How to make Chain Mail

Author: Robert M. Heath

The ancient Romans and prehistoric European tribes had shirts of mail as did the medieval knights, familiar to us from the stories of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe. Mail, at least the outward form, should be made to imitate the styles of old.

The first type is the best made from links that were shut with a forge weld.

The second type of mail would have been made of links closed with a cold shut. Each link would be flattened where the joint was made a hole drilled in both ends to receive a very small shutting rivet. This was considered to be good mail but not the very best.

The third type of mail and lowest in quality, was made of links not shut at all. The links were bent shut without securing the two ends in any way.

The shirt presented here was made of links that were not shut. The ends were butted together after each link was individually fitted into the pattern of the metal fabric.