Gallery - Ironskin

Mail chausses with 6mm riveted rings You see @yan

Highlights of 2019. My personal favourites are the

Highlights of 2019. My personal favourites are the pictures that sparked great conversations.

We found solutions to explain the big ring in the Bavarian mail shirt. We discussed replicas for the Chinese mountain armour and Roman scale armor. You helped to put together pictures, translations and fixed my wrong information within minutes.

Many of you started making riveted chainmail yourself and I'm proud that I could help and follow you on the way. I even had the chance to meet a few of you in person.

In short: It's been an awesome year! I want to say thank you for everything you contributed. Without you this would just be a pile of pictures. Now this turned into a proove that chainmail is a great hobby, brought alive by awesome generous people from every corner of the world! Let 2020 be even more fun! I'm ready! 🙂 Sebastian from Germany

PS: Let me know what you learned from this channel! Which was your favourite post?

Effigy of an early14th-century German knight. What

Effigy of an early14th-century German knight. What is this flap of mail at his chin? Do you have an idea?

The person is Rudolph I. von Hohenberg. I took the pictures inside St. Moritz Church in Rottenburg am Neckar, southern Germany.

Rolled mail armour with hem of copper-alloy rings.

Rolled mail armour with hem of copper-alloy rings.

This line of copper-alloy rings is three rows wide and follows along the slit of the shirt. The rings are 7mm in outer diameter.

The armour is displayed together with items from 7th to 11th century. Yet it's true origin and date is unknown. Do you trust this early medieval dating?

Apparently a hem of copper alloy rings is not uncommon in early medieval period. There are finds from 6th to 12th century. Most of them are fragments.

The item is located in the 8th hall of the State Historical Museum in Moscow. Pictures by Tomáš Vlasatý, shared in his blog sagy_vikingove_cz/ozdobne-lemy-krouzkovych-zbroji

German hunting dogs, 17th century. Hunting boars

German hunting dogs, 17th century.

Hunting boars was done with dogs who had to catch the boar and hold it. For this they needed proper protection that still allowed them to run fast.

This armour in the grey scale picture consists of four layers of linen adding up to 6mm thickness. It weighs 4.1 kg. The linen has many tiny holes for ventilation. The rim of these holes is reinforced with thread and likely a metal ring around each hole.

In the coloured picture metal rings are clearly visible with only small holes in their centres. I have the impression that the rings are actually ment to make the armour stronger.

This concept of rings sewn onto fabric is possibly something that's relevant also for medieval armor. What do you think? Do you have some examples even?

Grey scale picture: Alfons Diener-Schönberg: "Die Waffen der Wartburg", Page 90. Found in wikimedia_org
Coloured pictures: middenmurk_blogspot_com/2015/09

70 pound compound bow vs handmade riveted chainmai

70 pound compound bow vs handmade riveted chainmail. What do we learn out of it?

For this test Michael Edelson used 400 grain modern arrows with bullet tip. He was shooting from 4,5m (15 feet) distance and managed to penetrate the mail 2 out of 3 times. When he drew the bow to the equivalent of 50 pound all arrows were bouncing off.

The mail was manufactured by Juno Junco Funes from Spain. I'm impressed how well the rings match the look of historic mail. However since all rings broke at the rivet connection I think there is room for improvement. I have seen hand-made mail perform much stronger.

Anyhow the handmade mail did prove to be much stronger than imported mail from India. The Indian mail got penetrated by 50 pound drawweight both at 4,5m (15 feet) and 18m (20 yard). What do you think about this test? Is there something about it that helps us understand medieval warfare?

This test was performed by Michael Edelson, Julio Junco Funes and Brian Hook. Michael Edelson shared it on myarmoury.com in 2005.

What name do we give to this ring? It has a piece

What name do we give to this ring?

It has a piece of wire inserted to form a rivet. One side of the ring has a half-dome shape. The other side is flat. It's a lot like a wedge rivet ring, but the rivet has a circular crosssection.

German knight in the year 1320. Are you also admir

German knight in the year 1320. Are you also admiring this shiny bascinet?

The mail armor is made and worn by German reenactor Fabian Griesler. It consists of a hauberk with attached mittens, a seperate coif and chausses. It contains about 40.000 rings. Half of them are solid, half riveted.

The collar is tight fitting and closed by buckles. Parts of the mail have decorative edges of brass rings.

