The Armour Archive

I have found an old reference on the web giving info on making riveted maille out of circlips (retainer rings)which are spring steel. Has anyone else heard of this?

Yep, I have, works quite well. My only problem is I couldnt find a cheap enough source for the clips. The rings don't like being pulled into the overlap possition but once there I simply cut a rivit out of wire inserted it and sqeezed it shut with some rather large linesman pliers.

The finished product looks supprizingly good, and its definetly very strong and lite.

Best of luck

Janos

I would imagine you would want to heat the circlips to red heat and allow them to air-cool to draw all the temper out of them (make them not springs anymore). This way they should not resist compression into an overlap condition so much, nor be so eager to spring open.

I have this mental image of a hauberk made of these things still made of spring tempered steel. Take one good whack and the wearer explodes like a claymore mine. Medieval "reactive" armour (tank folks will get it).

Steve

I've seen a camaille on a helm made from those rings. I saw it last at least six or seven years so far. And the guy fights a lot.

I remember a series of SCA cartoons about armourers trying to make armor out of "Reactive armor". Was ROFL at on showing a huge scorch mark around an anvil and an equally scorched and disgruntled smith holding a smoking wreck of a hammer.

Actually, some German tilting armour was made to fragment out towards the opposition. Very real and very interesting. Just thought I would mention it.

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Flatfork Armouries
cavalier_h@angelfire.com

I would think the exploding rings would work to your advantage. If they explode towards you, they aren't going to fly far to hit you (maybe an inch) but anyone around you is going to get sprayed with a barrage of clips, like an uzi

TAKE THAT BARGRILL!

saw some at a ren fair once, It looked prety good, biggest problem seemed to be the largeness of the spot where you plave the rivit, gave the maille a somewhat chunky look, and it did not seem to move as well.

With a simple jig you can make circlip maille that doesn't need to be annealed. Either a block with an angled hole in (not simple but it will last for years, ask Duke Albert about his) that you push the circlips through to overlap them. Or a set of pliers with enough cut out to over stress the circlip closed. So that the two holes overlap correctly. It's that simple. There's no need to anneal them.

The real problem is finding a cheap sorce. As it stands the circlips run about $8 for 100. A pack of 60 finishing nails cost about $.80.

Baron Arland the Bastard

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve -SoFC-:
<B>I have this mental image of a hauberk made of these things still made of spring tempered steel. Take one good whack and the wearer explodes like a claymore mine. Medieval "reactive" armour (tank folks will get it).

Steve</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



I'd pay money to see that! It'd be great for medieval marines--fall overboard? No sweat! Hit the eject button, wait for your armor to dissolve, and swim back to your ship!

It also reminds me of a line out of one of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books where one character points out that he can be pretty dangerous in a pinch, and the other character sez, "Yeah, you go to pieces so fast, people get hit by the shrapnel."

Just to stay on topic, what do you use to make rivets that tiny? I think it'd be neat to make a maille shirt built from rows of retainer rings alternated with rows of solid rings.

Thorfinn 42

"Just to stay on topic, what do you use to make rivets that tiny?"

Like Arland said, you can use finishing nails (brads).

Steve