Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Thief^]

I've seen a chainmail bellydancer's top done in peacock shades of anodised aluminium, looked really good. But I've only made bracelets so far, nothing you'd classify as "clothing"...

I bought two pairs of (small) smooth jawed pliers to work my silver with, and I add rings one-by-one. At the scale I work I find it easier.

[silverskull39]

I have no excuse to wear a fancy metal dress...

You say that like you need an excuse... I'm a guy, and if I had a fancy metal dress I'd still wear it for the hell of it... maybe not in public, but still. Wait... I know what I must do. Full metal kilt, here I come!

[Karakzon]

I like your idea Girlinhat.
And as for the Bikini, just make one for halloween sometime and go out as a female swordsman complete with cloak if its a cold night or you want to shun perverted eyes. ide recomend a dark green hued one. Bright cloaks will get stains and look blotchy without regular cleaning and even black ones will.

and yeah, Bronze tends to get under-rated, but its as strong as iron -judging by old sword work, iron was just easyer to obtain- and the tarnishing can look amazing.
Ill probably come back to this thread in a year or two if i manage to get a good job and save some cash, im at uni now so.
definatly something ide happly pay to get done.

ide probably wear it on halloween, heavy metal concerts and special occasions were im going to a heavy metal bar during an event like the whitby goth weekend. That and if i ever get my house broken into, its nice to know ill have several pounds of solid metal to wack someone with and stop myself from getting stabbed xP

[Girlinhat]

Actually chainmaille is made to protect against slashes.  When getting stabbed, the blade tip tends to slide into a ring, and pop it open.  Butted rings (just pushed closed) are notoriously weak, especially aluminum, but a stainless steel welded ring would probably resist your average mugger.  After all, this is battlefield armor, and soldiers were being protected against pikes and spears.  A switchblade doesn't quite compare.  That, and old armor would have been European 4-1, a dragonscale weave is much thicker and would be much more difficult to break.  I'm not sure if a knife blade could really fit into it at all.

In common street usage, I'd probably trust bronze E6-1 to keep knives out, but of course I'd want to avoid it regardless because even with that, you're going to lose some blood.  It might help you lose less, but keeping all your blood is obviously preferred.

Also: I heard someone made a chainmaille bikini for a stripper friend, and the stripper lined the inside with a fur bikini top, turned inside-out so that the fur was against her chest.  It was apparently very popular.  I'd never wear one, but I may have to look into some form of clothing.  I'd like a tank top or something made from very loose weave, like a good net that would be airy and loose.

[Karakzon]

indeed, but your usual knife fighter uses slashing cuts when confronted. since it would only be on my arm its not going to be much protection except as an aggresive form of defence and to stop me losing the ability to use my hand/arm muscles from a blade cutting my tendons.
when jumped, then the knife point would be at my throat or back anyway, so its ability to stop a stab would be  a moot point.
ide only trust it to help me fight off a house burgler.

and nice, with a loose ring tanktop to let air in youde not be able to wear it with a furr lining unless you padded the shoulder parts to take the weight softly and left the rest to hang against your skin loose over what ever top you have on mind.
always want something between you and any metal weave of any substantial weight were it hangs. Of course depending on your chest size, this can vary on were the weight is distributed, but with that you could do some tricks concerning a wire frame reinforced top to make it more comfertable.

[forsaken1111]

Hm... a dense weave chainmaile bracer backed with stiff leather would be super useful in close quarters defense and easily concealable in a sleeve.

[Girlinhat]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This isn't a good example, but you get the idea.  "Ringmail" is usually made by sewing rings of metal onto a piece of fabric.  In this case, it's Oriental 4-1 draped over fabric, but if each ring were sewn on you'd have proper ringmail.  It's easier to make than chainmail, with the ease of sewing, but is generally more like studded leather than proper metal armor.

Still, if I had some hard leather sheets, a good hole punch, and some rivets, it wouldn't be impossible to inlay chainmail INTO leather, by punching convenient holes.  You'd sacrifice a bit of leather strength, but I feel that you'd gain a lot of metal strength with it.  Some belt straps would provide a secure closure, so it could be a solid sheet that's then wrapped around the wrist/arm.

