Quote Originally Posted by BLAZN View Post
14awg is fairly stiff stuff, as I'm sure you know.
The strip I made will likely be absorbed into the coif I have started. I'm debating whether I want to do a coif with a full mantle or not.
14ga copper isn't *bad*, but if you made a full-length byrnie or hauberk of the stuff, the shoulder links would very likely pull themselves apart - especially if the wearer was doing anything like live steel combat work.

I was doing most of the "decorative" links in my mail with silicon bronze welding rod - 16ga and 14ga to match the case-hardened steel link gauges.

I'd finish a piece, then take it over to a buddy of mine, toss the mail into his heat-treating kiln, bring it up to temperature to burn off the zinc from the steel (galvanized steel is a PITA - it gets white and fuzzy after a bit) and drop it directly from the zinc burn-off temperature into a bucket of cold used crankcase oil. It helped harden the links up a bit.

Don't try that at home, BTW. Zinc fumes == ickiness. Hence the use of an outdoor kiln that already had a ventilation system.

I played with riveting my mail for a while. That was tedious and nasty. I was chiseling the rivets from a strip of metal to make little tiny wedges, and they'd occasionally go interesting places as they flew off the end of the strip.

Yes, I wore goggles for that. Goggles don't cover your nose. I replaced the goggles with a full-face shield after getting a wee sliver of steel stuck just inside my nostril, which hurt rather a lot.

And since it was stainless steel, it wasn't magnetic. So it was a bit harder to pull out...