Project: Chain-Mail Gauntlets

One of the most basic items of armor is gloves, so lets go over some instructions on how to make yourself a pair. Be careful when working with the pliers, they can slip when your crimping the links together and smash fingers up pretty badly. Always wear gloves while you work, and work at a table or desk when you can to support your work. Grip each ring that you are bending firmly between your sets of pliers before applying pressure.

What you will Need:

2 needle-nose pliers

2,000 chain-mailing rings

2 pairs of leather gloves

Eye protection

Step 1

Grip on either side of the slit in a ring with your pliers, and bend it open vertically to about the thickness of a quarter. Do this with about one-fourth of your rings. While you are at it, check to make sure the rest of your rings are set into smooth circles, leaving no raised edges to catch on skin.

Step 2

Slip four of your closed rings onto the open one, and bend the ends back so they meet securely. You now have a butterfly shape, with the "wings" being the four new rings lying in one direction, and the "body" being the central ring and lying in the other direction.

Step 3

Lay out your butterfly shape on the table in front of you with the four closed rings leaning away from you. Chain-mail interlocks, so its impossible to lay flat. It's important to keep the weave regular, one row leaning away from you, the next row leaning toward you.

Step 4

Thread one of your open rings through two of the fresh closed ones from your supplies. Thread the open ring through the two closed ones on the right side of your butterfly before twisting the open ring closed. Continue this process until the strip of rings is long enough to wrap around the base of your glove and meet at the other side.

Step 5

Make strips like the one you just finished, moving up the back of the hand. Line them up and attach them to the first strip by adding rings to the rows that started the project twisted open. Your rows should alternate, one heading away and the other heading toward you.

Step 6

You should end up with about three to four inches of finished mail before you reach the base of your thumb. Just make sure that you cover all of the glove. Once you reach the thumb, continue adding rows, but don't join the strips together on the side where the thumb is. You will make the thumb separately and add it to the whole once you have the palm and back of the hand finished. Once your work is past the web of the thumb, go back to combining those edges. Continue the strips until you reach where your knuckles would be.

Step 7

Making the thumb is just like the rest of the gauntlet. Start adding the central ring and the 'wing' rings until it wraps around the side of the thumb on the glove. If you can trick a friend into being a model for you by putting the glove on while you work, it can help make sure that you have the right proportions. Add rings until your thumb cover is clear of the web of your thumb, then wrap them all the way around to connect on the other side. Think like a caterpillar wrapping itself in a cocoon as you work your way around.

Step 8

When you reach the top of the thumb, there should be a couple of rings with their sides up, taper them by skipping away from the 4 in 1 pattern that we have been using. Loop half of them with one ring, then the other half with another before locking those two together. This brings the thumb to a snug point. Congratulations, that is the hardest part of the project.

Step 9

Now for the rest of the fingers. If you want, simply repeat step 5 for each of the fingers and attach them following the angle of the weave. This tends to force the hand into uncomfortable positions because the metal does not flex like leather does. Making the broad, flat mitten hand like a pair of winter gloves makes the process easier while allowing freedom of movement. Add rows like the rest of the glove, leaving the top seam open as the rows reach the ends of the gloves fingers. Seal up the top like you did before with the thumb.

Step 10

Now just get some heavy twine or strong thread and stitch the leather glove to the underside of your chain-mail gauntlet. The leather keeps your skin from being pinched by the metal and allows for more comfort. You will want to stitch all around the wrist, a few spots on the back of the hand, and the tips of each of the fingers.

Step 11

For the other hand, just start back at step 1 and use the other glove. The rings will lay in the same direction, the only change is the placement of the thumb. When your done, run a thick strip of craft leather through the links at the wrist of each glove. It can be tightened to keep the gauntlets from sliding off. Congratulations on your new chain-mail gauntlets!


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4 in 1 - The Weave is the Way

Okay, so now that you have your gear handy and a good supply of the rings that are your raw material, its time to talk weave.

European 4-in-1 Weave
For the vast majority of projects, the standard is all you will honestly need.  Four in one is a very very simple style where each and every ring is linked to 4 others. Its the meat and potato's of the chain mail world. For prep work on any project like this, I like to take the time to prepare a large number of rings that are already twisted closed so they make a perfect circle and are flush. These are the bulk of your work and the more you have handy, the faster you will see progress. There are basically two ways to do this as I think of it.


