Chainmail project - make your own chainmail bracelet

Chain Mail Bracelet

In the Middle Ages men and women who fought in battles generally wore chain mail, which was both lighter and cheaper (because it was easier to make) than plate armor.

In fact, chain mail is so easy to make that you can do it yourself.

Just go to the hardware section of a department store, or go to a hardware store, and buy some a bunch of small springs, about 1/2 inch (one centimeter) in diameter. You want them in galvanized steel. A typical shirt needs about 10,000 links! (But for a school project you might just make a sort of chain link handkerchief!)

Get a couple of pairs of pliers to hold onto the springs with, and a wire cutter to cut the links apart.

Now, sit down and use the pliers to P-U-L-L the springs apart a little (make them longer than they were). You can have two people pull, one on each end. Then sit with the pliers and a wire cutter and cut one link at a time off the main spring. Cut lots and lots of little links.

Now all your links will be open. Take the pliers and squeeze most of them closed, like this:

Now loop four closed links onto one open link, and close that open one.

Do that a bunch of times, so now you have a lot of little bunches of five links. Then link each of those bunches together using more open links.

Or, you could do the same thing, but without having to cut metal, by using small sections of pipe cleaner, and just twisting them together to close the loops. That would be much easier, and teach the same lesson!

To find out more about chain mail, check out these books from Amazon or from your local library:

Medieval Europe
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