Dwarves have been consistently portrayed as master craftsmen/craftsdwarves since the Viking age, so I think it would be a shame to do otherwise. Because of this, dwarven mail should be of higher quality than that of others, even that of the elves. I say this because, while elves simply have a very long time to perfect their craft, dwarves, though shorter lived, are naturally prone to being the greatest craftsmen / craftsdwarves. Their portrayal in this way stems from the fact that, in Tolkien, the dwarves were created by the Vala (read “god”) of crafts, Aulë, so they, like him, were masters of craft.
I really like the multi-step mail manufacturing that people have mentioned, in fact I was planning on modding something similar myself. I propose that the steps would be this:
1. Turn metal ore into bars / ingots [smelter]
2. Draw out wire [mail-makeing workshop of some sort?] AND 2a. form metal tube / make metal plate [metalsmith’s workshop]
3. Cut wire into open links to be riveted [mail workshop?] AND 3a. cut metal tube into solid links / punch solid links out of plate [mail workshop?]
4. Assemble shirt [mail workshop?] (longest step in the process)
This is, to the best of my knowledge, representative of the medieval method for making mail. The “form metal tube / make metal plate” and “cut metal tube / punch plate” are there because I think there is evidence for both methods being used to make the solid links, though one might not belong in this time period.
So, upsides and downsides to a multi-step mail process:
Upsides-
More realistic process
Process take the proper amount of labor and time
Downsides-
TONS of micromanagement
So, it comes down to whether we all want more realistic mail making or easy mail making. I personally am all for a complex process because making it a bit of a headache is even MORE realistic. (I would write up a proposal for a similar process with plate armour, but I feel as though I've said enough already.)
Also, if anybody wants some informative reading on mail, then read this article. It’s both written by an expert and well cited.
http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_mail.html