[John Riley]

okay so I've never actually made any type of maille before but i've read just about every site on the subject and i finally went out and got 10 pounds of 16 guage wire and started the process of making my first hauberk. thus far i've done 2 rows of speed weaving and connected them the total width is just under 2 inches and the length is about 21 inches. The problem is I dont really know where this section will end up in the final project but i need to start planning it out and doing expansions...unfortunately i've only seen expansion guides on 4-1 weaves so i'm not sure exactly how to expand for sholders or contract for waist then expand for hips again. I don't have a ton of extra room to fit in extra rings since the knit is pretty tight any pictures or links or guides on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. contraction i think will be easy enough since i'm simply removing links and joining it together with the link gone.

I'm also figuring i'm going to have a very fun time with the armpit so any advice on the best way to do that would be great.

the various guides i've read mention various building patterns. one shows the front, back and sholders being seperate square pieces which are joined. another shows a trapazoid on top of a square for the front and back and trapazoids for sholder pieces (i'm not sure if they do a 45 degree or something on it or what) yet another says to weave it row by row another says to do 1 speed woven row then do colums so you can adjust the expansion and contraction.....needless to say there are a zillion ways to make a maille hauberk and none of the guides are specific to a 6-1 pattern.

thus far i've been making rings basicly as i need them by that i mean i wind a 16 inch coil, cut it, close the rings then weave with what i have. when i run out i go wind more. this seems to cut down on the monotony of any particular task but would i be better off just winding 1000 feet or so at once, then cut them all etc?

also about how many feet will i need for a 6-1 shirt? i think it will be about 30,000 links total but my math may be way off. Oh yeah 16 guage with a 5/16 mandrel not sure what that aspect ratio is but maybe that will help.

[Sam Barris]

Adapt, improvise and overcome! I wouldn't think that expansions in 6-in-1 would be any different then in 4-in-1. You're just putting rings through three above and three below instead of two above and two below. But the only shirt I ever made was 4-in-1. Were I to go the route of fantasy patterns, I think I'd have to go all the way and make a vest out of stainless steel in the dragonscale pattern. That's so off the wall historically that Clio herself weeps at the sight of it, but it looks really cool. Actually, I think I just found a post-deployment project. Somebody stop me. Please. As for how much steel, I lost track myself, but I think my shirt was somewhere around 3000 feet. I could be mistaken, though. And that's 14 guage with a 5/16" inside diameter. Your milage may vary. Just keep weaving, you'll get a feel for how fast you're going and how much you'll need. As for fancy tricks, you can figure most of them out for yourself. Just experiment and find what works.

[John Riley]

There is at least one historical reference to 6-1 butted maille being used.

[Sam Barris]