New control room was finished finished.
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About another 6" to the length and I'm done.
Chainmail is almost complete:
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A bastard sword in one hand and a beer in the other is the only way to do battle properly.
About another 6" to the length and I'm done. The lack of sleeves is intentional. When complete, I will have used about 1200 feet of galvanized steel wire (somewhere between 5000 and 6000 rings), and it will weigh about 17 lbs. Cost about $50 and 14 hours of work.
I did some tests with a 4" by 10" section with a hatchet to see how it would hold up against weapons. First I laid it across a couch cushion and gave it five good hits. Aside from some nicks and some of the rings opening a bit, it held up pretty well. Next, I laid it across the palm of my left hand and took some swings. Surprisingly, its pretty good as dissipating impact. The pattern gives it some spring so it spreads impact similarly to the way a bulletproof vest works. So the belief that all chainmail does is turn a sword into a club is somewhat flawed. It's not completely battle-ready, real chainmail is riveted and this isn't, so eventually rings would start falling off, but if someone gave me one or two good hits with a sword I'd probably live and not be too injured.
I haven't had an arrow fired at me since JuanBolio sold his bow at a yard sale a few years ago, so I'm probably good.doesn't do you any good when some archer sticks an arrow through your brainpan from 20 feet away.
WOW! Awesome pictures!!
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