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[MarcAFK]

Maybe there's no real need to do hard science on this, theres lots of that sort of thing all over the place, i think i saw some on youtube, but i would definately be interested in seeing how well simple butted mail can defend against various things.
Also, seeing a bay12er thwacking chainmail with an axe? Very dorfy.
Can you get your hands on a mining pick, some head armour (chain/plate/old galvy bucket/whatever) a high speed camera, and a couple of pumpkins? :O

[Darvi]

Even better if you find a dummy to put the mail on. Even more better if the dummy is equipped with these shock patches and liberal amounts of movie real blood.

[Siquo]

... onehand-it, and hold a babyshield in the other hand.

But in more seriousness, document in picture and/or video the entire process. This is awesome

[Girlinhat]

Not 100% sure I can get video, but I am certain I can get plenty of pictures.

Again, though, no machines involved.  This is simple dwarven science here.  I've got an axe, I've got some chainmail, and I'm not allowed to fight the goblins so I'm going for the next best thing.

[Yoink]

Not 100% sure I can get video, but I am certain I can get plenty of pictures.

Again, though, no machines involved.  This is simple dwarven science here.  I've got an axe, I've got some chainmail, and I'm not allowed to fight the goblins so I'm going for the next best thing.

Do you have any younger siblings? You could convince them to play 'dressup'...

More seriously, this should be interesting! It could be fun to test with arrows, too? I know I always wondered, during some archery classes in high school; just how dangerous those arrows were. Although they were just plastic ones, so they most likely would just bounce off chain.

[Girlinhat]

I have been wanting to learn archery, but sadly don't have the funds for that at all...  It'd be fun, but it's been well acknowledged that chainmail isn't even designed to handle arrows.  If anything, arrows are designed specifically to pierce chainmail, so that's not a fair test at all.  Besides, you can look up dozens of youtube videos of chainmail getting shot.  Usually, chainmail stretched taunt over a hard surface being shot with bodkin/broadhead arrows at 10 feet from a compound bow...

[Thief^]

I saw somewhere that chainmail turns a hit from a sword into a hit from a baseball bat. It doesn't chop you in half any more, but all the energy is still there. Which is why it was always worn over padding...

It'll probably fail much more easily if it's put against a hard surface.

[Girlinhat]

That's the exact idea, really.  Plate armor will turn you into a tin can, any strike will shake the whole suit.  Chainmail basically takes a sword and removes the edge, turning it into a piece of rebar.  The chainmail turns your cutting damage into blunt damage, and the leather softens the blunt damage.

[Telgin]

I have been wanting to learn archery, but sadly don't have the funds for that at all...  It'd be fun, but it's been well acknowledged that chainmail isn't even designed to handle arrows.  If anything, arrows are designed specifically to pierce chainmail, so that's not a fair test at all.  Besides, you can look up dozens of youtube videos of chainmail getting shot.  Usually, chainmail stretched taunt over a hard surface being shot with bodkin/broadhead arrows at 10 feet from a compound bow...

I managed to get into archery for about $200.  Bought some wooden longbow off the internet for about $100, a couple dozen arrows, a quiver, a bracer and finger tabs for the other $100.  That's not so bad, but it's hardly historically accurate, and those are practice tips and not anything like a war arrow.

Of course, I wouldn't say that I've actually learned archery from it.  I just mostly looked up how you're supposed to pull the string and then started shooting at bits of styrofoam I braced around in my back yard.  I'm still an absolutely awful shot after even about a year of practicing off and on.

Anyway, I'm pretty interested in this thread too.  I started making some chain mail some time ago but never made very much because I got distracted by trying and failing to learn to make plate armor.

I suspect that butted mail won't stand up too well to being whacked with the axe, at least on a plyable surface, but I'm quite curious to see how it works out regardless.  A 6-in-1 weave might actually repel arrows surprisingly well, I'd be interested in seeing that.  And above all else, if you do end up making some titanium chain mail, I'd love to see if it stands up to the abuse better than steel.  I've read in a number of places that pure titanium wasn't a particularly good material for this, but I'm not sure why.  Apparenty it's a royal pain to work with, if nothing else.

[Girlinhat]

Pure titanium?  No.  Iron is pretty strong, but pure iron is brittle and weak.  Pure anything is weak.  Everything worth using is an alloy, and titanium is no different.  It's just that "pure titanium" isn't sold, so there's no reason to specify "titanium alloy" all the time.  It's sorta like what they call "Brazil Nuts" in Brazil...

It's very well understood that titanium will stand up better than steel.  I'd have to get new pliers though, my current ones have issues with just stainless, I can't imagine the stress of titanium!  I'd need a lot more leveraging tools, shorter teeth and longer grip, and the good ones sell $60 a set.

[Telgin]

Ok, that makes more sense.  I'm curious just what sort of alloy it is, and how that affects its properties.  Pure titanium is sort of elastic by my understanding, which makes working with it extremely difficult.  All the more reason to experiment with it compared to steel and see how it stacks up.

And I hope you've got better pliers than I do.  I'm a very weak person, I'll admit, but I had tremendous difficulty clipping steel rings with hand pliers.  I don't recall the thickness, but I think it was 16 guage steel... so 12 or 14 is going to be a nightmare.  Titanium probably even more so.

[Aklyon]

Doesn't titanium work harden as well?

[Girlinhat]

Pliers or cutters?  My pliers are fairly solid, but basic design for general rings.  Works great with copper, aluminum, bronze, and wide steel.  18g 1/4" steel is fine, but these 18g 1/8" are tough to bend, I'm having serious issues working the metal.  I'm very certain that titanium would demand a new set of pliers.

As for cutters, yes, you need very strong cutters for titanium and steel, and most are rated for metal thickness and hardness, with warnings that cutting harder will break the tools.

[Deadmeat1471]

As a History student, this all sounds awesome.

But surely a whole shirt of chainmail in any material is going to be fairly costly? If not i'd still like to know how much the materials costed (out of curiosity) so when we raise a bay12 army we already have a supplier for hammers and armor.

*Girlinhat is taken by a fey mood: moves into the jewelry workshop.

[Reudh]

I reckon Bay 12 could make a passable fort.