My ceramics teacher, in an effort to get me to do work more consistently, has offered to allow me to work on chainmail in class. All the wire I need can come from the school supply.
What I will need to know is exactly how the process works, and all kinds of other basic information. In theory, this will give me hundreds of hours by the end of the school year in which to do some chainmail work.
Where should I start?
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Lots of info out there, but Maille Artisans and Armor Archive both have substantial resources for getting started.
I'll try to get my old guides posted on the site after I get back to the ranch.
Mihr's Best Friend
I can teach you how to make
I can teach you how to make chainmaile, if you have pliers and the rings.
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No. I won't be taking raw materials out of school, I don't think. I just need to know what I will need to know to get started.
you'll need 16 gauge wire or
you'll need 16 gauge wire or thicker in some type of steel or perhaps aluminum. if you go for anything other than galvanized or stainless steel you'll have rusting. get a mandrel which is basically just a metal rod with a hole in one end where you can thread the wire through the mandrel much like a thread in a needle. Next you will need a variable speed drill and if you like your hands a glove. thread the wire through the hole in the mandrel and begin "drilling" I believe reverse will yield right handed rings and forward will give you left handed rings (if you make a few of each you'll understand why they're labeled that way). Make several springs of wire, for a full shirt of mail you will probably need over 100 feet of springs that you will then cut up into rings. the amount of rings will of course depend on your wire gauge and your inside diameter do a google search on aspect ratio maille or something along those lines. weaving is simple and there are guides on most weaves available on the interweb so just find one...
http://amtwiki.net/amtwiki/index.php/Tiwaz
aluminum is illegal to use as
aluminum is illegal to use as armor
i'm an archer and heir apparent
No it is not illegal to use
No, it is not illegal to use as armor, let the grownups do the talking Grellen. Aluminum is just a non-periodic material that gets up to -2 points for being inauthentic.
gasp
Marcil is right. It will typically get -1 for inauthentic materials, and you can get at most -2 for inauthentic materials, such as if I made plastic plate armor and actually was allowed to use it on the field.
It could also get
It could also get subtractions for inauthentic appearance I think...you can pretty much make any armor you see any rating you want due to the bonus's for construction and/or the subtractions for construction. No rulebook on me but I'm pretty sure that works out right...
oh also aluminum is legal, will not rust but does oxidize or something leaving a dark residue on things it touches.
http://amtwiki.net/amtwiki/index.php/Tiwaz
Cha! I'm getting better at
Cha! I'm getting better at knowing the rules!