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Initiate
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Saturday, September 09, 2006 3:38 PM
Posts: 6,
Visits: 11
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| (Repost from another forum: I hope i'll reach more people that way...) Hi everybody!
A couple of days ago i started toying around with cainmail. Basically i wanted to create a short-sleeved shirt and i was looking for rings that are not too expensive and readily available.
My first attempt looks like this:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7771/maillesampleaw6.jpg
These are stainless, 8mm inner diameter, 2mm square section spring washers from Screwfix. The rings are really tough and the weave is very dense. Basically it's just what i want.
The problem is just that it dawned on me that the finished mailshirt would weigh around 20kg, which came as a bit of a shock.
My old mailshirt is made from 2mm round section rings, 10mm inner diameter. It weighs about 12kg which is acceptable for me while the shirt itself is slightly too big for me. It's a european 4 in 1, like the new weave.
Ideally i'd like to make the new shirt less heavy, so i'm looking for a source for small square section or flat rings that are less than 2mm.
I'd also like to know how much your mailshirts weigh, if they're a european weave, so that i can compare my work to something.
Helpful comments would be much appreciated!
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Apprentice
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Monday, June 30, 2008 9:38 AM
Posts: 20,
Visits: 96
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| 8mm square rings do make for a fairly hefty shirt but it is worth it. Mine comes in at 10Kg but you barely feel it when you're wearing it and it feels much nicer when you take it off. It would appear I am not very big so that probably saved me loads of weight. My best advice is that if you're going to make your own shirt do it properly. I opted for a picture in my chain which on hindsight made it the most complicated slow process I could dream of, taking 18 months in total, but now it is finished it is something I can be proud of forever. It also reminds me that I cant put any weight on now, forever! http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/Charlieginger/CIMG0736.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/Charlieginger/CIMG0735.jpg The picture was drawn on paint first. I drew lots of grey rings and then used the fill colour option to decide which ring should be which colour. If you want any help or want a bitmap of rings to colour in yourself I'll help in whatever way I can. Martin
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Apprentice
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 5:29 AM
Posts: 16,
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The Ring Lord ( http://www.theringlord.com/  sells square section stainless rings in 16 ga. (1.6 mm) wire, in a range of different sizes. They also sell punched stainless rings (like washers, but in maille sizes) in two sizes. These are thinner, but because they're solid they'll still be strong, while being lighter than other rings.You could consider using the square section rings as open rings, and the punched rings as closed rings for speedweaving. It would save on weight, and time spent weaving.
----------------------------- How do they rise up.
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Heroic Knight
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 12:52 PM
Posts: 113,
Visits: 611
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| Why not remove a strip from your old shirt (front and back) to make it fit?
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Initiate
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Saturday, September 09, 2006 3:38 PM
Posts: 6,
Visits: 11
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| The ringlord is a good source. =) I just can't afford those horrific fees for packaging and posting... Oh, by the way: the reason why i'm making a new shirt is not because the old one doesn't fit but because i want to. =) I like making maille.
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