Option 1: You start off by taking a single ring between the tips of your two sets of needle-nose pliers and twisting it slightly so that the ends part enough to slip four of your pre-closed rings on. Once they are on, you need to twist your center ring shut and make sure its flush. Lay it flat on the table in front of you. the four outer rings should lay at one angle and the central ring should lay aimed the other direction, it looks kind of like a butterfly, with rows 1 and 3 being the wings, and the single ring in row 2 being the body. You expand on it by adding a ring to row 2 and threading two more closed rings onto it, which become the next layer of rows 1 and 3. Work your way down a ways, I usually go until its a few inches long. You can either make several of these little panels or just keep building it around until it is as long as you want it to be, then expand its width. To expand the width of this strip, just do what you have been doing, with a slight change. Instead of adding more rings to row 2, add another ring headed the same way on what is now row 4, hooking into two rings of row 3, and adding 2 new closed rings to make a row 5. From there, just hook the new row 4 rings into the 3 and 5 rows like you did before.

Option 2: I'm a step-oriented person, so I usually like breaking everything down into its individual steps. I'll usually split all my rings into the two types, open and closed. Once I have a good supply finished, I sit down and begin combining rings, going no further than a single ring hooked to four others until I have a few hundred of those little 'butterfly' links that I mentioned before. I think of them like Lego's, and I use them to build sections of the final project. The advantage to making just the little 'butterfly' units over making strips in my opinion is that the butterfly is small enough that you can use it in any project. If you make too many of them, just leave them put together. Its quick and efficient, plus its easier to see your piece taking shape like that.

Regardless of which of these two styles you pick for your project, European 4 in 1 mail is the easiest of the various chain-mail weaves and it can produce some very complex pieces. Once you have the hang of it, removing a single ring can make the flat panels curve, a very important trick to learn if your making a tunic or pouch.

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Making your own Mandrel

Whats a mandrel you ask? Well to be honest, all a mandrel is would be a metal rod or bar that is used as a core around which you wrap metal/wire/glass or even people! Just kidding. Or am I? The first thing I want to be sure to mention is please, please be careful. I am not, and will not, be liable if you hurt yourself. I've warned you already, it hurts to get your fingers caught under the wire when its being wrapped around the bar. I went through gloves fast because they would get worn or torn easily.

That being said, as long as your careful enough that you passes shop class with all your fingers intact in high school, using a mandrel to make your own rings isn't all that hard.

First, the list of ingredients to make your mandrel:
1x 2x4 length of wood about 2 feet long- This is the main body of your mandrel.
2x smaller boards, about 1 foot long each. - You can use chunks of 2x4, no reason not to as long as they are cut to the same length as each other, but shorter than that first 2x4 that I mentioned.
1x steel dowel - You want one thats flat, not grooved like a bolt. The grooves can mess with your wire and make it hard to take off. It needs to be about 2 and ½ feet in length or more, don't go for more than 3 feet.
1x Power drill - This is the engine of the mandrel. Go to the pawn-shop and buy one secondhand. Don't make my mistake and use a good one, you can burn it out if your not careful. Quality doesn't matter, as long as it runs with decent torque.
1x 3/8 inch drill bit - For drilling the pilot holes. if your using a smaller or larger dowel, change your bit accordingly. You want it slightly larger than the dowel so that the dowel can turn in the holes with ease.
1x small drill bit - you want to match this one to slightly larger than your ring will be, something in the 2.5mm range would be good.
2x bench clamps - for attaching the finished unit to a bench/sawhorse/counter.
1x Hammer - for hammering stuff.
4x 2" Carpentry nails - to attach the two shorter boards to the longer 2x4


How to make your own mandrel:

Step 0 -- Gloves and eye protection always, your working with a power tool here. Cool kids don't get hurt.

Step 1 -- Take the two 1' lengths of 2x4 and drill out the pilot holes for your dowel. Try to get it as centered as possible, but the important part here is to make sure its matched up in both boards. You want this as straight a shot as possible.

