How to Make a Chainmail Coif

Transcription

1 How to Make a Chainmail Coif By Theodore Schuerman

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3 Table of Contents iii Table of Contents Table of Contents... iii Introduction to Chainmail... v History of Chainmail... v Chapter 1: Required Materials... 3 Gathering Materials... 3 Project Cost... 4 Chapter 2: Making the Rings... 7 Coiling the Wire... 7 Cutting the Loops... 8 Chapter 3: Assembling the Chainmail Bending loops Basic Pattern Putting Strands Together Enclosing the Top of the Coif Conclusion Index... 17

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5 Introduction v Introduction to Chainmail Why Chainmail is Awesome Chainmail was used as primary armor for hundreds of years around the world. Though each region had their own styles, in principle they were all made of linked chains. In the medieval era it was a valuable item because it was effective light weight armor, and making it took so much time for craftsmen. With modern weaponry, chainmail s use as armor is almost nonexistent but that doesn t stop people from wearing it at places like Renaissance fairs of for costumes. In this manual you will learn how to make a chainmail coif. A coif is the headgear worn by the knights in medieval Europe.

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7 Chapter One Required Materials

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9 Chapter 1 3 Chapter 1: Required Materials Gathering Materials To make any chainmail piece of armor there are a few things you will be required to purchase, to make a chainmail coif specifically you will need: 200 feet 14 gauge steel wire Two pairs of pliers One pair of vice grips One electric drill Eight inch bolt cutters One 3/8 inch diameter rod (the length does not matter) Working gloves Safety glasses Segmented container( At least three segments) If you are not quite sure what the the required tools look like refer to Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 Image of the tools needed

10 4 How to Make a Chainmail Coif Project Cost These materials can be easily obtained at any hardware store. If you do not have any of the materials before making chainmail you can expect to pay about 115 dollars on all the supply s just to make a coif. If you do have some of the tools already, but not all, then you can look at Table 1.1 to see an approximate cost for you to make a chainmail coif. Tool Name Average Price* Electric drill 40$ Eight inch bolt cutters 16$ Pliers 10$ Vice grips 8$ 100ft 14 gauge steel wire 6$ Working gloves 11$ Segmented container 4$ Safety glasses 5$ 3/8 inch diameter rod 5$ Table 1.1 *Price averaged using lowest prices among items sold by three retailers that are located nationwide. Money is not the only cost that will come with building a chainmail coif; it will also take a lot of time. As a beginner it will be a very slow process that will show very little progress, so you will need to show patience. Overall it on average will take people fifteen to twenty hours to completely make a chainmail coif.

11 Chapter 2 Chapter Two Making the Rings

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13 Chapter 2 7 Chapter 2: Making the Rings In this chapter you will require the following materials: Electric Drill Vice grips Three eights inch diameter rod Work gloves Two hundred feet of 14 gauge steel wire Eight inch bolt cutters Safety glasses Coiling the Wire Now that you have all your materials, it is time to make the foundation of all chainmail armor, the metal loops. For this step you will need the electric drill, 3/8 inch rod, the work gloves, and the vice grips. It might also help to have someone to help you with this part because it is very difficult to do alone. 1. First put the 3/8 inch rod in the drill where the chuck (the place where you insert the drill bit). 2. Then take the 200 feet of 14 gauge steel wire and attach the end of the wire on the end rod closest to the drill with the vice grips. See Figure 2.1 to see how vice grips are attached. Figure 2.1 Vice grips attaching wire to rod

14 8 How to Make a Chainmail Coif Be careful when spinning the wire. If you spin to fast the vice grips could come off at fast speeds. Keep the drill speed slow. 3. You may need a second person for assistance. As one person holds the rod up while applying a downward force on the wire the other person makes the drill spin. 4. If the wire tangles just cut the wire with the 8 inch bolt cutters and start over. 5. Repeat steps one through five until all 200 feet of wire is coiled. Cutting the Loops Once you have coiled the wire you have to start the process of cutting the coil into individual loops. In this step you will need the 8 inch bolt cutters, the newly made coil of wire, and the work gloves are highly recommended. If you have not already taken the coil of the rod do so now and keep the work gloves on that were used in the previous step. You are cutting metal in this section; metal shards possibly will be produces. Wearing eye protection is very important. If you do get metal in your eye go to the doctors immediately. 1. Put your safety glasses on 2. Use the 8 inch bolt cutters to cut the coil so that the cut lines up with the end of the coil. See Figure *Note (Because this is a long and tedious process it is best Figure 2.3 Cutting coil if you cut three rings from the coil at a time.) 4. Continue cutting them in this manner until the entire coil is separated into individual rings.

