[Philip Richmann]

Hi all,
I am looking for a production or ready made maile standard. I know Historic Enterprises has a standard for around $120, but it is not really complete. I am looking for something that has the buckles and leather parts attached, and I just can't seem to find any. I have some basic chainmaile skills as is, as in I make butted links from bailing wire and can manage 4-1 and 6-1 patterns, but am completely lost when it comes to the leather work. So, Historic Enterprises offering is useless to me. For what it is worth, it's purpose is for a hybrid English/Milanese 15'th century kit.
Any ideas would help.
Philip

[Neil Langley]

www.capapie.co.uk will make a complete standard for you - I have one and highly recommend them. Mark is very easy to communicate with too.

Neil.

[Philip Richmann]

So, this is a poor pic of my progress so far. The rings are fairly small with regards to diameter. They are handmade from black bailing wire. The top rectangle is 6-in-1. The lower portion is 4-in-1. It wasn't able to expand and contract enough to make the full circle, so I added 4 expansions.
After it was woven, I heat treated it quenching it in water. Not very scientific. Then I dipped it in Muratic acid. It was a nice dull grey for a few hours. Then, it developed a very strange yellow rust over the surface???
Next, I will polish it using the old sand-in-a-bucket trick, then heat it again and blue it. After that I will start on the leather work, which I expect to be a nightmare! I have some horsehide in 8 OZ veg tan that I will use for the collar. I am thinking of using buckskin to trim the edges and lining it with quilted linen.

[Iagoba Ferreira]

The yellow rust is common in iron surfaces after being "atacked". When I remove the modern shiny antirust coatings from modern mail with watered vinegar, it gets also almost entirely yellow in seconds as soon as I take it from under the water...

The "barrel and sand" trick removes it without problem.

About how to "close" it, check the Pastrana (or Arcila) tapestries, they show 3 different ways, here you can see some:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/europanostra/556...otostream/
http://smu.edu/meadowsmuseum/images/exhibitio..._41433.jpg

[Philip Richmann]

So here are some pics of my progress. I blued the steel rings by heating them and then quenching them in water. The leather is 4oz deer skin stitched with artificial sinew. I tried a few different liners before I settled on just the deer skin. Originally I used 8oz veg tanned horse hide plus the 4oz deer skin. It was very sturdy, but I could not hardly move my neck. I gave up some support for the sake of comfort and flexibility, but you can see the collar still stands by itself.
At this point I am just waiting for my buckles, which I will get from Steel Mastery.