The sleeves are tailored in different ways. That way he practically tested their performance. In some areas he also incorporated hand made rings to check how they look after they have been worn a lot.

The chausses are attached to the hips. They have a cut running along the back of the lower leg to facilitate getting in and out.

Pictures by Fabian Griesler. Check out his German website thetten1320.de

Types of chainmail rings in medieval Europe. I ma

Types of chainmail rings in medieval Europe.

I made this graphic as base for exchange and discussion. All pictures are physical or digital reconstructions by me. The frames around the pictures shall give a hint about historical evidence.

Butted: There are some finds of butted rings in decorative fringes. I'm not aware of butted rings in mail that is mainly meant for protection.

Dome-Riveted: This is found a lot, yet it can look ver differntly. The domes can be on one or both sides. The rivet can be a piece of wire or a stripe of metal sheet. The hole can be punched or rather pierced/drifted.

Wedge-Riveted. We speak of wedge rivets when the rivet is a triangular piece of metal. Actually the difference to round rings is not that big, when round rings have a dome shape on only one side of the ring.

Clamp-Riveted: The evidence for them is very poor. Yet there are hints that shared in earlier posts.

Punched/Drifted/Welded: They can all be called solid rings. They are typically used in 50/50 mixture with riveted rings. I marked them in yellow because it's not always clear which sort of these three it actually is.

Punched: Punching removes a circle. This causes a lot of material to be lost.

Drifted: A rod is pushed through a piece of metal by drifting. This is a way of reshaping with minimal loss.

Welded: Wire or metal stripes are bend together with an overlap and connected by fire-welding.

A golden chainmail hauberk - is that even possible

A golden chainmail hauberk - is that even possible? This is a replica of the 13th-century statue of St. Maurice from Domuseum Ottonianum Magdeburg plus an experimental piece of chainmail by me.

For the test piece I used 1mm wire of yellow gold (333gold, 8 karat) to make 6mm inner diameter rings. It is a strong alloy and not as soft as pure gold. The material for the test piece set me back 120€. Let's do the math: A hauberk with coif and mittens weighs about 15kg if it's made with iron rings. With yellow gold that would be 37% more. That makes 20,5kg total.

The price for this would be 400.000€. 360.000 of that would be for the material and 40.000 would be for the workers who have to put in 2500 working hours.

Pictures of the replica statue by Charlen Christoph, Magdeburger Museen. Shared by Domuseum Ottonianum Magdeburg on 5th of December via Facebook.

Mail sleeves to be worn under plate armor. This e

Mail sleeves to be worn under plate armor.

This example dates from 1550 to 1600. Cutting the mail into sleeves like this helps for better mobility of the arms. Full mail shirts can block the arm movement to the front if the mail isn't tailored properly. This is especially important if plate is pressed onto the mail from above.

This is item 1982.3040a-b, George F. Harding Collection, Art Institute of Chicago.

#artinstitutechicago #mailsleeves #platearmor #platecollar #neckdefense #europeanart #steelart #aketon #ausholen #readytostrike #cutoffhand #cutoff #dummy #year1550 #year1600 #europeanarmor #historyofarts #mailarmor #chainmaile #larp #selfdefense #hema #fencing #mailarmour #loosefitting #steelrings #armorcollection #arsenal

12th century mail coif - custom tailored and all r

12th century mail coif - custom tailored and all rings hand-made.

Amongst the collection of Swiss history enthusiast Thomas Weinhold, there are many outstanding items. Yet this coif is one of a kind. For the project he commissioned my friend @haffner.christian to forge every single 7mm ring by hand. He started with iron wire and he made about 8200 rings for this.

Christian had been working on the project part-time for the last two years and there are still some final adaptations to do. He has internalised the workflow of making chainmail second to none I've ever met. It is fascinating to see him perform perfect hammer strikes for flattening the rings.

This project is uncommon as it's a rare case of hand made chainmail made for commission. Without talking about numbers this is neither a task in which anyone is usually willing to put in the hours nor the money. Both Thomas and Christian put in their passion for history to make this happen. You earned my deep respect!

Pictures: Courtesy of Thomas Weinhold. Closeup pictures by me.

Chinese Mountain Scale Armor 山文铠. Which one

Chinese Mountain Scale Armor 山文铠. Which one is convincing you?

Chinese shoulder pauldrons have this specific pattern that looks like mountains. Since my earlier posts I keep finding more and more interpretations of it. While the type in picture 3 matches the look, arrows did push the scales aside in a test shot. That happened even though the scales were connected by rings on the backside.

