[Jared Smith]

Craig,
There is an electronic document that you should be able to find; "Ring Weave, A metallographical analysis of ring mail material at Oldsakasmlingen in Oslo", by Vegard Vike. He did X-ray and etching examination of rings from Viking era (Gjermundbu find) and later through Battle of Visby. He concluded that both riveted and solid rings were common in many of the fragments examined through several centuries, including some bronze ring mail fragment from Visby. The corroded condition did not leave a lot of evidence for discussing peening of the rivet heads and such, but it is a pretty thorough paper that suggests there were plenty of solid rings found in fragments over a period of several centuries beginning with the earlier period of mail. The wire diameter and formed ring was generally not perfect either, suggesting some hand forming (not mass produced drawn wire) of the wire itself.

If you can't find it let me know and PM me. I will forward the copy I have saved.

[M. Eversberg II]

[Philip C. Ryan]

Here is a link to mail tailoring that I learned from. Very simple diagrams, and it explains various aspects of tailoring, and give a drawing of gussets found in a byrnie in the Wallace Collection.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/trevor.barker/fa....htm#sect3

[Ed Toton]

[Felix R.]

And again, you can see, that the distribution of those "idle" links is very important on the final appearance of the maille. Have it arranged, you will find visible gores, have it placed all over the circumference, as for the coif, you will have it nearly invisible. Also for an aventail, some people prefer the insertion of gores after weaving a "cross", what results in an octagonal and "boxy" finish. Or place them all over the piece and have an nice round finish.

In my aventail I did the latter. And by reducing links at the face opening, I now have a standing collar, that stayes in place without the need of stitching to the padding.

[M. Eversberg II]

[Simon Van Der Spoel]

Hello again gentlemen, thanks for the replies, very informative, so to put it bluntly, where would a newcomer to the re-enactment scene start? The 1237 Spanish Effigy of Don Bernaldo is my inspiration, so I have a period to try and re-create.
So far I have made:

hand stitched shirta of homespun 100% cotton
hand stitched braes of homespun 100% cotton
Mustard coloured individual hose made of light canvas
dark blue light canvas for a tunic to be made
leather belt cut from cow hide and hand made brass buckles, riveted and peened myself
kite shield (modern construction: 3 pieces of ply soaked and warped then glued together, covered in canvas, bound there by leather rim soaked in water and riveted with copper rivets and peened myself, unfortunately the shape didn't hold as much as I wanted so actual shield isn't curved as much as I wanted, doh!)
hand stitched padded arming cap stuffed with 100% cotton rags, rim lined with doeskin, needs more doeskin to create the ties to keep it on my head. (in the contour line style)
partially complete padded gambeson (in contour line style)
Manning Imperial sword 478
http://www.manningimperial.com/item.php?item_...mp;c_id=52
soft leather dark blue scabbard from manning imperial in simple X style being made at the moment
Riveted Nasal Spangenhelm

So there you have it, thats my re-enactment kit, with months of hand stitching, I'll post photos soon, i just don't have much armour/mail/greaves (like the effigy) as yet, So I'll be working on that, but I didn't want to spend a large chunk on inaccurate mail...

So anymore period relevant suggestions? I didn't realise wedge riveted mail only started in Germany around 1237...thanks for the heads up

[Chris Gilman]

I look forward to all this tailored mail!
I have an artical on a 14th C shirt aquired by the Tower, in the 1950's entitled "A hebergeon of Westwale" By William Reid, F.S.A. scot. and E. Martin Burgess, F.S.A.
It is a copy of an artical from the "Antiquaries Journal- London 40 1960 "
It has some wonderful notes on a 14th C shirt in excellent condition with crotch flap.

[Jonathan Blair]

[Jeff A. Arbogast]

Medieval Reproductions out of Canada makes a wedge-riveted hauberk and a coif to match. They start at $1349.00 Canadian for the hauberk only and go up from there based on chest size. Ouch!

[M. Eversberg II]

But are they tailored with gores?

M.

[Matthew D G]

Speaking of tailoring, I just finished making a long sleeved crusader era shirt of mail. All the mail I've made has been by guess work and I just tried the gores and diamonds (before reading through this topic) and it made things fit a lot better. The sleeves are the hardest thing to make, when I first made them they were to tight, i could only move my arms to chest level and only at about 30 degrees from straight lol. After adding some diamonds to the elbows and a gore to the back of the shirt it fit soooo much better.

This thread has helped alot because I've been looking for patterns for chainmail and places to buy riveted rings

Next up for the shirt an integral coif and gauntlets

[M. Eversberg II]

Pics or it didn't happen

M.

[Matthew D G]

If I had a good camera I would post some

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

I don't know if this helps, but if you go here: http://www.manningimperial.com/articles.php and follow the relevant file, It may help. All I know is that I'm trying it out haha, poor me, only enough money for fence wire and time to butt it all.

[Elling Polden]

Simon;
The rarity and availability of such tings as cotton and leather would depend on where you where. In the mediteranian area, cotton WAS a availabe, so for an impression of a spanish knight it would not be automatically of.

Also, keep in mind that knights and nobles where often very wealthy. Sure, a Destrier would cost the same as a modern day sports car, but there are plenty of people that own more than one sports car, and wear designer suits that cost more than most peoples entire wardrobe.
As long as the kit is consistent with what you are trying to portray, historical price isn't a problem.
If you are reenacting a knight, you can use hide for triming all you like. Hose made of hide are especially "pimp", and expensive. (but your persona is wealthy.)

At least in norther europe, outer cloting was primarily wool, so you should probably get yourself a woolen tunic and hose, in a light fabric similar to the one used to make suits. Not all wool is thick and heavy!
Cotton outer garments might be in use in the mediteranean area, but research it to be sure. As far as I remeber, crusaders used cotton, at least.
There are some significant differences between Spain and the rest of Europe when it comes to clothing and style, due to their close contact with the moors.

[Nathan Gilleland]

This topic seems relevant to what I'm looking for, so I thought I would revive it with a related question:

Where would you find and purchase solid rings at a decent price? For a cheap alternative, might a particular size washer work? Links to suppliers would be much appreciated!

[Dan Howard]

http://www.seastrom-mfg.com/

[Jonathan Blair]

[Wynn Green]