Armour Flexibility

[Dan Howard]

They look exactly like this (although made from steel ofcourse)

This is the most common type of mail imported from India. If your mail was made in Germany then it was made from links purchased from India.

[attachment=4581]Mail-modernindian1.jpg[/attachment]

It is a lot weaker than historical mail examples - see the myarmoury thread linked above.

Here is a list of some likely problems with your mail
* The thickness of the wire is generally too light for the diameter of the link, making it lighter but less capable of resisting a weapon.
* Holes are made with a punch rather than a drift. This leaves a lot less metal around the rivet to help secure it.
* Rivet holes are either too large or not centred. Both will leave too little material on one or both sides and the link will tear too easily.
* The links are hammered way too thin (probably to make them easier to punch), but this greatly reduces the strength of the link
* Rivets are incorrectly set. If a rivet is not peened tightly, the link will pull apart too easily
* There isn't enough overlap in the lapped section of the link to create a decent join
* Wrong shape rivet hole. Indian mail has rectangular holes. Historical wedge-riveted mail has ovoid holes. Rectangular holes tear very easily at the corners. Circular or ovoid holes are much stronger

Here is a decent reconstruction of Roman mail made by Erik D Schmid