[Regia-NA] Mail?

[J K Siddorn]

Ah. Russell Scott is not a Regia member. However, he is an Important Figure
in A.N. Other Superficially Similar Society and has been doing this a long
time. Do you have difficulties with his interpretation of Norse Female
Dress?

AFAIK, the iron rings found in mail cannot be said to be either round or
square. Indeed, it is difficult to find any two that are the same in cross
section ! They all appear to have been formed from wire drawn through a
block. That block may have had a round hole punched or drilled into it, but
of course it wears rapidly as the wire being drawn through it is only a
little softer - if at all - than the iron from which the block is formed.

Riveted links are necessarily flattened at their ends. The degree of
flattening, the deformation of the rest of the ring and subsequent
reshaping - or not - in a swaging block are all very individual.

Rings that are not riveted SEEM to have been forged hot into a hammer welded
circle. I am still unconvinced that this is possible with a ring of 8mm ID
or below.

Currently available "best guess" materials are the Forth Armouries stuff,
but it is too flat and too uniform - but it is currently the best available
at an affordable price.

Regia uses an evolving form which started with square section 6mm washers,
then 8mm specially wound on a 6mm former, then solid 1mm square rings in 8mm
ID stamped from sheet  (thus having one sub-rectangular face) and currently,
these latter are currently joined by 8mm x 1mm round section spring steel
unplated rings. At £65 for 20,000, they are a reasonable approach to the
overall appearance of a ring byrnie from the period at a reasonable price.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Bacon is a friend
in the salad bowl of life


----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Priest-Dorman" <capriest@cs.vassar.edu>
To: <list-regia-na@lig.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 8:22 PM
Subject: RE: [Regia-NA] Mail?


> Halvgrimr wrote:
>
> >I know that in the article Rus Scott wrote about mail he believed that
> >"There are no square sectioned links, at best there is the possibility of
> >some flat rectangular sectioned links."
> >
> >I am not sure how he came to that conclusion but I am sure he has done
> >more research on the subject than I have.
>
> If this is the same Russell Scott who wrote "Female Viking Dress," don't
> count on it.
>
>
> Carolyn Priest-Dorman              Þóra Sharptooth
>   http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/thora.html
>
>
>
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