Patrick,

As for the chest square, I am firmly in the camp of those who believe it to be a ventail. There has been much work done on this and that is the conclusion that is most often arrived at. Thanks for the kind words as well.

Jonathon,

I would go with an octangonal opening. Just angle the corners of the neck opening a bit. One thing to always bearin mind is that mail had seams. So many people today trying to make mail attempt to do so without using any seams. They believe that a seamless garment is preferred. Hardly the case when you look at original pieces. Also, remember to leave enough slack so that you can turn your head.

Jared,

An accurate link size for the time period you are describing would be around 8mm ID with a thickness of around 1.5mm. The weave would be alternating row using riveted and whole/punched links. The riveted links would be closed with a round rivet. This si the information you need when making a weight assessment as various garment sizes will weigh differently depending on the amount of links used.