The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: geerarffe on July 25, 2009, 11:07:06 pm

Title: Making mail for battle!
Post by: geerarffe on July 25, 2009, 11:07:06 pm
I'm just getting into my new hobby of making mail ( chainmail) for use in re-enactment battles.

It's very hard work and very fiddly. I trapped my little finger in the pliers last night. Ouch! Nice blach finger nail for my trouble there! lol. It'll be worth it in the end I'm sure. Each tunic will weigh around 5kg a piece. My brother does re-enactment and to keep himself fit he does press ups in his mail tunic. :o

Has anyone else tried this?
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: doganjo on July 25, 2009, 11:27:46 pm
Gosh,  sounds like hard work.  Not for me.  But I like watching the re-enactments on Time Team
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: rustyme on July 26, 2009, 01:05:56 am
hello Geerarffe,
                   yes I have made some chain mail . I made the little dowel thingy to coil the wire around and then nip all the little circles with wire cutters.... I also made a shield and did start on a helm , but that got put on hold, and for the life of me I can't remember where it went !!! In spare time I go out with my longbow and loose a few arrows. I make my own arrows and have managed to make a couple of heads as well , the forge wasn't properly set up then !! I do intend to make at least a helm, fully this time  ::) and I would like to make a sword too . I hope to make a few bits of armour as well , but that may have to wait for a while .. My main interest is the long bow , and archery during the Crecy era  in particular , but including up to Towton era as well (1346-1461). I only have a very light draw weight bow at the moment , 37lb Ash bow . This allows me to shoot 3/8" x 31" wooden arrows a max of about 120 yards , lighter arrows go further but with less accuracy. I hope to  be making an Ash bow soon , hopefully 75lb plus  , but other things keep getting in the way ... ::) Still got the 37lber to play with in the mean time....


cheers

Russ
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: cmorrell on July 26, 2009, 04:51:06 pm
I enjoy shooting re-enactments... not quite so interested in taking part in them :)
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: Birdie Wife on July 28, 2009, 01:52:38 pm
My OH has made a couple of mail tunics but they are considerably more than 5kg!  He looks good in his  ;D he used to do celtic re-enactments with steel swords and spears (used to catch thrown spears as part of demos too  :o) and tells me he used to be super-fit!  I think he's really fit now but he tells me he's a lard-a**e so goodness knows what he used to be like! He's been thinking of starting up classes in medieval swordsmanship but I have my doubts that he can get enough people interested to cover insurance...  ;)
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: Fluffywelshsheep on July 28, 2009, 07:06:17 pm
day tasters would be good but depending on the cost,

A real interest in watching it i know this but not sure about the part-taking in.

I would love to do it myself but I KNOW I would injure myself lol

Linz
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: rustyme on July 28, 2009, 07:23:24 pm
yep the same with me Linz ...I seem to be a bit accident prone !!! I like all the gear especially making it , but I know I would end up with fingers missing if I started sword fighting .  I do like the longbow though ....but even that has drawbacks (excuse the pun ) . I was on the land with the bow, not long after I bought it . Well I was shooting arrows over the big trees, one field to the other sort of thing , when I let loose one arrow and up it went 150'-200' or so when the wind blew hard and the arrow went up above the trees and blew back towards my side of the trees . It started to come right at me , then as it points towards you it dissappears . It is just a 1/2" dot comming at you, at 90-100 mph, you cannot see it at all !! :o . It landed about 3" from my foot :o.  Thats a 3 foot length of 1/2" dowel !!! Needless to say, I don't do that anymore.  ::)


cheers

Russ
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: Fluffywelshsheep on July 28, 2009, 07:45:12 pm
lol I like the long bow too, but such an expensive hobby if you don't have the areas to practise with it.

Would love too take it up but no where to practise or many to get one lol
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: HappyHippy on July 28, 2009, 07:50:30 pm
I used to help out in a workshop locally which makes weapons for re-enactments and live role play - only thing was they are made from foam & covered in several layers of latex, before being painted and polished. They really look the business, but weigh a fraction of the real thing (and aren't quite so lethal!)
http://www.skianmhor.co.uk/ (http://www.skianmhor.co.uk/)
Check out their gallery !
Karen
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: rustyme on July 28, 2009, 07:58:53 pm
oh no !!! no good if they don't chop bits off !!!! got to be the real thing .... I want blood and gore ...limbs dangling , eyes popped , guts spilled ... just not mine that all .... ::) I have done enough of that already  ::) ;D

cheers

Russ
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: rustyme on July 28, 2009, 08:28:15 pm
Linz,
      I got the bow off ebay for £40 (when I had some £ to spare !!) and the arrows cost about £1 each to make , £5 upwards each if you buy them !! Ones the same as those I make would cost £30 each  ::)  If you got a 7'  lump of knot free ash with straight grain ,you could make a bow  . You could start with a crossbow though ...use the neighbours as target practice !!! :o ;D

cheers


Russ
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: Birdie Wife on July 29, 2009, 01:17:54 pm
I used to help out in a workshop locally which makes weapons for re-enactments and live role play - only thing was they are made from foam & covered in several layers of latex, before being painted and polished. They really look the business, but weigh a fraction of the real thing (and aren't quite so lethal!)
http://www.skianmhor.co.uk/ (http://www.skianmhor.co.uk/)
Check out their gallery !
Karen

My hubbie did some work for them too, and stayed with them for a few months too.  Really good people  :) and really good quality work too.
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: HappyHippy on July 29, 2009, 02:40:44 pm
C'mon then Birdiewife, spill the beans who is your hubby ?  ;D
Is it Simon? I remember him staying there for quite a while, up above the workshop.
You're right, Sean & Jackie are lovely and worked sooo hard, it's good to see it's all still going well for them.
Karen
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: Birdie Wife on August 01, 2009, 03:29:31 pm
C'mon then Birdiewife, spill the beans who is your hubby ?  ;D
Is it Simon? I remember him staying there for quite a while, up above the workshop.
You're right, Sean & Jackie are lovely and worked sooo hard, it's good to see it's all still going well for them.
Karen

Nope, it was a few years ago now (about 8 years), but his name's Adrian  :)   used to drive the van for them to do deliveries to a certain LARP event near Derby, do you know the one? have they moved their workshop now?
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: HappyHippy on August 01, 2009, 04:43:45 pm
Hiya,
I had a wee count up and it's been 12 years since I worked with them ! I AM getting old !
Funny enough I got roped into driving to The Gathering too  ;) in a sierra estate with a BIG trailer and Jackie & 2 kids in the car !!!
As far as I know they're still in the same place, but haven't seen them for a few years now.
Karen
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: geerarffe on August 13, 2009, 11:30:06 pm
Well just an update. I haven't got very far with my mail making. I've got about a foot square at the minute. lol

Had a lot of stuff going wrong lately so not really had the time.

I shall persist though. lol. I'm determined to make at least 1 tunic!
Title: Re: Making mail for battle!
Post by: sandy on August 15, 2009, 09:47:46 am
Good job your not going into battle for real!!!! Thinking about it, I bet Blacksmiths rubbed their hands when there were battles gong on, I suppose they would send someone out to collect up bits of armour from the battle field and re use them!!