Pictures 4 and 6 show examples from Song dynasty respectively Tang dynasty period.

Do you think it's made of rings or scales? Let's see what the majority of you votes for.

Sources:
1: Henrickson on Devianart: deviantart_com/henrickson/art/DW6-Guan-Ping-s-armor-scales-165350661
2: Todd Feinman on Armourarchives: forums_armourarchive_org/phpBB3/viewtopic_php?f=1&t=161368&p=2844783#p2844783
3: greatmingmilitary_blogspot_com/2015/08/myth-of-shan-wen-kia_html
4: blog_sina_com_cn/s/blog_61ac03b40101qxat_html
5&6: J2019 on historum: historum_com/threads/song-dynasty-armor-and-other-form-of-chinese-armor_176111/page-18#post-3093157

The artful and resourceful way to make a ring. Yet

The artful and resourceful way to make a ring. Yet is it helpful for making chainmail?

This unique method was performed and shared by metal artist János Gábor Varga. He is a jeweller from Hungary who lives in Italy.

Check out his insta @blindspotjewellery There is more like this. János also has a website: blindspotjewellery.carbonmade.com

One ring unlike the others. What is the big ring i

One ring unlike the others. What is the big ring in the center meant for? Can you help me with your ideas?

This harness is made of heavy gauge rings. It is dated to15th/16th century Germany.

The piece is exhibited in the Oberhausmuseum, Passau, Germany. Picture by Wolfgang Sauber on wikimedia_org.

A Swiss or German mail cape, also know as bishop's

A Swiss or German mail cape, also know as bishop's mantle. It dates from 1520 to 1530. The collar is made of finer and stronger riveted rings with two lines of brass rings. The Cape us closed with a buckle on what appears to be the backside. Unlike other examples this one doesn't have brass rings stripes at the lower end.

This is found in the online collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art as article 1921.1256.

Russian mail shirt, second half of 16th century. A

Russian mail shirt, second half of 16th century. All rings are riveted.
.
>>>колцуга россия. вторая половина 16 в железо, ковка<<<
.
According to legend the mail armour was found on the battlefield of Kulikovo near the Don River (Today Tula Oblast, Russia). This battle in the year 1380 is seen as a turning point that weakened the Mongol domination over Russia.

A huge thanks to @fay_armoury_ who took the pictures in the State Historical Museum in Moscow and shared them with us. 👍

Shirt of Mail and plate ~1480, probably Egyptian.

Shirt of Mail and plate ~1480, probably Egyptian. "Glory to our Sultan, the master, the king of the kings, the wise, the ruler.." The gilded inscription on the plate indicates that this armour was made for Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Quaitbay.

Most of the rings are iron based. Yet the hems are decorated with copper-alloy rings. Half of the rings are solid. They have a beautiful pattern pressed onto them. I especially fell in love with the reddish appearance of the alloy. It possibly contains a lot of copper. Usually copper based rings appear more yellow.

The armor weighs 11kg /25 lb. It is part of the glorious collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. @metmuseum (Item 2016.99)

English Mail fragment dated 1400 to 1600 This fra

English Mail fragment dated 1400 to 1600

This fragment was discovered in the area of Devon, England in 2014. The rings are made of copper alloy with 18mm diameter and 2mm thickness. They show trackes of silvering on the surface. Likely they served a decorative purposes. They appear to be butted, maybe soldered.

The rings are quite big. Furthermore they are bend. I find that quite strange. Was it even part of chainmail armour or something completely different?

Picture by Danielle Wootton on finds_org_uk. Artefact ID: DEV-600825

Chainmail of Pyotr Ivanovich Shuisky, 16th century

Chainmail of Pyotr Ivanovich Shuisky, 16th century, Russia. Петру Ивановичу Шуйскому

The armour is a long straight shirt with a square cut for the neck and short sleeves. It is made of 16000 rather big riveted rings. The weight is almost 12 kg.

On its left side is a round copper-alloy plaque with the name of its owner Shuisky. After Shuisky was killed 1564 near Orshahis, his armour passed into the Russian royal treasury and an arsenal mark was attached to it.
Picture and information from swordmaster_org/2012/12/31/page,1,2,russkie-dospehi-i-oruzhie_html. The armour belongs to a Museum in Moscow. Unfortunatley I don't know which.

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