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Maille and plate leg armour

by armourkris on August 6, 2009 Table of Contents Maille and plate leg armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: Maille and plate leg armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 7 7

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

Intro: Maille and plate leg armour

Here is My new leg armour. I opted not to make an instructable for them since they just use a continuation of the techniques in my Maille and Plates Armour instructable. These are made from 1-1/4" pallet banding again, however i used 9mm flattened wedge rivet rings for the maille(meaning that i had to rivet EVERY ring shut) and a dished 16 gauge knee cop. all the buckles and fittings are hand made as well from 3/4" pallet banding and nails.

Image Notes 1. Here are all the plates cut and polished. i punched hald the holes at the wrong size and had to re-do them *face palm*

Image Notes 1. starting to assemble the columns 2. set tongs for setting the rivets 3. tiny tiny rivets. they are about the size and shape as one of these ^

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

Image Notes 1. that's starting to look like armour now, but it's a little to long

Image Notes 1. the knee cops. they are larger than their historical counter parts to meet SCA safety requirements

Image Notes 1. see all those tiny rivets? that's dedication, patience and definitely more than a little insanity

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

Image Notes 1. deffinetly armour now, but still too long

Image Notes 1. I've cut them down a little shorter now. and i'm getting ready to add the wrap plates

Image Notes 1. now were getting somewhere

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

Image Notes 1. the left leg going together after learning from my mistakes on the right.

Image Notes 1. the right leg ready to strap

Image Notes 1. both legs strapped, all the buckles and strap mounts are hand made. I've also started on the maille on the left leg below the knee.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

Image Notes 1. Now them's some manly garters.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

Related Instructables

Riveted Maille from Scratch. by armourkris

European 4-in-1 maille (chainmail) speedweaving by Paul the Mole

Chain maille embroidered Shirt by Lizander

How to Make Japanese 4-1 Maille (Speedweaving) by ineverfinishanyth

Volume 7 - How to Weave Japanese 2-in-1 by jbb3141

Maille and Plates Armour by armourkris

Comments
20 comments Add Comment

seabee890 says:
nice armor, lover the chain mail also

Feb 19, 2011. 11:28 AM REPLY

Caleastro says:

Dec 23, 2010. 8:17 AM REPLY The reason the plates under lap is for being on horseback. If the plates overlapped the armor would not do much and piercing tools would pass under the armor. This way is glances off. Very nice armor.

Mailleman42 says:

Nov 29, 2010. 3:03 PM REPLY wow, i'm making chainmail and it is taking me forever, i watch all the vids on it and, there rings they use are almost twice as big as mine! i think thats why it taking me longer, but then more protective, hmmm oh i used 14 gauge wire steel galv, not sissy 16 gauged, and i heard of a guy who made "bulletproof" chainmail with 8 gauged wire. i also make dragonscale to supplement my armour, like a layover im from the midwest! children of the corn!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

frollard says:
Riveted maille is a pain - thank goodness it was only for seams :D Great project!

Aug 8, 2009. 3:54 AM REPLY

frollard says:

Aug 8, 2009. 3:57 AM REPLY are those slats overlaying 'bottom to top' or 'top to bottom'? It looks as if they are backward what they should be (photos aren't very clear/closeup) It would seem that attacks would be from 'above'...as would any fluids poured on them - so you'd want them overlapping the other way... --or does that make them not fit properly?

armourkris says:

Aug 9, 2009. 6:39 PM REPLY they do overlap bottom to top, it seems a bit counter intuitive, but every picture I've seen of existing maille and plate armours overlaps this way. I don't think it really makes any functional difference either way, but since thats how it was done historically it;s how i chose to do it.

Ghalko says:

Feb 4, 2010. 3:58 PM REPLY Think horseback. Legs are bent, so anything sharp coming at you would be deflected rather than getting caught in the seams. Also good for keeping lighter metal from getting caught by a low up-swing under your shield.

armourkris says:
That is a verr good point. I probably should have thought of that

Feb 5, 2010. 10:40 AM REPLY

frollard says:
I learned something today! Neat. Maybe makes bending at the knee easier...

Aug 9, 2009. 10:10 PM REPLY

pyrorower says:

Sep 15, 2009. 5:32 AM REPLY I have always wanted to make something like this, though I was going to cut up soup cans to get the plates and had no clue what to do for the knee :P

naruto the ninja13 says:

post an instructable for it please i want to make one (plus it would be good to learn how to make rivieted rings)

Aug 31, 2009. 4:52 AM REPLY

armourkris says:

Sep 7, 2009. 10:58 PM REPLY I'm still working on getting the tools to make my own riveted rings. I bought these rings from Historic enterprises. but once i have the stuff to make my own rings I'll definitely make an instructable on how to do it.

the_burrito_master says:
how'd you make the knee pads?

Aug 29, 2009. 5:02 PM REPLY

armourkris says:

Sep 7, 2009. 10:57 PM REPLY Naruto is right, i dished them. My instructable on making a buckler shows how to dish metal. for knee cops like this start by putting a pencil behing your knee and bending it, then measure the distance over your knee from one side of the pencil to the other, that gives you your width. next measure the distance over the point of your knee to get how tall to make them. once you have those 2 measurements draw a cross using them then draw an oval that touches all 4 points. dish it and you;ve got a basic knee cop. I think that makes sence, if not let me know and i;ll try and clear it up a bit. Aug 31, 2009. 1:14 PM REPLY he bowled a piece of metal and cut it down to the right size i think... if your wondering what bowling is i belive he has an instructable for making a buckler that has how to bowl in it

naruto the ninja13 says:

BlondGuy101 says:
What is the name for this style of armour?

Aug 30, 2009. 7:34 AM REPLY

PastTheVoid says:
Are the rings you used round or flat?

Aug 19, 2009. 11:00 AM REPLY

armourkris says:

Aug 19, 2009. 5:24 PM REPLY they are flat with wedge rivets. technically they should be round with pin rivets to be historically accurate, but i figured that flat riveted rings were still better than round butted ones.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/

DerStu says:

Aug 10, 2009. 2:56 PM REPLY Your new legs look great the, greaves should be awesome you decide to finish them. Just remember to leave enough flexibility so you can drop to a knee quickly, having to add links of chain after you rivet them in place would suck.

999592 says:
very impressive... they look fantastic

Aug 7, 2009. 9:32 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Maille-and-plate-leg-armour/