Step 2 -- Stand up the, now drilled, lengths of 2x4 vertically with the 2' length laid flat between them. It should look something like this I___I. You want to nail them through the bottom to the 2' length of board. It doesn't have to be pretty, just make sure that they go on evenly and the dowel can still run between the two upright boards.

Step 3 -- Take your metal dowel and very carefully drill a hole completely through the diameter of the rod with your small bit. It might take awhile if your bit is dull, so don't force it. Breaking the bit sucks, once again speaking from experience here. You want the hole to be far enough down the length of the metal dowel that it is on the inside of the two uprights when the dowel is run through the holes and far enough that you can remove the dowel from the boards without ever having to run that little hole through the guide holes. You'll see why later.

Step 4 -- You may want to flatten one end of your dowel just slightly so its more square than circular, this is so that your power drill will be able to get a grip on it. Once that is all set up, run the dowel between the two upright boards and make sure everything fits together right. Once its all put together, clamp it down to something like a desk/counter/workbench/sawhorse. Try to position the clamps so they are pointed down, in order to keep things out of the way while you work.

Step 5 -- tighten the power drill down onto the flattened end of the dowel like its a big drill bit. You want to be careful not to leave the power drill attached to the dowel and just hanging there for too long. It can cause the dowel to bend, which at the very least can ruin the dowel, and the worst it can destroy the whole unit.

Step 6 --  Use: with the drill attached and the whole contraption bolted/clamped down, you unroll some wire and get good heavy gloves on. Feed the tip of the wire through your little hole you drilled in the dowel. Give the drill a little power and slowly guide the wire onto the dowel and down its length. You want to make sure to wind it tight against the metal of the dowel and work slowly so your fingers don't get caught. It sucks, trust me. Once you get within a few inches of the dowel's end, stop and cut the wire free of the main roll. Remove your dowel carefully. It most likely won't fit back through the pilot holes now that it has wire on it, so this is where its important that you didn't drill your wire-hole too close to the end. If you did happen to, you can usually cut the wire free and just slide the dowel out anyway. You just need to be careful that your not putting too much stress on the boards.

Step 7 -- With that finished, you now have a coil of wire the appropriate diameter for the rings you'll need. All thats left is to settle down on the couch with your wire cutters and snip the individual rings free. Cut one at a time and do it cleanly. It takes awhile to build up the hand strength to do this for a length of time, but I was able to do it by distracting myself with TV. You can use the wire-cutters that I mentioned before, I have heard of folks using a Leatherman to cut the rings as well. Just remember your going to do a lot of cutting, so don't use something that your afraid of wearing out.

Now that your rings are cut, you can file down any that feel like they have sharp edges and start working on your project.

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What You Will Need For Chain-mail

Like I mentioned previously, there is a fair list of things that you will need or want to assemble before you sit down to begin the project at hand. For something small, like a dice bag or a change pouch, there isn't too much you need, but first I'll go over the basics, stuff you have to have to even work with it.

What You Will Need:
Needle-nose Pliers x2 - you can get them at any hardware store, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Etc. Try to get ones that do not have the little ridges on the inside of the tip if you can help it, as that can make burrs in the metal that can scratch the skin. 5-inch ones are usually best. They can range from 4$ all the way up to 22$ in price. Its up to you how much you want to pay, but remember, the key thing is comfort. If the tool isn't comfortable in your hand, you'll hate using it and never touch it.

Wire - You can go two ways with this one by either using this wire to make your own rings or buy the rings pre-made. The wire is going to be the body of your project, and the gauge depends on what your making. If its for decoration or costume, go for a higher gauge number. The higher the number, the thinner the wire. If your making armor, most recreation groups have a set requirement for the gauge, usually between 14 to 16 gauge. Don't go to more than 12 gauge, as it becomes even harder to work with by hand.
If you're like me, and want to do everything from scratch, then you would want to go hunt around for a good deal on just raw wire. You can get it, once again, at a hardware store like Home Depot in lengths ranging from 100ft on up. Some ranch-supply stores also carry it in smaller coils. I personally used to buy it in 100ft lengths of galvanized steel wire from a farm supply shop in my home town for about 3$ a roll when I made armor. Bulk is cheaper, but once again, its a matter of time and size of project. If you decide to make your own rings, it adds several steps and a few more tools, which I will list under optional equipment. If you plan on doing a lot of projects or several large ones, its worth investing in everything from the beginning. Or if you just want bragging rights.

