Hi there,

Please help a frustrated chap! :\
A while ago I found a place (in the UK I think) that was offering rectangular section riveted maille at fairly decent prices....
You guessed it, I have forgotten the site :cry:
Does anyone know of a supplier? I need chunks to go under the harness that should be arriving later in the year and it needs to be just like the real deal.
Thanks in advance.
Adam

I can't vouch for the prices, but square section mail is advertised for sale within the UK at http://www.lrpstore.com/dept.asp?dept%5Fname=Chainmail

This isn't in the UK (at least I don't think Alabama is that far East), but the riveted maille I have seen by this fellow is pretty decent stuff, well made and sturdy, without being heavy and clunky. A friend uses his for live-steel play, and is totally happy with it.

http://www.forth-armoury.com/

Gordon Frye

I've heard nothing but good things here about Fourth Armoury's work .

Hi Adam,

Here is a link to a UK maker of rivetted chain mail http://www.armourclass.com/Data/Pages/Chainmail-Main.htm.
The cross-section is certainly not rectangular, but I think the quality and the price are quite acceptable.

Alexi

Thanks for all your helpful hints n links, much appreciated. :D
The folks I was after turned up on another discussion site, so I managed to track them down again, they are here http://www.getdressedforbattle.co.uk/chainmail.htm

the links look like the real McCoy, and I don't want to let a new harness down with cheesy looking maille voiders, take a looksee

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Hello Adam,
That picture certainly is impressive. I have also looked at Forth Armoury but my only concern lies in that the pictures on his site show maile with very visible "holes" in the structure that seem a bit too big. Who has seen Forth's stuff in person. How does it patenate? I have a lot of questions re: quality maile.

I wanted to also let people know about this fellow, Erik Schmid, who seems to be making museum-grade maille. His website has a great deal of information on it. I cannot personally vouch for his product, but others I have spoken to seem to think very highly of his wares:


http://www.idbsu.edu/courses/hy309/docs/monta...ne.05.html


He also sponsors a group called The Maille Research Society, wherein one may read a good number of articles pertaining to the use and construction of maille. Interesting stuff, and well worth the time to take a look at it.

Per Forth Armoury maille, a friend has a nice shirt of it, and he is quite happy with the product. It's (as I recall) the fully rivetted style, as opposed to the alternating row style. I can't say how well it patinates, as he wears it over a leather arming doublet, and as far as I can tell hasn't exposed it to much sweat. But he's the picky sort, and is pleased, so that speaks volumes in it's favor.

Cheers,

Gordon

Regarding Forth's products, the 3/8" ID garments do have a somewhat "open" look. If that concerns you, Forth is coming out with hauberks of 5/16" ID rings which have a much more dense look. Check out the coif made of these rings at the top of the garments page.

Brian M

Bill,
Yes the rest of the site is chok full of dreadful looking and sounding gear (sorry chaps, at least it's good n cheap) but the maille looks quite good (at least, some of it), hopefully I'll be getting a sample and seeing some rings in detail. I spent plenty of time at the Royal Armouries a few months back looking at maille to get a feel for what is and what is not authentic. The square section maille is not like any of the Indian stuff, that looks (as I have seen it described) rather like coke can ring pulls meshed together!

Interesting that the pic is nicked! It doesn't go with the two other harness pictures on that page, it looks much nicer, now we know why...?!

They look absolutely perfect for 15C...how do they compare with Forth Armoury?

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Looks pretty good. In fact, it looks exactly like the weave of my Forth Armory coif.

So is that where they are getting it from? They said that they were buying it in.....

I'll have to compare prices. Thanks for the info :)

It might not be the same, I don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me to find out if they imported from the same people.

The second picture is of a sample sent out by GDFB. I have not seen any pics of Forth Armouries, thats why I was interested to hear your comments Bill. We can compare prices when we see them. It does seem that they are from the same supplier.

Samples sent to UK re-enactors from GDFB have been met with universal praise.

At least good maille is becoming available!

Hey Adam,
Here's a couple close ups of my coif. One's from the flat side, one's from the rivet side.

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They do seem to be identical, that is why I wanted clarification. So Stephen from GRFB told me that the prices of the flattened ring half sleeve shirts are 400GBP (~$705). I asked about 8mm ID links, so I assume that this price refers to 8mm ID links.
Forth-Armoury does not offer haubergons made of 8mm ID links, but does offer the links by themselves ($105 per 5000 links). I do not think that it is worth to buy at this price, make it yourself and sell for $700 (~300 net profit per shirt). However they might be buying from the same place. The haubergons at Forth-Armoury are made of larger 10mm ID links and are more expensive: regular size, all riveted goes for $995. The riveting on the forth-armoury is nice as it uses the wedge shaped rivets, and it looks like the sample from GRFB uses the same riveting. Peculiar!!!

I have to say though, if I am offered a haubergon of 8mm flattened links (with the wedge riveting) for ~$700, I AM BUYING IT.

Alexi