The Armour Archive

Up until recently, my love of armour has been mainly plate, that is, until I found myself a viking group.

I love to make my own armour, problem is, at the grand age of 17, I cant drive, cant buy that many tools, and cant make money too quickly either. (bear in mind I'm living in England)

Well up until now, I've not been too successful in making armour, I made lamellar at one point, as well as a VERY crude greathelm, but I've had a bit more success in maille. So far, I've managed to make a pair of 14gague maille gauntlets, but that's it.

I guess where I'm going with this is, where would you suggest to get wire and tools cheaply, over the internet, or somewhere near Hull? I've had a look around for patterns as well, but if anyone has any they dont mind sharing, I'd be grateful.

*cough* cheap sheet-steel would be good too! *cough*


Edit: I should also mention that I'm not going for sport armour, I like to be as historical as possible, iron and steel are great, I could possibly stretch to stainless steel and spring. I probably wouldn't have enough for aluminium or titanium anyway

rivited or butted?
Thats going to make a huge difference in a lot of answers

Are you in Hull or just nearby?

Butted for the time being, I'm nowhere near good enough, nor do I have the time for riveted

I'm near Hull, about half an hour away, closer to Driffield, why do you ask?

While I remember, have a look at this and tell me what you think for a first attempt
[img]http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd231/qwertypolk/maillegauntlet003.jpg[/img]

I'm in bradford and have about 20-30 metres of galvanised wire i no longer need. Getting it to you might be a problem though as i don't drive

Galvanised is obviously not accurate but it keeps the rust at bay.

I do use galvanised, the piccie I just posted was galvanised, I actually made the whole lot from stuff I got at B&Q

So yeah, that wire would be good, but transport could be a problem, my parents arent exactly extatic about re-enacting to say the least, so theres no chance of me getting there, unless I walk any suggestions? and I guess we should talk prices first

you might want to cross post to theringlord.org/forum a few people on that board are in the UK and maybe able to help.

I'll start posting on their forums later today probably, see what info I can grab from them, thanks for the suggestion

Welcome and well come to the Archive, quertypolk. May your stay with us be long and profit you much, and likewise for M.A.I.L. -- Mailleartisans, that is. I'll see you there too, I'm sure.

Getting galvy wire from hardware stores in little 50- and 100-meter packets will bust your budget. In buying new wire, call around for fence suppliers or lumberyards, whoever in the UK deals in wire sold in bulk to people who use it in quantity, like in building fences. M.A.I.L. will be particularly able to help you there, as we have some few correspondents in the UK.

You can learn a lot about how to do riveted on the 'Net, and that uses wire that can be even cheaper than galvy if bought in quantity: black annealed rebar tie wire. It's too soft for butted and it rusts, but it's just right for getting started in working riveted links. Something for later, no doubt.

Your countryman Trevor Barker has a whole page on building good, historic, livable mailshirts. Bookmark this guy or feel very silly for a very long time.

Thanks Konstantin, though to be honest, I've been here for the best part of a year, just only signed up recently

I'll be sure to give maille artisans a look over later, though at the moment, I've used up all my wire, so I guess that has to wait for a bit, if I get too excited about all the lovly patterns I could make, I might explode

I plan to make riveted as soon as possible, but at the moment, college work beckons, so I dont have a lot of time for learning the new skill, not the tools at the moment. I plan to make a pair of chausses as soon as I can though, and I really dont want to be making those butted. 'specially 'cause my hauberk is riveted, and it'd look silly

I actually learned to weave maille from Trevor Barker's instructions, I was looking to join the British Plate Society at one point, and found a link to that exact page there

Thanks for all the help posted so far guys, I'll be sure to use it all as best I can