While I was away at the Blade Show several packages arrived. One of these was a bag of loose mail rings and rivets from Historic Enterprises.

I ordered these so that I could close up the facial opening in my coif just a bit, as well as replace several rings in my hauberk that lack rivets. (After trying to mess around with using small finishing nails as rivets I gave up and decided it would be easier to just replace the ring altogether, and it is.)

I messed around with this for most of the morning and completed the modifications to the coif. I only have two or three rings to replace on the hauberk so I sould have enough left over for a few small projects in the future.

Historic Enterprises advertises these loose ring packs (manufactured by Get Dressed For Battle) as having the standard dark oil finish. I found the finish on the rings to be niether terribly dark or uniform. In fact quite a few of them were rusty. This was fine for my purposes since a few strokes with a wire brush resulted in a finish that matches the extant garments. A little bit of preservative inside the package might be in order though. I also came across a few rings that weren't completely punched through in the rivet slot, as well as one that wasn't punched at all. Given the cost of the pack this wasn't a major issue for my minor job, but it might become irritating if a person is trying to do a larger job.

The one thing this experience did is give me an appreciation for the craftsman who did this back in the day. I've had experience with making modern butted mail but I've never had the pleasure :mad: of working with those heathenistic little buggers called rivets. The process is quite a different thing altogether.

Sounds like it was a blast around the Kelly household. :p

I've seen riveting maille done before, and I personally have to draw the line. You're a better man than I!

So, overall, despite the (obvioius) frustration, I trust it worked out ok? Be interested in an updated pic of the coif now that it's "right".

What did you use to put the rivets on. I know that Forth Armoury sells a rivet setting thong with their starting kit http://www.forth-armoury.com/Product_Catalog/...how_to.htm

I know my maille project failed horribly and utterly, simply due the shear monumentalness of the whole thing (or was it shear lazyness on my part? Semantics...). It made shelling out some cash for the 'cheap Indian' stuff a lot easier to bare for my stingy self. R-E-S-P-E-C-T to those people that can do that type of thing, and no more raised eyebrows on seeing the price of truly historic pieces either.