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[Girlinhat]

This is a well crafted galvanized steel chain.  It is adorned with hanging rings of sweat and tears (and a little blood).

So yeah, I found out that chainmail is remarkably easy to make, if a bit tedious.  Namely, it requires no heat to "forge".  More of a weaving, really.  But dwarves don't weave metal.  They forge it.  I'm forging mail.  After some time figuring out how exactly to coil and lace, I made a fairly simple chain or band, which should probably be expanded slightly before declared "finished".  I'll just get to the pics.

Compared against a quarter, to show the weave.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The whole piece, not impressive, intended to make a necklace/collar right now, may change priorities.  It needs to be wider.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dangling over my ever-so-feminine wrist.  Ignore the bulging veins, they tend to pop out in the heat <.<

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Over my fingers, just as another show of how it looks.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is, of course, one "row" of mail.  It would need to be repeated a few times and woven together to be a real sheet.

So yeah, I made some progress   I bought a lot more wire to work with, 200 feet additional compared to my original 25, so I have a lot of wiggle room for working with now!  Although really, it's not that much.  Real mail enthusiast will buy it by the quarter or the half mile to make shirts with.  But the two hardware stores within convenient distance don't have that much of the stuff.

For anyone interested in the specifics, this is a 16 gauge galvanized steel wire roughly 5/8" across (I didn't measure ring size) using a 10-in-1 European weave, much thicker than the traditional 4-in-1 common mail.

I may (debatably) try to make and sell this once I get some more practice.  As jewelry/show (ie, not being stabbed at) there's a lot of different materials available, from brass to aluminum to bronze and even silver, and the weave thickness can vary widely, not to mention the size of the sheet/chain itself can be easily altered.  It's just that a full mail shirt would be enormous, especially using a weave as thick as shown above, and would probably be fairly annoying to piece together.  I'm daunted by the idea, yet I know that I'll end up doing it eventually.

Discuss.

[ed boy]

How long did that take you to do?

[Girlinhat]

I didn't time it specifically, but I think a bit over 3 hours, including the issues getting it to work right and a few breaks to check youtube.  Once I really figured how to do it, it went fairly quickly, but that's just in a chain pattern.  When you start to move wider, it gets a bit more tedious.

[ed boy]

I heard about doing this a while ago, but I didn't get round to giving it a go. How much do you have to invest to start doing it?

[Girlinhat]

1 pair bolt cutters (mini bolt cutters work wonderfully, the ones that fit in one hand).  I'm using a regular pair of cutters, two-handers, bracing one handle on the deck that I'm sitting on and push down on the other handle for better leverage.  We already had some laying about, but a quick google revealed mini bolt cutters from $5 to $50.

1 pair leather work gloves, again already had laying about, but a cheap $2-3 easy.  You just need to protect your finger from the wire as you coil it, and the bolt cutters sometime send shrapnel and I use my gloved hand to make sure nothing flies off.

2 pairs pliers, specifically 2 for twisting the rings.  Found some for $2 at a 5-and-Dime store that work great.  Use needle-nose if you're worried about scuff marks from the teeth of the pliers.

Lengths of pipe, got a 5' length of 1/2" PVC at home depot for like $2, cut it to ~1.5' for ease of use.  Metal pipe preferred, PVC cheaply available.

Electric drill, you might be able to get the hardware store to do this for you, you just need a hole in the pipe once and then you're ok.

Metal wire, I found 25 feet for I think $1.92 or such at Home Depot.  200 feet of the same stuff for about $6 I believe.  16 gauge galvanized steel, fairly cheap and common.  Craft store 24 gauge colored copper wire, 25 feet at like $6.  You compare.

Somewhere around $23, and the wire I'm using is pretty much dirt cheap, assuming you already have a power drill.  I won't go into the process of making it, there's enough youtube to gather all the info you need, but most of these don't mention the tiny cost of starting.  I just bought more wire, so I'm bumping against the $30 mark I believe.

[NewsMuffin]

I have all of that just lying around.
Yay chainmail.

[Heron TSG]

Hey, cool! My senior project this coming year will be to construct a European 4-in-1 hauberk. Should be loads of work fun!

[Dsarker]

Thank you, you have convinced me to try and learn how to make chainmail. How much does it weigh? Lightweight or relatively hefty?

[alway]

Thank you, you have convinced me to try and learn how to make chainmail. How much does it weigh? Lightweight or relatively hefty?

Think about how much a metal ring weighs. Then multiply that be the amount of rings in chainmail. Heavy.

[IronyOwl]

Neat.

[Boksi]

Neat stuff. Kind of resembles a fish fillet though, especially that last picture.

Best of luck to you on this and future projects!

[Girlinhat]

Deadweight, chainmail weighs quite a bit.  After all, it's basically a slab of metal once it's rolled up or folded over.  However, once worn, it has a tendency to distribute weight very well, especially since the proper way of wearing mail means that it sort of "clings" to your body and spreads weight.  It might be 15 pounds, but when worn that's not much.  Of course, that would be more historic materials.  Aluminum is extremely light, so if you used that it'd weight significantly less.  And it depends on the weave.  4 in 1 is very loose, 12 in 1 is so thick you can't see through it.  So, "It varies, but the weight isn't bad."

The chains do resemble scales quite a bit, especially the thicker weave, but once you get a whole sheet of the stuff, it's pretty glorious (not that I've gotten that far).  It's also extremely fiddly.  I can't stop tossing this chain between my hands, it feels so neat!  Forget stress balls, chainmail is pretty awesome!

I'll probably be able to post tomorrow/day after with pics of this expanded into a belt.  Once you see how it looks on me, you'll understand why I have to resort to making my own belt (I'm very thin).  Now that I've got the habit down, I should be able to add on rather quickly.

[Dsarker]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aluminium doesn't rust either, does it?

[Bauglir]

It forms a thin layer of oxide on the surface that prevents rust, yeah. Galvanized steel takes advantage of a thin zinc coating to accomplish much the same effect, although it tends to make the metal appear much duller rather than shiny [/this thread made me read wikipedia]

[sonerohi]

Hey, cool! My senior project this coming year will be to construct a European 4-in-1 hauberk. Should be loads of work fun!

Spare yourself. I ended up reneging on my project and just making a coif. It took an incredibly long amount of time too.
Girlinhat, nice work. Was this for funsies or a project, and was this your first time working?