Or you could be historically correct, and rivet the rings closed.

starting on my riveted maille tongs at some point next week.

I recall reading about a ring of that size on a knife forge welded with a special pair of tongs. I'll look for the post.

Nakedanvil posted about halfway down
http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f14/karambit-14818/

Found this one in a street market in Seoul. I like some of the detail, a little chisel work, nice scroll end, look at the split handle. Probably agricultural. Yes, the ring is forge welded! Saw a guy welding small rings like that in Korea. He held it with one tong, got a welding heat and reached in with a special little tong and just squeezed it to make the weld.

These are hi-res, so you should be able to zoom in.

but the pic is broken right now.

Would this concept work on armor instead of hauling the work out of the fire and letting it get all cold as it is welded? I don't think there were pics of the tongs though.

Phil

Most everything has been said on chain mail, Kate makes Chain Mail jewelry for fun and has sold some too, she knows about 6 or 7 different ways to make the links, she's been at it about 3 years. I have been repairing a leather and chain mail jerkin this winter hope to have it done this summer.

hi,
i have dicovered recently cold forming aluminium " armour" and would like to broaden my horizons to chainmaille
can anyone provide a tutorial/ information on how to make simple chainmaille, or post a link to a blueprint of some sort?
thank you very much in advance
will

http://users.frii.com/dnorris/maillearmor.html

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/7120675/saints_row_the_third_violent_office_space/?source=playlist

,It looks VERY time consuming Good luck!!!

http://theringlord.org/introtomailling/index.htm

This is a commercial website, and they sell kits of cut rings. Their "book" looks useful, but I haven't read through it fully.

Phil

This site is the place to go for all maillers. They have the largest database of weaves and tutorials in one spot. I personally started out with maille and have expanded my boundaries into forging.
http://www.mailleartisans.org/

Once upon a time I made a 35 Lb vest out of it and I can tell you it is tedious and your hands will cramp, but it looks cool once you are done.
Get a wooden dowel and wrap the wire on it. a Lathe is handy, but even a cordless drill can work if the wire is small enough gauge. use a cutoff wheel and zip down the top side of the coil once wrapped. Dont use wire snips because you will get a sharp edge. you need the ends of the wire to be flat so they butt against each other.
Of course some out there go to extremes, for reenactment this works, but I wouldn't go using it in an actual fight since the rings are not fused shut.

In London, at the Tower museum I saw much maille, acres of it! One shirt, had double rivets in each link, It looked like the rings were 3/8" I.D. That impressed me big time!

http://cgmaille.com/tutorials.shtml
This is another great site for tutorials, it was created by a senior member of mailleartisans.

And I wouldn't recommend a wooden dowel because with extended use, it will get smaller, I have six steel dowels in varying sizes, and with those I have made more maille than my family could wear.

A maille shirt would have came in handy when I worked in the city, as I was attacked or threatened with attack by the locals on the average of twice a year.

I made a maille shirt back in 1981 (finish date), 1/4 " ID. May I commend to your attention the "iforge iron" of armour making: (though it predates IFI by a goodly number of years...)

www.armourarchive.org/

Actually the only use I have ever found for a dremel cut off wheel is cutting rings from a coil,it cuts square and thin. You will want a good pair of needle nose pliers, and a handled screw driver cut off square, with a slot cut in the end. and LOTS of patience.

O&R, I used a broken blade from an electric epee to hold the coil while cutting with a dremel. It fit my 1/4" coils well and had a trough where the wire went so the cutting disk didn't hit the epee. This setup allowed me to cut a number of links before pulling them off and re-seating the coil.

thank you very much all of you for posting all the links etc i will put it into practice. Will

i started making chainmail about a month and a half ago and i have to say that youtube helped me alot. there are lots o people willing to post how to videos and tyntian goes into the finner points such as tapering in and out. adding and subtracting rings. creating 45 degree angles. and more than just standard 4 in 1 if your more adventurous like me. good luck and lots of patience.

sorry its http://www.youtube.com/user/tynytian#p/u/7/aff-SIZ9PbU

thank you for the link and for everyone who has posted many thanks Will

I made a chainmail shirt 1/2 wire rings 14gaudge smooth wire and 1/2 1/4" lockwashers when twisted closed they work as flattened mail the thinner wire rings used enery other space allow them enough room to be fastened together, very very little gaps very strong, too heavy but it looks cool, and is faster to make

I've read this book and liked it.

Just 4$ for the E book version