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[Bauglir]

As of the last post, this thread has 15 posts to live.

[kisame12794]

Sorry I got carried away.

[Aklyon]

As of the last post, this thread has 15 posts to live.

Why?

A well made Katana is made of over 600 layers of folded steel. The edge is hardened and the spine is soft with the middle or hamon being a combination of both. A poor sword a katana is not when made properly.

It is not the best.

[Vattic]

I don't think I'd ever have the patience for making a mail anything but I've been enjoying this topic so far and hope it doesn't turn into a huge argument.

For what it's worth katanas were good for their location and for their time but there isn't anything that justifies their status in popular culture. A guy I work with is convinced they can cut anything besides diamonds, he's in his late forties. So I see what Girlinhat is saying.

Ninja'd sort of.

[Girlinhat]

Ignoring the katana argument, point still remains that chainmail has a mystic value, the idea of "whoever made this must be amazing" which isn't far from accurate.  I got some 3/4" rings from coiling around an old PVC pipe, managed to bend the galvy rings with my fingers and make some mail pretty fast and poor.  Got some 1/8" copper rings that are complete hell to work with under any condition.  Silly me ordered thinner aluminum 3/32" rings too, like a thousand of them...  Time to make some amazing bracelets!

NINJA: Emphasis on "ignoring the katana argument" because that will quickly spiral down.

[CatalystParadox]

... managed to bend the galvy rings with my fingers ...

Strong hands!  When I'm in the habit I can bend any of my rings by hand but it... tends to hurt.  Acceptable with aluminum and copper, but the steel takes a toll.

You'll be pleased to have the pliers from TRL

[Girlinhat]

Nah, this is 16g galvy at 1" ID.  So easy to bend it's laughable.  Easy enough for E4-1 but I wouldn't try E8-1 with them, that's getting a bit tight for space.  Also, depending on my fingernail length, I can use one plier and one finger to bend different rings, but mainly just for tiny adjustments, not for real working.

[CatalystParadox]

Oh, 1 inch ID?  That's... well I like to use thick aluminum rings at that size for demonstrating weaves.  I see your point.

If you're doing bracelets, you might want to try out Fool's Dilemma, aka Byzantine - Easy once you grok the 'trick' to it, and looks very nice. I'm guessing your new rings are probably a good AR for it.  20g on the copper and aluminum, right?

[Girlinhat]

I've ordered 20g 3/32" aluminum for thin byz bracelets and earrings.  I've also ordered 18g 1/4" aluminum and bronze for necklaces or bracelets in something like half-persian or GSG.  I saw an adorable bracelet in aluminum and bronze GSG and I want to try something similar.  I'll probably go with something thicker though, I can't seem to be content with thin weaves.  But I like the GSG for its slanted look.  Thinking now, I should have gotten a bag of rubber rings, and/or some solid steels.  I saw one bracelet that was anodized aluminum and rubber rings, made so that there was no clasp and it would stretch over the hand.  Apparently, the guy would make a sheet 3 yards long at a time, and then cut them down to size for a customer at a show or con.

Any fun ideas for bronze and bright aluminum?  Interesting weaves or stylings?  I already have one idea, but it's a surprise :3

[CatalystParadox]

Hm, well here's a bracelet I made in bright aluminum using a similar AR if not similar size (I think this was 3/16ths ID rather than your 3/32nds, but it was also with thicker wire, so you might still be able to do it). http://www.mailleartisans.org/gallery/gallerydisplay.php?key=3225

The weave is called Tiffany - its a minor variant of Elfweave.  I made it with an extra row along each side as per this tutorial.  Later, I changed it slightly such that along one side, the front-center rings were all replaced with copper, making a nice band down the center.  I'll try to get a picture of what it looks like now, apparently I never did.

You could also try patterning, if that's your inclination.  I don't know if your two colors of rings are similar enough in size to allow that, though.

[Girlinhat]

My bronze and BA rings are identical size, as the whole point of that was to pattern them.  I also like the look of that bracelet, looks suitably complex.  I may look into elfweave, I've got a LOT of spare galvy sitting about.  I was also tempted to try dragonweave, or whatever it's called, since I have different rod sizes now.  Both of those (dragon and elf) are on the more expensive side of weaves because they're a bit more complex or use different sized rings.  Most tend to stick with E4-1 it seems, but I love tackling the complex weaves.  Only issue is that the dragon and elf both look rather heavy, if I'm using galvy.  Obviously not an issue with BA though.

Also, I want to make a metal scarf.  Comments?

[Dsarker]

Don't wear it in winter.

[Aklyon]

Don't wear it in winter.

Or summer.

[Girlinhat]

Actually, yes in summer.  Chainmail works as a fantastic radiator, so much so that people are actively discouraged from wearing it below freezing because it poses a health risk.  Metal in general does a good job of transferring heat - in this case from the body to the rings - and the design of chainmail offers a lot of contoured surface area to dissipate the heat.  Since I live in the deep south (dirty south, even) this is relevant to my interests.  We had a heat index of 110F this week.

Do note, that summer would be the main fighting months for old-world soldiers.  A sheet of chainmail with a draping over it (think of the Crusaders) would go a long way to keep the soldier cool and keep the metal from turning hot in the sun.

[CatalystParadox]

Apparently I have not been listening well - that's like the third thing I've mentioned that you apparently already talked about.  My apologies.  The scarf sounds like fun.  I'd use a fairly loose AR for something like that, both for the sake of time and for appearance and 'function'. 

Here's the bracelet I was referring to.  Crap pics, but hey.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You could use some slightly larger rings (maybe 5/16ths 16g galvy?) to make a byzantine-web handflower or the like.  Basically you substitute a larger ring as a connector and branch off two units of byzantine from one whenever you want to expand.  I've been meaning to do something of that ilk for a while.

Dragonscale is cool but a bit of a pain, mostly for requiring two different ring sizes, but partly because its just such a goddamn TIGHT weave.  I've made a patch of it for the experience but I haven't come up with anything I actually want to use it for just yet.  Granted, it can be made looser than I did it, but I tend to err to the side of minimum AR.

In other news, I think I need to invent Dwarf-maille.

... Your facts about maille dissipating heat are fascinating, make perfect sense, and have inspired me to attack the hobby with renewed interest.