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[Thief^]

I've been meaning to try CIR, it's another pattern with completely independent rows that you can make with 50% closed rings, so I could make it with 50% stretchy rubber rings and have a stretchy one.

I don't think that would go very well - past making it, that is. The point of CIR is that it's rather firm. What would you be using it for?

A bracelet. I'm not the only one to have had the idea: http://www.etsy.com/listing/96571318/ruby-red-and-black-stretchy-cir-bracelet
(it seems to work quite well, although that one doesn't actually have any captives)

[Lectorog]

That's a bit different than I imagined. Yeah, you should do that. There are some good color combinations that could work. Without the captive rings, though. I don't think it would work with them. But it's probably worth trying.

[Thief^]

Box chain on the left (looks better stretched) and CIR on the right. With captives (it doesn't hold its shape very well without).

[Thief^]

So, I'm setting up on Etsy. Any tips?

[Matz05]

I don't know much about chainmail, but that dragonscale stuff looks incredibly strong--force diffusing. Actually, if I'm not terribly mistaken, a similar layering of plates (ceramic disks attached to Kevlar instead of wire rings looped through each other) is used to make that cool new neo-scale-mail Dragonskin or whatever bulletproof vest that is supposed to be so much better.

It seems to work for alligators, right? I hear they used to be considered at least partially bulletproof (in the musket days)!

I kind of wonder if a (looks pretty stiff, is it called a plate or a sheet?) of dragonscale weave with the rings arc-welded shut (man, that would take a while) wouldn't be more puncture resistant than the normal ballistic armour, although pretty heavy. Definitely more flexible than a metal plate though.

...hmm. Thinkgeek sells bulletproof clipboards, I wonder what it would take to cut them into scales... Knight's armour updated to the modern age!

[Aklyon]

You could just buy scales for scalemail if you wanted to do that, the only thing you'd need to consider is how to have the 'bulletproof' part work. Chainmail is more a stabbing protect than a bullet protect.

[Blargityblarg]

I don't know much about chainmail, but that dragonscale stuff looks incredibly strong--force diffusing.

Dragonscale is actually only as strong as the weaker of the two Euro 4-in-1 weaves it's made of, according to somewhere on The Ring Lord.

[Matz05]

Hmm. I didn't really mean "bulletproof" in the sense of modern armour, but something partially effective both against blades (beats cloth-based bulletproofing) and projectiles (takes out small portions of traditional chainmail without transfering force to other links) without being solid (a steel plate works against both, but isn't very wearable!)

I guess that stuff isn't THAT strong, but I have a feeling it might provide a little more blunt-force protection than some other chainmails due to the way it would turn a push into a levering of the rings against each other. You punch it in and it tries to move all the other rings nearby with it.

[forsaken1111]

Hmm. I didn't really mean "bulletproof" in the sense of modern armour, but something partially effective both against blades (beats cloth-based bulletproofing) and projectiles (takes out small portions of traditional chainmail without transfering force to other links) without being solid (a steel plate works against both, but isn't very wearable!)

I guess that stuff isn't THAT strong, but I have a feeling it might provide a little more blunt-force protection than some other chainmails due to the way it would turn a push into a levering of the rings against each other. You punch it in and it tries to move all the other rings nearby with it.

But you WANT it to transfer force to the links around it. That is how armor works, by spreading the energy of a blow over as wide an area as possible.

[Lectorog]

What you're describing is basically scalemail. Lots of tiny plates. Scalemail is the best armor.
Dragonscale isn't very flexible. A plate mail suit would be more wearable than one made of the dragonscale like I made. Probably lighter, too, depending on the plates' thickness.

[Girlinhat]

Dragonscale is thick.  It's Euro 4-1 woven inside another sheet of Euro 4-1, and not really much else.  It looks very nice, and the sheer weight will provide protection, but if I had my choice of armor I'd go for some 6-1 or 8-2 (Kingsmail, or "double 4-1") instead.

Chainmail is made to protect against slashes.  Namely swords and sometimes axes, though many axes are just small-contact blunt weapons so take that as you will.  It's hard to cut through chainmail because you end up gliding your blade along many rings, and the armor will deform slightly and "cup around" the blade to provide a larger contact area and thus a smaller PSI-force.  However, chainmail is NOT made to protect against piercing weapons.  When a speartip hits chainmail, it hits one or two rings, and at any respectable force it will simply pop the rings open and slice right through them.  Once a few rings are destroyed like that, the piece loses its structure and the spear doesn't have to shove through as many because the sheet will give way more easily.  This is even worse for bullets, being such a small projectile, they only need to get through one right.

So imagine that you've got one ring set in a vice, and a sharpshooter with a handgun shoots that ring.  You can imagine it's not going to do anything to really stop the bullet.  Chainmail is terrible protection from bullets.

Scalemail is made by taking leaf-shaped pieces of metal sheet and layering them one over another.  Many times you get the whole thing four sheets thick, as the overlap densely, so you'd not only have to penetrate one scale, but you'd need to get through 3-4 of them, depending on how large they are and how your body is flexing to shift the weave a little.  Some type of solid titanium scales would probably be pretty effective at stopping bullets, but titanium is extremely expensive stuff, and ultimately I'm going to fall back on my old excuse.  "I'm just getting into this, but others have spent their whole lives researching this.  I'm going to trust their experience."  My logic here would be that ceramics are much cheaper, not to mention incredibly lighter and easier to replace.  Not to mention the function.  Metal armor serves to be brutally thick.  If it's heavy, then things just can't get through it.  Ceramics, however, rely on more reactions, they're intended to break and to diffuse pressure as they fracture.  It's a very active defense, compared to "lol imma brick wall."

[Aklyon]

Ceramics are also less likely to burn your hands with painfulness in summer if you leave your scalemail outside.

[Girlinhat]

This is why you see crusader nights wearing long robes with the cross on the front.  It's to keep the sun from turning their armor into a personal oven.

[kisame12794]

Hey, I walked some 12400 meters is chainmail. In my experience, as long as there is a breeze, chainmail acts like a radiator.

[Lectorog]

Chainmail keeps cool - it has a large surface area, not all of which is exposed to the light, and many gaps. Uncovered plate mail is like walking around wearing an oven. Scalemail is almost as bad, I'd imagine.