maille tailoring?

[Sir Douglas]

I'm stitiching it back together with butted links so I can correct any mistakes I make.  Then Steven and I will go back and replaced the butted links with riveted ones later.

Hey, that's not a bad idea. I'll have to remember that if I ever delve into riveted mail. I know my mail is a-historical on so many levels, but for the time being I'm loath to give it up just yet.

[Sir James A]

I'm stitiching it back together with butted links so I can correct any mistakes I make.  Then Steven and I will go back and replaced the butted links with riveted ones later.

Hey, that's not a bad idea. I'll have to remember that if I ever delve into riveted mail. I know my mail is a-historical on so many levels, but for the time being I'm loath to give it up just yet.

I stitched mine back together with zip ties on every 2nd/3rd ring to test fit

[scott2978]

Would people say that, perhaps, welded mail is a closer analogue of historical mail than indian pin-riveted?

I would say the closest you could get with the widely available Indian stuff is their wedge riveted maille.  Some of them actually seem to be drifting the rivet hole now instead of just punching out a hole.  It also depends on your time period, and location...   But there's a lot of problems with the modern mass produced stuff that it can never achieve a close historical approximation without completely starting over.  The design needs to be changed at the most fundamental level to reflect historical flattened rings.  The rivets need to be set differently.  And the cuts of the shirts are completely wrong, they need to be tailored in a totally different way.  There are many enthusiasts in Europe and the US who make proper maille, but it's incredibly expensive because of the labor required.

Ian could you perhaps list one or more of those enthusiasts that make proper maille if you think they'd be interested in a job?

[Ian]

Ian could you perhaps list one or more of those enthusiasts that make proper maille if you think they'd be interested in a job?

The only one in the US that immediately comes to mind is Erik D. Schmid.  Whether or not he takes commissions anymore I couldn't tell you.  I know Mac has done maille tailoring in the past, I'm not sure if he made his own rings or anything like Erik does, nor do I know if he touches maille anymore.  Erik has become a bit of pariah in some circles, so I'm not sure how that has affected his maille making.  I know that's not very helpful, but it is largely why most everyone resorts to tailoring the Indian stuff now.

You can see one of the European maillers working his craft here at 21:45 in the documentary The Reenactors (English subtitles available via the CC button at the bottom)

https://youtu.be/HuvJxDuv5EU?t=21m45s

[scott2978]

I've seen this before, and it always makes me jealous...

But this time I just noticed something I never saw before: at 25:25 a woman talking on a cellphone.