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shamelessly stolen from imgur. After I posted my chainmail projects last night, ATimeTravellingRobotFromTheFuture asked how I made it from paperclips, and after

After I posted my chainmail projects last night, ATimeTravellingRobotFromTheFuture asked how I made it from paperclips, and after my lengthy explanation, said it was worthy of a post of its own. So here it is.
What you'll need-
jumbo paperclips-a metric **** ton. I don't know what steel they are, but for lack of a better word, shiniest works best. The scores ones definitely won't work, though.
Something to use as a mandrel- I'm using a 3/16 inch round file
Vice grips
Two pairs of pliers-I prefer needle nose
Clippers
Something to hold the rings and tiny scraps- I use altoid tins
A lot of patience!
yes, I know there are more effective ways of making maille (drills, 600 foot fencing coils from Home Depot, being sane), (spools of wire are like way cheaper than paperclips. Unless you steal the paper clips from your office. If you really want to be industrial about it, buy locking washers in bulk and if you check out my other album, I've used all of those things in my other projects. This one is simply a (somewhat masochistic) self imposed challenge to see what I can make with paper clips, and I wanted to share it with you guys.

(Enlarge)

Bend your paperclips out more or less straight- the last turn may be harder to get out because there's not a lot of leverage, so I usually use the pliers to get it straight.

(Enlarge)

Repeat. A lot. Each paper clip only yields 8 or 9 rings, so just straighten out a bunch. Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.

(Enlarge)

Grab your mandrel. Not to be confused with grab your mandrill. A mandrel is the tool you use to manipulate items around, so it's relatively safe to grab. Mandrills, however, are primates that will likely hurt you if you grabbed them, and you don't have you chainmail to protect you yet, so don't do that.

(Enlarge)

Use your vice grip to firmly clamp a short length of the wire parallel to the mandrel.

(Enlarge)

If you're a righty like me, make a 90 degree bend downwards as close to the end of the vice as possible. If you're a lefty, reverse what you see in the picture, I'll make things easier later.

(Enlarge)

Wind the wire around the mandrel as tightly as possible. There will probably be some natural bumps from the paper clips, but if you guide them along, they don't really make for much of a problem

(Enlarge)

Once you can't push the wire down with your hand anymore, the coil is done.

(Enlarge)

Instead of cutting off that extra bit, you can push it down with your pliers to get a little more usable metal.

(Enlarge)

First, snip off the end of the wire that the vice grip held at a pint along the coil. Then, snip off the tiny straight section that's left from the other side that you used the pliers on. Doing so will make every thing the same. If you leave on the straight bit, I've noticed they tend to slip more often, and when that's 1 in 9 of your rings, that's a lot of slipping.

(Enlarge)

This is what your coil should look like after it's been snipped.
(clean your fingernails)

(Enlarge)

Start cutting the rings by placing your clippers right at the edge of the coil and cut the next. Repeat until you're done

(Enlarge)

And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men. Each paper clip generally gives 9 rings, but if you put it too far in the vice you might get 8. Anyway, just don't turn into a Nazgûl, okay?

(Enlarge)

Now that you have a bunch of rings- they should all look like the one in the middle- not entirely shut, but diagonally touching. What you'll want to do is close a bunch as completely as you can like on the right, and open a bunch a bit wider, like on the left.

(Enlarge)

Take four closed rings, and slide the onto an open ring, like so. This creates the basic unit of the European 4-in-1 pattern

(Enlarge)

After you've closed the center ring, repeat until you have four copies. (I call these things "units")

(Enlarge)

Bit by bit, putting it together And I mean that very literally. Place two of your units like this, center rings facing up, with the bottom rings of the top unit overlapping the top rings of the bottom unit.

(Enlarge)

This part is really too hard to capture on camera alone with the rings so I'm just using a paperclip. This is where the left/right handed was thing comes in. You want to pass the ring in the space between the overlapped rings, where the paper clip is pointed. The handed curve of the ring makes the next step easier.

