The Armour Archive

I thought it best to ask the riveted maille experts before I begin down the wrong track. I receintly acquired a LOT of 17 gauge galv. wire. I want to attempt a sizeable project. What i.d. do you feel is appropriate for 17 ga.? I am planning on keeping them round in circumfrence with flat (rectangular) rivets with the whole ring being flattend and not just the ends.

I have nearly finished a 1/4 id. 14 ga. butted-maille hauberk and after staring for weeks at that close weave I cant believe riveted maille is strong enough with 18 ga. and 3/8 i.d... Oh. well, suggestions?

"I have nearly finished a 1/4 id. 14 ga. butted-maille hauberk and after staring for weeks at that close weave I cant believe riveted maille is strong enough with 18 ga. and 3/8 i.d... Oh. well, suggestions?"

I am currently making riveted maille with 3/8" ID and 18GA wire. It is plenty strong. Believe me, all your notions of strength based on butted maille go out the window with riveted. I can grasp a 3/8" ID, 18GA riveted ring in two pairs of pliers, on opposite sides of the ring (but not grasping the rivet area), and twist the ring well over 180 degrees before the rivet will fail. It is quite strong. And as you can see from my sword test (http://www.crosswinds.net/~mailleman/ph ... damage.htm) it seems to stand up fairly well to combat abuse. We were able to punch a dagger into a piece laid out on the ground, and the dagger penetrated about 4 inches into the dirt. It actually sheared wire on its way through, cutting both riveted and solid ring alike.

17GA is only slightly thicker than the 18GA I am using, and still quite a period-appropriate thickness. As for ring size, just about anything goes, but my feel is that rings were generally not much bigger than 1/2". Of course the smaller you can make the rings (and still be able to weave them) the more effective the defense.

I do feel that though certainly period, my 3/8" ID rings make for a bit of an "open" weave at 18GA. I knew this up front, but chose the larger ring size so as to keep the number of rings (and thus assembly time) reasonable. I think next time I'll try something a bit smaller, say 5/16.

Steve

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