15 Chapter 2 7 Chapter Three Assembling the Chainmail

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17 Chapter 3 11 Chapter 3: Assembling the Chainmail In this chapter you will require the following materials: Steel rings Work gloves Two pairs of pliers Segmented container Bending loops You now have hundreds of loops that are partially open. They are not open enough for more loops to slide into them and they are not completely closed, unfortunately you want all loops to do one of those two things. 1. Separate the rings into two equal piles 2. Take a ring from one of the piles and grab both ends of it with the pliers 3. Bend the ends of the ring together 4. Put the ring in one end of the segmented container (See Figure 3.1) 5. Repeated step two through four for all rings in one of the piles 6. Take a ring from the other pile and grab both ends of it with the pliers 7. Bend the ends of the ring apart (See Figure 3.1) 8. Put the ring in the other end of the segmented container 9. Repeated step six through nine for all rings in one of the piles Figure 3.1 Pictures of unaltered loops (far left), open loops (middle), and Closed loops (right).

18 16 How to Make a Chainmail Coif Basic Pattern Now we start the actual process of making the chain mail. Figure 3.2 Ring position 1. Put four closed loops onto one open loop. (See Figure 3.2) 2. Close the open loop with the pliers (See Figure 3.3) 3. Put another open loop through the top two rings so the opening pointing upwards. (See Figure 3.4) Figure 3.3 4:1 ring patterns 4. Put two closed loops on the open loop. 5. Close the open ring with the pliers.(see Figure 3.5) 6. Repeat steps three through five until the strand extends to reach both of your ears. Now you have created one strand that spans from ear to ear, you will need to create a total of five strands of this length to make a chainmail coif. You will also have to create two strands that go all the way around your head using the same pattern. Figure 3.4 adding an open ring Figure 3.5 Extended strands

19 Chapter 3 13 Putting Strands Together To connect strands you have to line two strands together so that they their outer rings line up perfectly with one another. 1. Then you take an open loop and put it in-between the loops that are right next to each other on the different strands. (See Figure 3.6 and 3.7) Figure 3.6 the blue rings are what you are adding between the two strands Figure 3.7 insert the open rings through the points were the red dotes are located in the picture 2. Put an open loop through the four loops that are closest together. 3. Close the open loop that you added 4. Repeat steps two and three unit the two strands are completely connected along the edge. Figure 3.8 completely connected strands Continue this process until all of your strands are connected together. Figure 3.8 shows what it should look like when you have connected your strands together. The two strands that can wrap around your head should be connected at the top of the chainmail.

20 16 How to Make a Chainmail Coif Enclosing the Top of the Coif Lastly make the top part of the coif; you have to enclose the top so it will stay on your head. You will make an expanding circle to make the top of the coif. To do this, follow the following steps. 1. Put six closed loops onto one open loop. 2. Close the open loop with the pliers (note: This creates our pattern for the top picture shown in Figure 3.9) 3. Put an open ring through every two rings that are next to each other 4. Close the newly added open loops with the pliers(note: This creates our pattern for the middle picture in figure 3.9) 5. Then in between every two rings you just added put a single open loop through a single closed loop. 6. Close the open loop with the pliers 7. Continue steps five and six until you have added a loop between every two loops.(note: This creates our pattern for the bottom picture shown in Figure 3.9) 8. Continue steps three through seven until the outer layer of loops making the circle has the same number of loops that the strands of chainmail that wraps around your head has around. Figure 3.9 How to make an expanding circle. (Note: this is not the exact circle we are making) Finishing Touches To connect the expanding circle to the connected strand you made in Putting the Strands Together you just have to treat them like two normal strands. 1. Line the outer loops of the circle with the top loops of the connected strands. 2. Put an open loop through the four loops that are closest together. 3. Close the open loop that you added 4. Repeat steps two and three unit you have completely connected the expanding circle and the strands.

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22 16 How to Make a Chainmail Coif Conclusion Congratulation, you have successfully completed making a chainmail coif. Whether you are going to use it in a costume or perhaps just brag about it to your friends remember to always be careful while using your chainmail coif. It might be suggested at some point to test how effective it is as armor. If you do make sure nobody is wearing it as you do your tests as this could fatally injure the wearer. Figure 3.10 Completed coif

23 Chapter 3 17 Index 3/8 inch diameter rod, 3, 4 armor, v, 3, 7, 16 3 A C chainmail, v, 3, 4, 7, 12, 14, 16 closed loops, 12, 14 coif, v, 3, 4, 12, 14, 16 Eight inch bolt cutters, 3, 4 electric drill, 3, 7 E open loop, 12, 13, 14, 15 pliers, 3, 11, 12, 14 Segmented container, 3, 4 vice grips, 3, 7 O P S V W Working gloves, 3, 4