Want to make chainmail? This is how to do it!

So you want to learn how to make your own 4in1 chainmail? Look no further! It is actually not hard, just takes lots of time. This post is just for the basics to get you started, the more advanced stuff is quite difficult to explain in a post. Anyway, lets get started!

You need only four things:

1st: two pliers, get at least a small and a large one, ideally get two small ones. They will come in handy when making large pieces of chainmail.

2nd: Rings, lots of rings! When you first get into it, try to find large rings with at least 10mm inner diameter to get a feel for it. It makes it a whole lot easier to get started when you use large rings. I used 8mm galvanized rings. I used thousands of rings for this project.

3rd: Time, time and more time...When you are fresh to chainmail making, it will take you quite some time to get a 5 by 5cm square of mail done. With practise, you will get a lot faster!

 4th: This is the most important one. Get yourself some nice tea or coffee (beer and mead does wonders) and some music while working, keeps the heat down and makes you forget the time you invested. :D

First we prepare open rings. I usually prepare a batch of at least 300-500. Grab the ring at both ends with the cut facing upwards and open it in a twisting motion.

Also prepare closed rings. Close em with the same twisting motion.
These are the most needed ones. a grand prepared is a good start. Usually make 3 times the ammount of the open ones.

Now we grab an open ring and put four closed ones onto it. Also prepare a bunch of them. They are the most basic "link"

Once closed it looks like this. Some might wonder where the 4in1 comes from. This is where it comes from! One ring links four other rings. The most basic chainmail weave.
There's also 2in4, 6in1, or heaven forbid, 8in2!

Take a couple 4in1 packs and spread them on a table like this. It already takes the shape of chainmail. Remember how the middle ring connects the other four.

Now take two 4in1 packs and overlap em. Now comes the tricky part. We need to join them. Take an open ring and thread the two packs together.
I usually prepare long strings like this and then further connect them later.

Once closed, it should look like this.
Congratulations, we finally made our first tiny chaimail segment!

Now the "advanced" part, linking two segments together on the sides.

Again, thread in an open ring to join the segments.

Done! Our first larger piece! Now the tedious part. You have to do this 100s of times to get your chainmail done. Rinse and repeat. It takes time.

Make sure you take frequent breaks. It really goes into your wrists and hands!

Hours an some beers / tea or coffees later, you end up with this. "proper" chainmail!

Properly crafted without mistakes, it should flow like this when pulled on it. I pulled downwards on the hauberk.

When you want to wear it, make sure you wear padding underneath. An aketon or better, a thick gambeson. Also wear a belt over it, it massively reduced the weight on the shoulders and it looks way better!

Hope you enjoyed this tiny guide and even more, hope you learned something!