Chain mail/Armor
From Wikiversity
Warning:Chain mail armor are not bullet proof! We do not recommend chain mail armor for anything other then decoration or disguise.
For starter, you can use galvanised steel for the ring for armor. They are strong, but not too hard and have some resistance to corrosion. Also, they are cheap. Ring with an ID of 0.25' and a gauge of 16 swg or awg is good. The standart weave is the european 4-1 for armor and is a basic weave for the european familly of weave.
The armor is separated in different part
Contents |
[edit] Closing rings
Their is four type of closing of rings: butted, riveted, welded and punched. Only butted, riveted, and punched closing are historically accurate. Butted ring are ring where each end are bring together but the only thing that hold them together are the strenght of the ring. Riveted ring are ring who have their end overlapping each other and a 'pin' is put through both ends in the overlapping part. They take more time to do, but are strongher then butted ring. Welded ring are ring where both ends are welded together. The strength of those rings is the strenght of the weld. Punched ring are ring that are punched in a metal sheet. They are not round but flat. Historically the punched rings were used with riveted rings alternating by row.
For closing butted rings, you must have leverage on the two end of the ring to properly close it. A properly closed ring have both ends aligned and they are touching each others. Their is two technique for closing rings: by using 2 pliers or by using 1 pliers and a special finger ring.
- If you use two pliers, you should take each end of the rings with one pliers and bring them closer by moving both pliers. Moving both pliers minimise the deformation of the ring and lower the stress on wrists. As the stress is lower on the wrist this allow for longer period of mailling.
- If the material of the ring is soft, you can replace one pliers by a special ring that you put in one finger. This ring have an opening on its side that allow you to put one end of the ring in it. So you can use it to move the end of the ring. I personaly think this can be dangerous if the material is hard, as it put pression on the finger in a direction that is not supposed to support for long time. Also, closing soft ring individualy by this technique seem to work, but it is not always possible to close rings while assembling them. But it can be used to pre-close batch of rings.
For butted rings, if the ends of the rings have cuts like \\ or || (not ><) you can give them while closed extra strenght when well closed. This is caused by the extra resistance to deformation gived by the friction of the two ends if moved. The extra strenght exist if the deformation occur in some direction.
[edit] Pliers
Their is many type of pliers. Pliers with spring are preferable as you will open/close them very often. Otherway we can caracterise the pliers by their end, the lenght of the handle, the grip of the handle and their weight. To test many different combinaison cheaply before buing good pliers, you can go to the 1$ shop and buy different type of pliers. This will allow you to test the different caracteristic of the pliers and allow you to wisely chose better pliers you can easily use. The end of the handle is important, as a too short handle will put pressure inside the hand probably always on the same spot. This can hurt will mailling rings if they are hard or if mailling for long time. The grip of the pliers can cause harm to the hand if of poor quality (like in 1$ shop). It must be confortable and don't hurt if much pression is used with them. Also having pliers too heavy will make it hard for mailling for long period.
[edit] Rings patterns
Their is many different way of assembling the rings to form sheet of chain mail. Here is some.
| Full name | Short name | links |
| European 4 in 1 | Euro 4-1 | [4] |
| European 6-1 | Euro 6-1 | [6] |
