Scalemail

In between Chainmail and Plate armor is Scale mail. I thought I'd try my hand at it.

I have most of the equipment, except I found I need a real drill press, since I'll have drill a couple thousand holes.

First I tried making some scales out of a brass kickplate I used for the trim on my gauntlets. Brass is very easy to cut.

Next, I tried it with some regular sheet metal steel. Also easy to cut.

But I really want them made from Stainless Steel, so I won't have to worry about them rusting. I purchased a 0.030 inch stainless steel 1 foot by 2 feet sheet. Learning from the mistakes I made with the Brass and normal steel, I followed these steps.

1: Create a scale template. Just for fun, I welded a screw onto it so it would be easier to use.

2: Draw a couple rows of scales on the stainless steel. (You can see my template scale with the bolt there next to the pen)

3: Cut out the scales with my throatless shear. Half way thru, I had to straighten the partially-cut pieces so I could continue cutting. These are the raw-cut scales.

4: Using my newly facebook-marketplace-purchased grinder, clean up the cut-out scales.

5: Punch a Pilot hole in preparation for drilling.

6: Try and drill a hole with my Ryobi drill. (This part didn't go so well). The drill bit scorched the scale, and it was difficult to drill completely thru. This is where I'll need a real drill press.

I'll probably fall back to normal steel and somehow condition it to prevent rust. Otherwise, I'll need to buy about $100 of stainless steel.

Stayed tuned for more armor-making mis-adventures.