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Chainmail Armor

Showing up to a ren faire in a wool robe and a Gandalf staff is nice, but nothing says "medieval badass" quite like a suit of riveted chainmail and a snarl.

Chain Mail

Chain Mail-the kind you don't have to send to five friends.

Chainmailwas the little black dress for medieval warriors. It was a staple of the Middle Age soldiery, and, before the 13th century, a coat of iron rings was pretty much the only game in town.

The greatest threat to a soldier wearing wasn't a huge, beefy warrior holding a mace with a head larger than your horse's. No, the greatest threat to a coat of mail was rain. That's right. Rain. Steel rings can stop the tempered blade of a longsword, but they are powerless against the faint patter of a mid-day drizzle. Good armorsmiths quenched the rings they made for armor in oil, to help protect them from the elements, but the oil was simply a deterrent. Men-at-arms usually spent the evenings after a battle oiling and cleaning their mail, but this wasn't always effective either. In the end, rust would set in, and the armor had to be rolled in barrels of sand, or scraped by squires.

Steel chain mail these days isn't much better. You can add a zinc coating to your mail, to protect it from the elements, but zinc is heavy. And if you add zinc to steel, you've made a heavy suit of armor ridiculously heavy.

rusted chainmail

Don't let your chain mail become a science project. Buy anodized aluminum.

That's why Strongblade sells chain mail made from riveted and anodized aluminum rings. Aluminum is beautifully light, but looks just like steel. If you've ever worn a suit of steel mail for more than an hour, you will truly appreciate aluminum chain mail. If you've ever tried to spar in a steel suit of chain mail (I have) you'll cry tears of joy when you wear the aluminum one. And if you've ever gone swimming in a suit of steel chain mail, you are not reading this. True, aluminum won't stop a battle axe, but if you're at a ren faire and someone attacks you with a battle axe, you've got bigger problems than tensile strength.

Aluminum chain mail

Aluminum chain mail - Great looking, comfortable, and no care needed.

And yes, it's true, aluminum can corrode. Thank you for the chemistry lesson, Heisenberg. But *anodized* aluminum does not. The anodizational process (yeah, not a chemist) shields the aluminum from the tiny, horned, corrosion monsters that eat aluminum and poop that crusty stuff in your eyes every morning. (Did I mention I'm not a chemist?) Yeah, I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it works. Get a suit of anodized aluminum chain mail and you'll never have to worry about the rings "breaking bad".' So if you're looking for a suit of mail to wear for ren faires, costuming, cosplay, or any other non-lethal purpose, have a look at our chainmail offerings. They're squire-approved!

Please visit our Chainmail page, if you are looking for chainmail or the garmets worn with chainmail.

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