Hints and tips for all things maille and armor related.
e-mail me at K17Qdna@aol.com to place
your tips up here along with a credit to yourself, and an e-mail address and
link if desired.
Often times it is difficult when you lose the top of
the peice that you are working with, and this is very
annoying. To solve this I took a peice of wood, about
2x2, and i drove nails in every 3/4 inch for 3/8 inch
rings, i dont know how far apart you want it for
smaller rings, when you put the nails in you have to
make sure that they dont go all the way through to the
back. When you have all the nails in, you can put the
top of the chainmail peice on those nails, and you
will never lose your top again. ive found that
finishing nails dont work as well as you think that
they migh, because the ring slip off to easyly, you
are better off useing the regular nail with big heads.
-Gordon B
I saw a suggestion for using a guide on your page to make pre opened rings;
another way is to
modify the rig to take 2 wires at the same time, ie drill a second hole at
the start. Then wind both
wires giving you two open coils from which to make rings with. Don't try to
seperate them, just cut
them as they are.
-Brett
I thought I'd share a few things that I picked up through the years--
One person suggested to clean chainmail, place it in a sack w/ sand. We've
found that if you get a good storage container [rubbermaid, etc], drop in
your chainmail and sand, then leave it in your trunk for a few days
[longer if it's not pothole season], it takes next to no effort.
It goes without saying to _never_ use 'nipping' type cutters to make links
-- they leave crushed ends which will not line up cleanly :
====><====
And you'll get two links to line up just right, and pop out. I've found
that aviation shears work great for a clean cut. They give a diagonal
cut, which closes up _very_ tightly:
====//====
If you intentionally offset the joint just slightly, you don't snag
clothing/skin nearly as often. You can find them to cut 18ga [sheets,
it'll cut 14ga springs, but just melts through 16ga and smaller]] at most
'home centers' [Lowes, Home Depot, etc]. If you need heavier shears, you
can find 'em for 16ga sheets, but they're naturally more expensive, and
you have to look around at more specialty-type stores.
I can cut somewhere near 75-100 14ga links per minute, 125-150 16ga links
per minute. Also, the jaws of the shears open the links slightly, so
they're really easy to link up and twist closed, rather than crushing
closed, so you get very uniform, round links.
And to shop for wire in the Midatlantic/South regions, I find Southern
States has good prices -- as low as $35 for a 1/2 mi of 14ga electric
fence wire. [For those not familiar with Southern States, it's a hardware
store with a farming/gardening bias. Chances are unless you're in
downtown New York City, there's something similar near you]
-Joe Hourcle
I have discovered that a pair of good wire clippers and a pair of
Electricians pliers work great for the construction of chain maile. Use the
Wire clippers to cut, and the Electricians pliers have four edges that you
can use. There's the wire strippers that you can use to bring the link ends
parallel with each other, then there's a flat part just above the wire
strippers, that you can use to bring the parallel ends together. then use
the teeth just above the flat part to make the ends flush. If you push the
ends to far past each other, you can always use the tip of the Electricians
pliers in addition to the wire cutters to pull the link ends back into place
or together. In addition, most Electricians pliers come with plastic
insulated handle covers. This definitely saves your hands form a lot of
pain.
Also for materials of wire, IFA (at least in the midwest- pacific areas) sells
1/4 and 1/2 mile spools of 14 ga. Galvanized steel for about $30 for the 1/4
mile spool and $45 for the 1/2 mile spool. Hopefully this will give other
people insight (At least in most areas) some additional insight in the safe,
fun, and prestigeous and skill of Chain Maile Armorer Apprentice. Thanks.
-Nathan Shumway
-Jola
-Member The Watchmen of Ered Duath
Have you tried placing the unstretched spring in a vise and cutting with a
hack saw ( fine blade, 18 - 24 teeth an inch )? Takes a bit of practice but
it gives a nice flat finish without the expense of power tools.
-sparticas in Aus
Here are a few I picked up from personal experience:
At your local hardware store pick up a flat piece of welding stock or metal
strap, preferably 1/8" X 1 1/2" X 4 feet or so.
bend it into a flat U shape, then drill holes in either side in the sizes
for your winding rod. The flat bottom allows you to take this rig just about
anywhere and attatch it with a few c-clamps.
Create a guide for winding wire pre-opened. A picture of one can be found
at
http://www.chainmaille.prohosting.com/codewar/images/wireguide-1.jpg
this allows a very uniform coil and uniform rings.
Just a few for ya
Aaron Como
To help reduce the gap when making butted mail, use a cut-off wheel (Dremel
or equivalent) to cut links instead of pliers or snips. Cut-offs leave
a nice flat cut, and results in a flatter joint and a smaller gap.
To clean maille, place it in a large sack or container filled with sand,
and either roll it back and forth or agitate it in some other way to
abrade rust and dirt from the finish. Only use this method with plain iron
and steel or stainless steel, since using it on galvanized steel will remove
the zinc plating.