(Enlarge)

Pass the ring under the units, making sure that it only comes out through the mirror image of the gap where it went in. It should poke up in the area where the paper clip is. Close the ring on the top of the units. It's easiest that way

(Enlarge)

All right now it's finally starting to look like something!

(Enlarge)

Make another tower (or column, whatever you want to call it) and lay them next to one another facing the same way (middle rings facing away from you). Pass a ring in the gap in between the top two inside rings (where the paperclip is pointed)

(Enlarge)

Keep passing that ring through the same gap in the next tower, as indicated by the paperclip. Close it on top, again, for sake of ease.

(Enlarge)

Look at that! We made the twin towers of Frey. We're awful people. Anyway, all that's left to do is repeat steps 20 and 21 down the rest of the center and...

(Enlarge)

Congratulations! You made enough chainmail to outfit a cricket! Go get yourself a cookie, you deserve it. If you'd like to armor slightly larger creatures, however, you'll need a few more rings and a little more time, but all you have to do is repeat the process. Sleeves and such aren't that hard once you get the hang of the basics, and I just improvise mine and they work out okay enough. But that's a story for a different day. Enjoy your sheet of chainmail if you stuck around this whole time, you cool person! My only real concern is the durability of the finish.. Paperclips are galvanized and all.. but th ey're **** metal. probably just for decoration. www.homedepot.com/p/OOK-16-Gauge-25-ft-Galvanized-Steel-Wire-50130/100242844

YF by the end
source maker: imgur.com/gallery/Gwvuv

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Views:	34522
Favorited:	278
Submitted:	11/29/2015

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[ 87 comments ]

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51 comments displayed.

+69

#2 - kageshi (11/29/2015) [-]

chain mail for your dick

#79 to #2 - nowthatsedgy (11/30/2015) [-]

+11

#8 to #2 - thearcher (11/29/2015) [-]

....Why does this exi-oh, right, perverts

#48 to #2 - lexoheight (11/30/2015) [-]

Chain male

#40 to #2 - sonicsyndicate (11/30/2015) [-]

for when youre raiding a cannibal village and raping its townsfolk

#24 to #2 - anon (11/30/2015) [-]

I am aroused but not amused and demand to show that old fashion condom in action.

+12

#17 to #2 - madeofhydrogen ONLINE (11/29/2015) [-]

I imagine that'd be pretty painful

Imagine a stray edge of metal slowly slicing your dick

#31 to #17 - jakotad (11/30/2015) [-]

Kinky

+85

#4 - beatorikusu (11/29/2015) [-]

Immediate recognition from the first picture.

Chain-mail stuff looks awesome too!

#52 to #4 - studbeefpile (11/30/2015) [-]

close enough

#34 to #4 - Lilstow (11/30/2015) [-]

I feel like it could work, but not by somebody autistic enough to try it.
Issue is you would need patience. Wait for someone to ask you for one without you offering, say yes, let that spread over weeks.
Really this is only a thing that could work if it was accidental.

+13

#44 - volcanicdiarrhea (11/30/2015) [-]

My roommate has been making chainmail for a while.
Last year, she made me a dice bag for my birthday.

#54 to #44 - thesweetape (11/30/2015) [-]

You mean your mom? that's actually really ******* cool man

+13

#25 - hideyoshi (11/30/2015) [-]

here's a bit i started to make a while back. that's from the top of my leg to just past my knee. took me all six star wars movies to make that. never finished it since i lost the metal dowel rod i used to make the rings.

#42 to #25 - candlejackismyhomi (11/30/2015) [-]

>Took me all six star wars movies to make that
Are you counting credits, or just the runtime of valid footage?

#66 to #42 - hideyoshi (11/30/2015) [-]

credits and all.

#71 to #66 - candlejackismyhomi (11/30/2015) [-]

That's a remarkably accurate measurement of time.

#36 to #25 - chimpaflimp (11/30/2015) [-]

>Measure diameter of hole in ring
>Google Xmm diameter metal rod
>Purchase rod
>??????????
>Profit.