Rings - Thankfully, today's modern age of connection between people via the Internet means that it is possible to find just about anything. In this case, someone else who has already gone to the trouble of shaping raw wire into rings and cutting them to size. They come in an assortment of colors, sizes, gauges, and materials. As with buying your own wire, what kind and the cost associated with it. A good website to check would be http://www.theringlord.com/. They have tons of different size rings for competitive prices. Plus its one of the few places I've found that sell titanium rings. I know that its not period accurate, but hey, gotta make sacrifices for coolness somewhere, right?

Important Note: Depending on what your making, you must keep in mind what you are using to make the item. If your creating a nifty keyring or a kinky outfit, you can go ahead and use those royal purple aluminum rings you found online. If your trying for a period appropriate costume or functional armor for SCA or other Live Action Role Playing groups, they have specific rules and guidelines for what the armor can and cannot be made from. Sometimes they do allow you to use non-period materials, but at a penalty.

Optional Equipment:
Mandrel - this is the tool that you use to turn the raw wire into uniform rings. I will go over how to make one from home that is suitable for work with chain mail later on. The key thing for this particular item is that you have something strong to attach it to. A work bench or a saw-horse is best, but in a pinch you could use a desk or a table.

Wire Cutters - you'll need some pretty heavy-gauge wire cutters. I prefer the flat headed ones like these to the left here. You want to be sure to get a good strong set if your going to be cutting a large amount of rings yourself. If you don't, it can really do a number on your hands. I know this from first-hand experience actually. Plus, after awhile of use, the duller edge doesn't make as clean of a cut, which can leave the rings looking sloppy, or with a sharp edge that can catch clothes, hair, or skin. These can range from a few dollars on up, depending on where you get them. They can also range in size from smaller, hand-sized ones to big ones that could take a finger if you don't watch them. I prefer the smaller sets, replacing them as they get dull. As before with the needle-nose pliers, comfort is the most important factor. If the tool isn't comfortable in your hand, you'll never use it.

File - This is optional as well, but it tends to be fairly important. You'd need a small hand file to smooth away any rough edges that might catch hair or cut skin. In a perfect world, your tools would never leave rough bits or uneven cuts and burrs on the metal. Realistically, the average chain-mail tunic can take anywhere from 4,000 rings and up depending on the weaving style. All it takes is one ring with a sharp edge to cut the skin and ruin the fun.

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Getting Started

Making chainmail, or chainmaille as some call it, is easy and it can be a lot of fun as well. You can make some money, and friends too. Everyone will be jealous of your leet metalworking skills. I've sold the tunics before on eBay for over 100$ each. The key comes in knowing where to find the raw ingredients and what tools to use when working with them. Once you have those tacked down, the only challenge remaining is figuring out where to start and what to make first.

I have been making chain-mail off and on for going on six years now. I have made everything from SCA/LARP grade armor to display pieces and jewelery. And yes, before you ask, I have made a chain-mail bikini for a girl before. They loved it.

I'll go over a few resources I have used in the past for locating materials and getting yourself set up for a chain-mail project. The main thing that you will need lots of for working on these projects are Time and Patience.

The list of things that you can make that qualify as 'chain-mail' is as endless as your imagination. There are literally dozens of patterns just for armor alone, some meant to be functional and others meant to be ornamental. From the standard European 4 in 1 that is the standard and the dragon mail, kingsweave, or dragonmail, which is nearly as rigid as a plate of steel.

Here are a few project ideas:
Shirts/Tunics (both costume quality and LARP/Recreation quality),
Coifs (thats nerd-talk for the headgear),
Bracelets, Necklaces and other Jewelery,
Bags,
Bikini's and Thongs,
Kilts,
Belts,
I've even seen chain-mail hacky-sacks.

So what kind of project is best for you to start with? Well, personally I would advice that you start with something small to see if you like it. Keyrings or pouches. You can buy pre-made beginner and advanced kits here. But that takes some of the fun out of it, at least in my opinion. To set up your own little chain-mail shop is the work of an afternoon.

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