New Maille project

[Eledhwen]

If it is galvanized you can remove that coating by putting it into a bucket of water & vinegar for a day or so. Just do not do it in an enclosed space; zinc gas is very toxic.

Eledhwen

[Eric C]

Good point. You don't put it in a forge either. A couple years back, we lost a very good blacksmith that way. I never knew the man, but I knew his work. He knew better than to try to burn off the galvanization.

[Eledhwen]

You put it in the forge *after* you remove the galvanizing zinc. Heat it a dull red, quench it; case hardens it some, especially if you sprinkle in some charcoal dust. It will not make it as hard as carbon steel of course, but it will help reduce the amount of lost links due to bending, or seems to anyway.

If you quench it in oil, whichever sort, it will come out black..which helps protect it from rust.

I have...er, experimented...with a number of things.

All kidding aside, in no way shape or form heat or treat with an acid anything that has been galvinized *without* respiratory gear or seriously open air. That stuff will kill you and it will do it fast.

Sorry to hear about that smith. The smith over at Old Sturbridge Village, despite his experience, reached down and picked up a piece of black iron...right after telling everyone you never should...and burned hell out of his hand. I was right there. Slack tub was nearby. So was medical help.

Smithing is not some simple afternoon hobby folks, it is serious business and is dangerous...the big reason smiths were known to be methodical and rather patient.

I return the thread to the maile discussion.

Eledhwen

[Greg]

Just ordered two rolls for my riveted project...I liked the price ($6.11/336 feet), and this is the pre-annealed, carbon steel, non-galvanized stuff. No zinc fumes to worry about. This link is 16. ga, but they probably carry other sizes. Thought somebody here might benefit from the link at some point.

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/de ... 135&ucst=t

[Eric C]

Eledhwen: Yeah, no doubt! My son and I both learned about black heat the hard way. We both wore brands across the palms of our hands for a while.

Greg: I'll have to keep that in mind for my next project which will be more serious than this one as far as useability.

[Greg]

Eledhwen: Yeah, no doubt! My son and I both learned about black heat the hard way. We both wore brands across the palms of our hands for a while.

...and I have a permanent imprint of the zigzag pattern from a piece of black rebar on my left thumb.

Greg: I'll have to keep that in mind for my next project which will be more serious than this one as far as useability.

I'm gonna make a test patch to do a test-unto-destruction experiment on with that wire, using various implements such as blades and archery, before I turn around and make a full shirt. I'll post the results here for you.

[Eric C]

...and I have a permanent imprint of the zigzag pattern from a piece of black rebar on my left thumb.

Bah! Scars are just tattoos with better stories. Seriously, I bet that smarted.

[Cleddyf]

Hmm, this is a good tip. A small patch of this wire got something on it and I used a cleaner to get it off. So it's already rusted.

The Hobbit had better like it! I'll hang him on the hook in the corner by his waistcoat and make him miss second breakfast if he complains!

oh no!! not second breakfasts!!!
isn't that against the geneva convention?

[Eric C]

Probably, anything that works usually is.

[Eric C]

Brief update and a question. I've used a spool and a half of the wire that I chose for the project. I have one sleeve large enough to fit around my arm. It's just a few links shorter than the other sleeve, so I am adding enough links to even them out.

As for the "finished" sleeve, I temporarily put it together to see how it felt and it bunched up in my armpit. Could it need to be a bit larger to stop this? What can I do to fix it or is this normal? I've heard many times that maille is pretty comfortable to wear. This is NOT comfortable, so there has to be a fix that I don't know about.

[Peter Remling]

Two things:

First I heard this was for your son, if so then your arms will be thicker than his so it shouldn't bunch up on him. The extra material will hang pulling the bunched up links down and allowing a comfortaqble fit.

Second, if I'm wrong and this is for you, than take a small triangle of links out from both the under side of the sleeve piece and the torso piece where it would be attaching to the underside of the sleeve.

Try it out, if if still bunches up , expand the triangle by removing a little more. Try again!

[Eric C]

Originally this project was for me. But the more I thought about it, it is better suited to my son since it is butted and he will only outgrow it when he hits his teen growth spirts anyway. He doesn't know it is his yet. I use him as a model for it now and then, but I will have to try and see how the sleeve works with him.

Mine will hopefully be riveted maille as will his second one.

[Willrett]

http://www.bytheswordinc.com/c-471-chai ... rings.aspx

[Eric C]

Nice find Willrett! I'll probably do something like that when it comes time to make mine. Honestly I'm not too keen on cutting out all those little rivets.

[Greg]

Oh, it's not all that bad! I set up a jig with a pair of side cutters/dikes, and it works great! I have a notch cut in my side cutters to cut overlapping rings, as per the instructables guide on flat riveted maille, and further back in the blade of the cutters, I had a friend weld on a small plate that is spaced 1/8" from the blade, so I can just feed the wire through the cutters until it stops, clip it off, feed more in, etc. It goes pretty quickly, and you get a rhythm going.