+11

#41 to #25 - sonicsyndicate (11/30/2015) [-]

yea sure thats your "leg"

+13

#21 - dovahnon (11/30/2015) [-]

Spicie meatball

+13

#9 - noxface (11/29/2015) [-]

Chainmail takes ******* ages enough to make already without the extra steps. Wanna make yourself a chainmail shirt with pre-made links? still gonna take lik 150hr+

#62 - yankeerose (11/30/2015) [-]

This is my current project. I'm slowly making a chain-mail shirt out of coke-can toppers. I really like how this pattern looks.

#6 - ilovepawgs (11/29/2015) [-]

Or you can just order chain mail links and save time...

#19 - anon (11/29/2015) [-]

dude at my school made chainmail out of 6000 soda can tabs
he also uses fj so im posting as anon

#75 to #19 - theasexualgamer (11/30/2015) [-]

>>#62
I think I found him

#83 to #75 - yankeerose (11/30/2015) [-]

Nope not me. Hacn't been in school for quite a while.

#45 to #19 - thegamepixel ONLINE (11/30/2015) [-]

he's still gonna know its you.

#51 - sugoi (11/30/2015) [-]

Don't to it guys, it makes mustard gas.

#67 - dickmin (11/30/2015) [-]

Dude, nice! Finally a way for me to protect my virginity!

#28 - anon (11/30/2015) [-]

**anonymous used "*roll picture*"**
**anonymous rolled image** If I ever have 54857 hours to waste, I 'll give this a shot!

#22 - turkeyslapper ONLINE (11/30/2015) [-]

I made a whole shirt of chainmail, took me ages. Also been dabbling in scalemail.

#23 to #22 - turkeyslapper ONLINE (11/30/2015) [-]

Also you should make a jig for making the wire coils, twisting it by hand is torture.

#26 to #23 - blamie ONLINE (11/30/2015) [-]

^^^^^^^This. I have a jig just like that for making chainmail for SCA armor. If anyone wants real chainmail that can take a serious blow, do what op did but use jig like that, use 3/8'' or 5/16'' threaded rod and 14.5 gauge galvanized steel wire. Use sheet metal shears to cut the loops, and 2 pairs of decent needle nose pliers to manipulate them.you can go a step futher by using an oversize mandrel and hammering the ends of the loops flat, pushing them on top of each other and drilling and riveting them but thats really not worth it unless you have a machine that does it.

#27 to #26 - turkeyslapper ONLINE (11/30/2015) [-]

Yeh I started my chainmail with 2mm galvanized wire same as 14.5g i think (9.5mm ring size), I found out later that you can't weld gal because it gives off toxic fumes. So mine is just butted mail. (Idk if you've seen them but you can get ring welder machine) maybe i'll get different wire and the welder for the next project so i can have nice closed rings.

#86 to #27 - lovot (11/30/2015) [-]

DISCLAIMER: This process generates hazardous fumes that will turn into acid upon contact with water, so getting the fumes inside your lungs or in your eyes isn't pleasant, only attempt outside or under an exhaust hood, stay upwind. The acid is the same stuff used in your stomach to digest things, and it will try to digest you if you get it in or on you, so keep some baking soda water on hand to quickly neutralize any acid that gets where it shouldn't be. Also, the bubbles are hydrogen.

You can de-galvanize the entire thing using hydrochloric acid, muriatic acid works great and is sold as a pool chemical, it's really just diluted hydrochloric acid. Fill a plastic or glass container with enough acid to completely submerge the mail, make sure the container has sides at least twice as high as the acid level. Submerge the mail in the acid bath for for two minutes (the acid bath will bubble quite a lot initially and calm down a bit after the zinc has been dissolved, at this point the acid is slowly eating away at the underlying steel). Remove the mail using something that will resist the acid, hanging the mail on a thick piece of steel or copper wire will work. Rinse the mail with water to get rid of the acid, and then dry it. The mail will be highly susceptible to rust after this process, so take preventative measures.

