New maille chausses

[Sir Ulrich]

Sooo I ordered some maille chausses from Battlemerchant in Germany as they were on sale, last pair they had as well and they're not even on the website anymore. Wedge riveted solid link combo. They came rather fast, to my surprise. The rings are a smaller diameter than my hauberk, at 8MM and they are WELL riveted. I didnt notice ANY rings with missing rivets.
Heres an upclose shot of the rings:


Heres one compaired to my old riveted chausses

As you can see they're bigger but thats ok cause my old ones were kinda tight on me due to my thickly padded chausses I wore under them. I am beginning to wonder if knights even wore padding on their legs for their maille. Joe Metz did not at DoK. Seems a bit excessive at this point though I will continue to do it anyway as I dont feel like tailoring them to fit my legs, besides the lace in the back ones dont need tailoring as much as the full leg ones. In either case I am done with dome riveted maille and am thinking of selling my old ones (which I bought for 350 I believe), which I only wore once so they're practically brand new.

[Sir James A]

Wearing mail without padding would be borderline insanity (unless they can't afford it...). Mail provides the best protection when it's padded, or the force of the blows goes directly into you; and that can break rings, which can dig into your flesh, and if the wound got infected, you have a world of other problems.

I like that mail. Looks very well riveted. After getting some wedge riveted rings of my own, they set so much easier than the stainless pin rivets. If I hadn't already cut mine up and started tailoring I would probably swap to wedge riveted too.

Congrats on the new chausses!

[Sir Wolf]

did you ever figure out which way was easier to lace up? which was top and which was bottom?

[Sir Ulrich]

Nope never figured that out, I only wore my other ones ONE time because I cannot put them on by myself due to the laces being in the back and my clueless father doesnt know how to help me at all. Lace in the back chausses may require less tailoring but they're harder to get on. I wish I could find tips on how to get them on.
Thing I like about wedge riveted malle is its flat inside so it goes on smoother and it doesnt prick me as the rivets are much smoother. Now to sell all my old stuff and get MOST of my money back for the swap.

[Sir Wolf]

try this. go ahead and lace them up like a tennis shoe with a long lace and tie a knot at the end of each end of the lace so it will not go back thru the rings. it may take a really long lace your you may have to tie it in sections.  now you should be able to put it on yourself, tie it to your belt and the manually tighten them behind your leg without them flopping all over. then you can tuck in the extra part of the laces in.

now periodly lacing is done in a spiral not an X like a tennis shoe. but it harder to do buy yourself esp behind the leg.

[Sir Ulrich]

Yeah I did the spiral and it was HARD to do. When it comes to feet I am totally clueless with how to do that, gave me the most trouble too, they kept coming undone and stuff and it was a PAIN. I been considering getting some buckle and a thick lace and make some buckles for the feet to strap it so it never goes undone.

[Sir Robert]

Just to add my two cents to this:

I think the issue with this is simular to plate, you need arming points on your underpadding. I will first give you that I am not a chain maile expert in any way here, but I know that in locations where chain mail was subject to movement it was over bound or draw laced to the arm or leg. This works fine with arms but not as well with legs unless its actually secured to the padding below. Now in plate we place the arming point on the hip which limits motion and ride (oh and yeah is way more comfortable) now with chain thats not quite as easy as it would drape so maybe what I would try is stiff padded chausse or "pants" to the knee, or leather with arming points or lace holes every 2" at least in quarter to the leg.

I am not sure I you will get the idea from that but I think that would make it the most confortable and wearable. Most wearing full chain slept in it (like Cowboys slept in their Chaps) as unlacing and unbinding was a major undertaking.

[Sir James A]

For lacing on the feet, the easiest way *seems* to be to have a few rows that go across under the foot. With "lugged" soles, this is easiest since the lace stays mostly off the ground (and what I do with my sabatons). The biggest thing to getting the chausses to sit properly over the feet is that it needs to be trimmed so it won't hit the ground when being worn. Put the chausses on, get them in the right position, and ask your dad to draw a sharpie line all the way around both feet, about one ring height up from the ground. Then trim them to fit, and they *should* lace and sit better; I did the same thing with my chausses when testing the lacing, but need some assistance in getting mine marked to trim down.

I think your dad will be able to help as long as you tell him what to do, or have him read it here. I talked with him a bit at Days of Knights, armor is not his thing but the little bit that I tried to explain with lacing to the C-Belt he seemed to understand. Marking the rings to cut should be pretty easy, although it will be a little time consuming (15 min maybe?).

[Sir Ulrich]

Lacing wise I am just going to get some new boots or shoes with lugged soles because my old chausses caused me so much grief at DoK due to the sole causing them to always come undone. So much grief that I actually stopped wearing my armor due to it and switched to a foot soldier kit. I still think lugged soles would help them stay on me, Though I could always punch holes in my shoes and lace them through them. Guess thats the issue with laced chausses that dont cover the whole leg. Though the upside is they dont need much tailoring other than the feet.

[Sir William]

Ulrich, if you're interested in getting rid of the other ones, I'd be interested in taking them off of your hands.  Let me know.

[Sir Ulrich]

I already sold them though thats the only issue. Seems my stuff goes fast when I put it up for sale.

[Sir William]

Hey, when its wanted, its wanted, right?  Good deal.