My idea for a top/skirt, would most likely be something like this and then wear regular clothes under it.  Or make a whole dress like that and wear a solid black dress under it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also stumbled upon this while searching, and it looks fantastic, but I'm afraid it may actually jostle around a lot if allowed to move freely.  Everything looks fantastic when it's laid out straight, but how does it look in action?

[kisame12794]

If you want actual armor then you may want to look into scalemaille. It offers more stab defense and slash defense than chainmaille, with the downside of being more expensive, as you have to buy the scales. One hauberk style shirt for me is 5558 scales, which amounts to $126 Canadian before shipping and handling.

[silverskull39]

I really like the way scalemaille looks, so I'll probably get into it once I have more money to spend and once I have more tools/experience. I bet you could make some really cool hybrid creations too, like a scalemaille shirt with chain sleeves, or something. I'm not sure if they would mesh together all too well, but you could always just wear a chain shirt under a sleeveless scalemaille shirt. I'm probably gonna make myself a coif and work my way towards bigger pieces from there.

[Girlinhat]

Actually, from my bit of work at fake scalemail (using catfood can pop tabs) it would probably mesh pretty good with the Euro chainmail, even easier with Oriental because of how it's set up.  If anything, I'd like to see a chainmail shirt with a scalemail "bra" piece.  It would help accentuate the manly/generous chest, depending on gender.

And scales are remarkably easy to work once you figure out how it's done.  Then again, as far as strength goes, you're really getting the strength of the material.  With rings, it's almost more, because cheap aluminum can be done in small, tight rings to increase strength.  Scales are sheet though, you can't really bulk them up at all.  Then again, this is still civilian, and I wouldn't worry overly much about someone stabbing through aluminum scales.  They're still fairly strong, and if you're up against someone with a serious weapon then you're already in too deep.  Your average "nick them on the arm to scare them" won't work against scales.

[kisame12794]

They would go together but it may not look quite as good, plus you  will need  smallish weave to make it fit.

[CatalystParadox]

As I've said in the other thread, I'd be in a dress more than a tuxedo, and I'm unlikely to do that because I don't tend to look as good as others in a dress.  And then the thread got derailed, so we won't go there this time.

But I do need to learn extending and narrowing...  Bikini might not be terrible, though I'd never wear it.  Bikini top + Loincloth to wear over a regular bikini.  Again, not that I'd ever wear it   Who goes swimming anymore?  There's carp in the water, man, I'm not into that!

I vote bikini over tuxedo.  A Bikino!  Or Tuxini.

[OddTheTall]

The issue with mail on its own as a stab vest is that while even mild steel butted mail will turn some knife stabs, all that will do is drive the mail links into your skin.
Mail as armour needs to be worn over some padding - a reenactor friend of mine wearing a (butted) mailshirt and padding pushed me backwards by the sharp spear in the stomach of his mail.
On the other hand, the same spear, thrown at the same mailshirt punched though the mail and both layers of padding before being stopped on the back of the mailshirt. It also broke the stand.

I've done a few tests with my European 4-in-1 butted hauberk and knife stabs.
The first knife I tried bend (this is with both hands and my entire body weight behind it)
The second one is a much sturdier Frankish-style seax (looks like a Bowie knife)
At no point did the blade actually rupture the mail - there are a couple of stabs in the padding where the point stuck thought the center of the ring but none of the rings burst.
This was done with the hauberk lying on the floor.

Overall, I think the only way to guarantee injuring somebody though mail is massive blunt force (mace etc), a lucky stab with a spear or a dedicated mail-piercing weapon.

[forsaken1111]

I'd imagine something like a spiked mace or morning star would do well.

Or an ice pick.

[OddTheTall]

Mail excels at stopping cuts, it does a good job with stabs but blunt force (while slightly attenuated) just passes though.
That's the reason for the padding in fact - mail turns cuts and most stabs into a blunt-force attack. You don't slice a man in mail to ribbons - you beat him to death through his mailshirt.

A flanged mace would break bones and a spiked mace like a morning star would punch though the mail as would an ice pick. They are what I was referring to as the specialised mail-piercing weapons (bodkin arrows work too).