Main > The Round Table

I Want to be an 11th century Norman Knight

<< < (11/11)

Mike W.:
I'm at the point where I've got my soft kit, I've got the helm, I'll be working on the shield come warmer weather, and all the remains is the maille.
I've been looking at allbeststuff and picked out these two:
http://allbeststuff.com/Round-Rivet-Flat-Washer-Chain-Mail-Shirt-Hauberk-Medium
     -It's just about the right size
http://allbeststuff.com/Round-Riveted-Flat-Solid-Ring-Coif
     -I intend to cut off the aventail and rivet the coif to the hauberk

They're inexpensive and I've heard good things about their maille. But just before I click the "Confirm Order" button, I thought I would get an extra opinion or two.

Ian:
Here's the deal with maille.  Virtually all of it is made in India, and is not really accurate to historical maille.  There's really nothing we can do about that short of investing countless hours making it ourselves (no thanks, I'd go insane before completing it), or by spending way more money than I can afford to get maille made right.

That being said, allbeststuff, gdfb, icefalcon etc... it's virtually all the same to varying degrees.  What we can control on our end in terms of accuracy is the general type of maille we get, be it flat-ring wedge-riveted, or round-ring, pin rivets, or some permutation of the different options out there.  So, get as close as you can to what you want, and go in knowing that no matter where you buy your maille from it will require work when you get it.

You will need to tailor the arms, perhaps alter the torso tube, add triangle gores to the sides or front to tailor the waist etc.  These things are pretty much a given.  So if you go in knowing all that, and you're willing to do what we can on our end to make the best product out of what we have available to us, it really doesn't matter what you buy. 

The only caveat to that is, I would stay away from the butted stuff, aluminum stuff, and perhaps even the galvanized stuff (because removing that can be dangerous if you decide to one day). 

Mike W.:
Thanks Ian! You've confirmed what I've already been mulling over. I don't mind tailoring (though having only done it with butted, which is much more forgiving), I'll give it a shot. Guess I'll what until the next paycheck comes in on Friday and it'll be mine!!  ;D

Mike W.:
I want to save as much money as I can and thus I'm always looking for items that can be re-purposed for other kits. That being said, currently I'm working on a 11th century kit. Unless I'm mistaken, the maille was elbow and knee length with an integral coif. I also plan on having a 1st/2nd crusade kit, in which era I believe the maille was wrist length (with mittens) and knee length with an integral coif. I was thinking, instead of buying two separate maille garments, could I save some money by purchasing a long sleeved hauberk, severing the sleeves at the elbow, and setting aside the rest (with mittens), and reattaching it with a seam of butted maille when I want to switch to Crusades era? I know it's not historically accurate, but for someone who's on a budget and wants to get the most out of their money, to me its seems like a viable option.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page