How I Make Riveted Maille

by Steve Sheldon

Page 2 of 4


The next step is to flatten the rings. To do this you will need a hammer (a small ball peen will work) and an anvil (cast anvils are fine for riveted mail work) or similar chunk of metal with a flat face:




The following pictures show me flattening only the overlap. This is acceptable, but better looking mail can be had if one flattens the entire ring:






Note that there is a slight protrustion on the left side of the flat. There is a similar one on the other side of the ring on the right side of the flat (hidden from view). This is caused when there is too much overlap, resulting in the very ends of the rings "squirting" out from under one another. I call these "rabbit ears" because if the condition is bad enough, they will look like rabbit ears.

When I flatten the entire ring, I use a special tool that I had made for this purpose:



What this tool does is ensure a direct hammer strike to the ring every time. It is possible to flatten the entire ring with just a hammer - it just takes lots of practice so that you consistantly strike the ring dead-on. If you don't strike the ring dead-on, it will flatten poorly, or the ring ends will skip off of one another. In either case, you often end up scrapping the ring. This tool ensures a direct strike to the ring every time, so that my scrap rate is virtually nil. This is probably the most important tool I own for making riveted maille. My thanks to Mike Moltan for machining it for me.

To use the tool, you simply toss a ring down the hole:



It is important that the bore hole be larger than the ring itself. If you make it so that the ring exactly fits down the bore, then when you strike the ring the piston will leave a tool mark all around the circumference of the ring. By having a large bore, chances are the ring will never land up against a wall, so you avoid the tool mark. Approximately 10% of the time a ring will lay up next to the bore wall, and will get a tool mark. If this happens, just toss it back in and give it a light tap - the tool mark goes away.

After you have tossed the ring down the hole, put the piston in on top of it, and give the piston a stout blow:









Then tip the tool/piston over, exposing the ring. Then drag if off the face of the anvil into an awaiting collection bowl. Repeat (many many many times...)







Next Page




THE ARADOR ARMOUR LIBRARY
Webmaster: Eric Slyter
Assistant Forum Moderators: Mike Brock, Kara Frost-Slyter, Glen Kyle, Ron McWilliams, W. Reid Ripley, Christian H. Tobler, Dave Womble
Forum Archive: Marcus Grymme

No part of this site nor it's content may be reproduced without permission from The Arador Armour Library.
Please see our Legal Disclaimer.

Copyright 1995-2003 by The Arador Armour Library