about this!
I've always had a goal of making my own mail, now I have the motivation of a deadline. Realistically, I have about 6 to 9 months to get all this woven so I'm ready for rebated combat.
Let me know if anyone would like me to post links to all the resources I have found, via Arador, ArmourArchive, MAILE, and other resources.
B. Patricius:
Day 1: planning
10 rings = 5/8" of coil
soft annealed rebar wire 16ga at Home Depot is 3.98 for 400 ft and 3.5lbs
5/16" ID ring is 1020 per pound
5/16" ID ring is 1691 per square feet
16 2/3 square feet of mail to make my hauberk
28180 rings
27 2/3 lbs for the hauberk
5 square feet of mail for my half chausses
8284 rings
8 lbs
it costs us 1/10th the money for making the rings ourselves vs key chain links
$32 for rebar vs $320 for key chain links
it costs us 4/25th the money for making the rings ourselves vs TheRingLord.com
$32 for rebar vs $200 for TheRingLord rings
we need 11 orders of the rebar wire, so 4400 ft total
9 rings per linear foot of wire
10 rings is 5/8" of coil
MATERIALS/TOOLS LIST:
bolt to flatten ring with 3/4" dia bolt head
MORE 4" CHANNEL LOCK/VISE GRIPS
some kind of punch, either drift, pliers, etc for making the hole for the rivet
masonry nails 3.5" long for punching
19ga "wire nails" - I'm guessing 1/2" long finishing nails are it
setting-pliers
anvil of some kind
B. Patricius:
Day 2: purchasing materials
what I already had in my possession
4 - 4" taskforce locking pliers
$1.98 each - Lowes *got these babies on sale, 4 four a dollar!
my wire loom -
5/16" welding rod used as my dowel
don't remember and can't find it online, so I'll post this up when I end up back at a hardware store :D
1 - 4' piece of 1"x4" oak cut and built to hold my dowel
So, went to Home Depot and TrueValue today and picked up some materials for my mail. I'm also hoping to keep track of all funds used in this craft, including specific specialty tools that won't be used for other crafty things.
4 - 3.5lb rolls of 16.5ga annealed rebar wire -
$12 total excluding tax - HomeDepot
1 - 1/16" pin punch for making the holes for my rivets, we'll see how this holds up -
$5 excluding tax - TrueValue
1 - 3" by 3/4" diameter bolt for smashing with :D
$.25 excluding tax - HomeDepot
1 - Eastwing "Surestrike" 5oz tack hammer
$7 excluding tax - HomeDepot
so about $25 total thus far
also, of note, I gotta say those little 4" locking pliers are by far the best little things mailers can buy.
When you tighten them down, they multiply your grip strength and make it way easier to weave the chain.
They're also a very safe and effective method of squishing and overlapping the rings for making the rivet spot!
extra tools I employ:
Bernzomatic torch
4lb sledge
12oz ball peen hammer
and currently I'm shopping around for an anvil of some sort. Unfortunately Murphy's law came into effect today. TrueValue sells railroad ties for $2 per foot, but come in a 8 foot minimum length! yeah, so I'm looking around.
Also, I found this baby
http://www.micromark.com/power-punch-tool-kit,7775.html
which may become the greatest little tool for punching the holes in my chain.
Also, if I may ask a favor of everyone. If by chance you could link to some good HD pictures of period maile, that'd be super. Since I'm making these myself, I'm going to go as close as I can to getting it right, if I'm capable. I'll be on the lookout for this too.
Cheers, and hope everyone is enjoying faire season and staying safe enough with their practices, tournaments, competitions, and training. Sir James, congrats on the 15minutes of fame over on the local news channel! That's awesome bud!
I've got some maile to make.
YIS B. Patricius
PS: also, I need to make a shout out to my lady B)
she bought literally everything on these lists thus far. She's so supportive of this endeavor and is having a blast helping me when I let her. Beyond that, she made a smart funny little comment today: "Consider this your early Father's Day present."
I'm humbled. Her daughter is not mine, but I love her dearly as any father could. I've also known my lady since four days after her little half-pint's conception. So I've been there since the beginning. Half-pint loves hanging out with me, since I'm the one watching her while Momma works full time, watching me make mail, as she makes stuff with her duplos while we watch My Little Pony or listen to some good tunes like Sir Edward posted with "Two Steps from Hell."
Could a Knight ask for more?
Silvanus:
Patricius, you have my admiration, sir. Thanks for all the details thus far; it really helps to see just how much planning goes into a project like this. I can't wait to see some photos of the work in progress. :)
B. Patricius:
Day 2:
life has a funny way of getting in the way sometimes :D so I didn't get much done, but I got plenty of "timing" done for all this. I figure this may be helpful to anyone else wanting to decide amount of money versus time and effort:
all measurements come with a standard of:
5/16" dowel
16.5 gauge annealed rebar wire
as I said before 1 feet of wire makes about 5/8" of coil on a 5/16" dowel
5/8" of coil made about 9 rings... well, I was wrong, by quite a bit in a long run type of measuring
good news 1/2" of coil makes 10 rings, even! so that is easy for future math
I made 40 inches of coil and cut them into rings in about an hour. This was about 64 feet of wire. I'm basing that off of math, not measuring out the wire as I go.
so, what did I make in about an hour :D
I made give or take 800 rings in an hour.
now, TheRingLord http://theringlord.com/cart/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=25&cat=Machine+Cut+Mild+Steel+Jump+Rings
sells their mild steel 5/16" 16ga rings for $7.70 for 1 pound, at 1020 rings or so per pound.
taking into consideration that I made only 800 in an hour, I'm "working" at about $6 per hour coiling and making rings! That doesn't even consider the fact that when you start buying bulk at TheRingLord, you get discounts. My 40 pounds of rings for my hauberk and chausses would have cost $262 plus tax and shipping, so figure probably about $300 total.
So, is it practical for me, to make my own rings? :o
Yes. 8) because I'm cheap ::) and crazy.
Actually in reality it's more that I enjoy the whole process, and that I'm making this kit completely from scratch, myself. That to me is priceless.
Better news, believe it or not, I'm working more efficiently than I thought I would. 800 rings is about 75% of a pound. So, if I make 800 rings in an hour, that's 12 ounces of ring an hour.
40X16= 640 ounces
640 onces divided by 12 ounces an hour = 54 hours.... so in reality terms for someone self-employed, it's about a standard work-week or less. With me watching the half-pint 40 hours a week, I should have all my rings made in about two weeks, because let's face it, she's priority and I don't get much dedicated time 8)
but her, and the cat messing with me, while watching My Little Pony marathons: priceless
It's also going to be nice that for less than $100 or so, I'll have my full hauberk and chausses. It just takes some time
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