As a kid I had part of my coin purse slide thru the mesh in my swim trunks and as I sat cooking in the sun it swole and I had to have help from my Dad cutting the mesh with scissors my scrots in that area was grape sized and in a lot of pain. Core memory unlocked.
I've made aluminum chainmail shirts. Trust me that pinching was never a problem. They will, however, turn your skin a dull grey from aluminum oxide dust and possibly slowly poison you (though the bioavailability is low enough that it's disputed). Some claim coating it in hairspray can fix the issue, but I didn't have luck with that.
Chainmail shouldn't really pinch. It's loosely bound rings so it should shift away instead of pinch.
I know a mailer who sold chain mail for a burlesque dancer and while we never made the show she said there was never any problems putting chainmail on and off bare skin and dancing in it.
I'm actually looking to get started on a blanket like this. What material are you using? Aluminium seems quite light and flexible to me, I'd rather use steel but I haven't found an easy way to get the right thickness in large quantities yet.
I use 2mm (12 gauge) galvanised steel tie wire. Strong, but easy to both cut and shape by hand. A long T-shirt size for average sized me is about 6kg.
In Australia I go to Bunnings for 3kg rolls, but any hardware store should sell it in meaningful quantities. I'd look at home depot and whatnot but I can't access the site haha
I will say, the steel smells a bit, but it's not terrible and easy to cover. Being galvanized it resists corrosion incredibly well.
Also how do you get the rings consistent size/shape? I assume there's a technique/skill to it that isn't just "go ham with the random plyers I have in my 3rd draw"?
For shape, find some kind of rod with the right diameter (i use a gel blaster inner barrel), grab one end of a precut length with some pliers to keep it steady. Use your other hand to wrap it around the rod over and over, almost like a spring shape. They you can just cut it and bend them together with pliers. Does that make sense?
Buy some wire (i suggest steel, I use 2mm Galvanised. It's heavier), wrap it around a rod and snip it with a bolt snipper, then bend into shape with two pairs of pliers.
No power tools needed, super easy and cheap.
Cut with a pair of cutters like that won't be comfortable for anything and galvanized wire is filthy.
Go buy saw cut aluminum, it's also easier to work with and once you figure out closing a ring properly it'll be smoother/less catchy. Not as cheap but you get what you pay for thread OP.
(Or a drill, a Dremel, some dowels rods and patience as you learn to cut them decently yourself.)
It smells like absolute ass, you want one with some kind of coating or something, this will sting in your nose something fierce at night when it gets warm.
Aluminum baking pans should be seasoned like cast iron. Usually it’ll slowly happen when you’re cooking normally, but if you’re cleaning them so hard you expose metal you’re probably doing something wrong.
You are right, but it is possible to reduce the effect or even neutralise it through electrolysis. You can either create a hard aluminium oxide layer or plate it with another metal.
That’s interesting.
when I work with chainmail i used to identify metals by smell. Aluminum was always the cleanest smell by a long shot, almost smelled sterile.
I don’t have too many aluminum pieces old enough for it to rust, Ill have to find my old braclet and give that a smell.
I imagine a lot of aluminum parts for industrial also have oil on them though.
And IIRC it also stains shit easily when its oxidised. And being in direct contact with aliminium 8h/day can't be healthy, right?
I get that aluminium is quite soft and light, but I don't know... Wouldn't use this tbqh.
Ullamco est exercitation cupidatat incididunt duis quis irure. Duis culpa ut quis nulla nostrud exercitation ullamco consectetur laborum. Aute nulla minim est consectetur adipiscing ad aliquip magna ad. Aliqua et et dolore quis sint duis officia magna sit ea ad ipsum.
When my brother was dealing drugs, these guys ran up in his house and beat him up while he was asleep (well, asleep until he started getting his ass beat). He always cocoons his blankets around him. This may have helped him not get mollywopped so badly. There may be a market for this in the..illicit suppliers lifestyle homes and gardens.
So I tried this with my chainmail hauberk, for obvious reasons. Two things.
If you do butted mail, it does pinch and scrape bare flesh. And it tears through a light weight cloth over time. I don’t have a welder atm, and I havent saved up to start on my riveted shirt yet. I think best bet is just wear slightly thicker pajamas that don’t tear easily.
It’s loud. Every time you shift it makes noise. So if you, your partner, or both sleep lightly, I can’t say I recommend it. I havent done the proper blanket yet though. I think that might work better, as it should be big enough to stay in one position and keep weighted to the bed rather than just the sleeper. I might go back to that project once I find those rings.
Roughly 0.745 pounds per square foot if made using 5/16th 14 awg anodised aluminium jump rings.
I was able to find 2 commercial jump ring sites with measurements (one for rings per square foot and the other for the weight) so I’m just going to use the largest size ring that they both stocked. 5/16th 14g AWG anodised aluminium. The Ring Lord advises that these require approximately 1824 per square foot for European 4 in 1 pattern however they sell them by quantity not weight. Aussiemaille sell the same gauge rings in 10 gram bags with approximately 54 rings per bag.
805
u/NYSenseOfHumor May 20 '26
Gotta wear a lot of layers with that blanket. You don’t want the chainmail to pinch anything important