This process is used to prep steel parts for coating and painting, and it is highly effective, if a bit hazardous. Aluminum, zinc, and other such metals react strongly with HCL (they are quickly dissolved and produce a bunch of heat and hydrogen) while copper and iron have a much higher resistance.

#18 - putincanmeltcrimea (11/29/2015) [-]

**putincanmeltcrimea used "*roll picture*"**
**putincanmeltcrimea rolled image**this is quite nice and i admire your work but if the mail isnt riveted its not much use other than the entertaining look, is there?

#32 to #18 - jakotad (11/30/2015) [-]

It's made out of paperclips, its just for looks

#12 - thejammer (11/29/2015) [-]

#43 - rudeobuteo (11/30/2015) [-]

hmm, you could get a bunch of paper clips and painstakingly straighten them and wrap them individually around the pole....or you could just go to the hardware store and buy some 16 gauge galvanized wire for like nothing

#64 to #43 - arzyk (11/30/2015) [-]

You can get a half mile spool of galvanized fencing wire at any TSC for like $25 that's where I got mine, made a hauberk, took forever

#47 to #43 - banfio ONLINE (11/30/2015) [-]

#37 - mutzaki (11/30/2015) [-]

Something something mustard gas.

#7 - meowmeowman (11/29/2015) [-]

Made a whole shirt for part of my senior project.

#5 - lathyrusvii (11/29/2015) [-]

Dyslexia kills the man.

#1 - wilicious (11/29/2015) [-]

This is pretty ******* awesome.

1 2 3 >

[ 87 comments ]

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shamelessly stolen from imgur

Bend your paperclips out more or less straight- the last turn may be harder to get out because there's not a lot of leverage, so I usually use the pliers to get it straight.

Repeat. A lot. Each paper clip only yields 8 or 9 rings, so just straighten out a bunch. Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.

Use your vice grip to firmly clamp a short length of the wire parallel to the mandrel.

If you're a righty like me, make a 90 degree bend downwards as close to the end of the vice as possible. If you're a lefty, reverse what you see in the picture, I'll make things easier later.

Wind the wire around the mandrel as tightly as possible. There will probably be some natural bumps from the paper clips, but if you guide them along, they don't really make for much of a problem

Once you can't push the wire down with your hand anymore, the coil is done.

Instead of cutting off that extra bit, you can push it down with your pliers to get a little more usable metal.

This is what your coil should look like after it's been snipped. (clean your fingernails)

Start cutting the rings by placing your clippers right at the edge of the coil and cut the next. Repeat until you're done

And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men. Each paper clip generally gives 9 rings, but if you put it too far in the vice you might get 8. Anyway, just don't turn into a Nazgûl, okay?

Now that you have a bunch of rings- they should all look like the one in the middle- not entirely shut, but diagonally touching. What you'll want to do is close a bunch as completely as you can like on the right, and open a bunch a bit wider, like on the left.

Take four closed rings, and slide the onto an open ring, like so. This creates the basic unit of the European 4-in-1 pattern

After you've closed the center ring, repeat until you have four copies. (I call these things "units")

Bit by bit, putting it together And I mean that very literally. Place two of your units like this, center rings facing up, with the bottom rings of the top unit overlapping the top rings of the bottom unit.

Pass the ring under the units, making sure that it only comes out through the mirror image of the gap where it went in. It should poke up in the area where the paper clip is. Close the ring on the top of the units. It's easiest that way

All right now it's finally starting to look like something!

Make another tower (or column, whatever you want to call it) and lay them next to one another facing the same way (middle rings facing away from you). Pass a ring in the gap in between the top two inside rings (where the paperclip is pointed)

Keep passing that ring through the same gap in the next tower, as indicated by the paperclip. Close it on top, again, for sake of ease.

Look at that! We made the twin towers of Frey. We're awful people. Anyway, all that's left to do is repeat steps 20 and 21 down the rest of the center and...

YF by the end source maker: imgur.com/gallery/Gwvuv

Comments(87):

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This is what your coil should look like after it's been snipped.
(clean your fingernails)

YF by the end
source maker: imgur.com/gallery/Gwvuv