How To Make Chainmail/Chainmaille (Mayle)

How to make chainmaille (mayle)

Posted by Glittering Edge

About

This Is just a small look into how I make all my mayle. The only things I change is the rod size and the wire gauge (and occasionally wire material, eg; brass, steel etc). In this tutorial I am using 1.6mm galvanised steel wire and 5mm diameter rod. I am usung a pair of diagonal cutting pliers (more expensive ones are easier to use by far and last at least 300x longer!) needlenose pliers (shortened slightly) and hook nose pliers. Note, both the latter-mentioned pliers need to have NO TEETH otherwise you risk marking the wire and leaving a poor looking finish on the mayle. The time put is for tutorial prep time only. Your results may vary depending on experience.
I would be happy to be shown other peoples projects based on my teachings :)

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You Will Need (5 things)

  • 2 Flat Needle Nose Pliers I use needlonose and hooknose but its down to personal taste and comfort
  • 1 Wire Cutters
  • 1 Any size you want. 8mm diameter is a good size for beginners Rod steel
  • Wire
  • 1 Winding Jig

Steps (14 steps, 15 minutes)

  1. 1

    My basic setup. Jig, 2 work pliers 1 pair of diagonal cutters and some wire.

  2. 2

    Hole drilled in the end of the steel rod big enough for the wire to fit through.

  3. 3

    Starting to wind, keep the wire flush on each new layer and wind slowly to be sure you dont mess it up.

  4. 4

    Snip the part of the wire that goes the hole to remove the rod from the coil

  5. 5

    Coil removed from the jig

  6. 6

    Built up supply of coils.

  7. 7

    Stretch it out aenough for the cutters to be able to snip the wire. Depending on the quality of the wire and winding you sometimes get slightly uneven stretching which is easily remidied

  8. 8

    Leave a slight overlap when cutting to ensure you get an even circle when the link is closed

  9. 9

    Building up the link amounts.. This may take a while..

  10. 10

    Close view of the "basic unit" or starting point. 4 links are each joined up by 1 central link.

  11. 11

    2 closed links with 1 open will be added to the starting point

  12. 12

    Before closing the next link up, put it through 2 links on the starting point.

  13. 13

    The piece is now growing

  14. 14

    End piece for my tutorial. You can easily add more links in and direction desired. Sometimes you may link up 1 link with 3 or 5 by mistake. It happens, but if caught in good time can easily be remedied or ignored.

    Look out for my next tutorial Mayle Star