Ironskins Guide to

Make a Laced Coif

Second Version

August 2022
Sebastian Völk
CONTENTS
Introduction 1 Connect at the back ...440. 11

Preparations 2 Final tweaks

Tools: e&: Maternalsı eu ee 0 a 2 Insert the lacesS. . al u
Other things you need. „0... 02000 4 2 Main Lace 0.407 550 0) I
Wash of öl En 3 Neck Hate Tan
Armpit Laces'... 2 aa ER a
Tailoring 4 PoOSSIe eS e C
A look at the restllt ee 4 Face opening tootight........
Mark the parts Do 4 Head-piece too Bght 0.
CH ea 6 Head-piece too long or short ....
Connect the top fringes .......... 8 Grow the chest piece
Build the face-opening .......... 11 Replace bad rings
Add the small rectangles ...... 11 AQd HEISS. LA
Connect at the side ......... 12
Connect at the top... 00040 13 Pictures and Comparison
Bulld:the chest part... 0 Wk 15 Finished Co u A
Connect head and chest-parts...... 16
Connect at the front ......... 16
Connect at the sides ......... 17 Final Annotations
INTRODUCTION
Hello, aspiring mail-maker! I’m feeling honored
that you did enough research to find here and
that you trust in this instruction. You already
have my deep respect for bringing with you the
passion and patience to built something
sophisticated and elaborate.

So welcome to this tailoring project by

ironskin.com. You get to learn to make a
snugly fitting mail coif step by step. Let’s do it!
PREPARATIONS
TOOLS & MATERIALS
These are the things you need:

+ A sheet of mail with 8mm riveted and solid

rings. It should be 33 x 140cm respectively
13 x 5 inches. Have a look on ironskin.com
+ Loose riveted rings 8mm
+ A riveting tong to set rivets
+ Two flat pliers to hold and deform rings
* Cutting pliers or nippers to cut rings
+ Leather laces
+ Colorful marker rings/ paper clips / cord
- This instruction manual

For the following steps it is important that you
get yourself a piece of mail with exactly these
dimensions. The instruction works with
counting rings instead of measuring
centimeters or inches. And therefore the inner
diameter of the rings needs to be 8&mm. With
that considered, it doesn’t matter whether the
rings have a round or a flat cross-section. You
may even use mail with riveted rings only. Yet
I recommend using the combination of riveted
and solid rings. That will make it easier to find
orientation within the mesh and you even get
closer to historic originals.
In case you are making the rings yourself, I
recommend to make a sheet of mail of the
same size and ring count. Don't set any of the
rivets yet. Instead softly push the overlapping
ends together. With that you can take out
smaller parts of the mesh later without
destroying rings.
Figure 1: The tools you need for this project.
During the tailoring-process you will have to
check your progress by putting the mail onto
the shape of a head. So have a big mirror close
by. You could even ask somebody to take
pictures of you. And if you want to have it
really comfortably, you could get yourself a
mannequin-head. That allows you to put the
mail onto the shape while you work on it. For
most people a mirror is absolutely sufficient.
You will notice that the mail can be oily. That
is to prevent it from rusting during storage and
transport. It’s handy to have an old towel at
hand. Also put cardboard or newspaper onto
your desk to save it from oil and scratches.
Furthermore you can collect a few trays and
buckets to organize your loose rings and mail
snippets. With that you are well equipped to
start the project,

OTHER THINGS YOU NEED

Furthermore you will need:

* The clothes to wear under the coif

+ A mirror or even a mannequin head
+ An old towel or cardboard to cover your desk
+ A few trays or bags for loose rings
+ Dish washing soap

Basically any flat-pliers and cutting pliers or

nippers from the hardware shop will do the job.
It is not a bad idea to fetch some inspiration
on ironskin.com in the "Tools on Amazon"
section. This is where you find a list of
recommended tools. Furthermore you can get
the Ironskin-rivet-setting tongs on the website
as well.

PREPARATIONS
WASH OFF OIL
Mail parts typically come soaked in oil. That
helps to prevent them from rust during storage
and transport. You can remove the oil in order
to have a cleaner workplace and to avoid
having oil on your skin and clothes.
Later the rivets naturally bring some oil back
to the mail,
Leave the mail under water for as long as you
can bring up the patience for it. Stir it
occasionally and turn the mail. Remember
you're a mail maker now: Patience is your
strongest virtue. ;) You will be surprised how
much dirty oil and rubbed off metal dirt will
float on the surface and settle near the walls.

Finally take out the mail and rub it dry with

an old spare towel. Don't use this towel for
other purposes anymore.

..
Figure 2: Wash the mail with regular
dish-soap.

Generally you don’t have be worried about rust

when the oil is removed. As long as you move
the mail every now and then and keep it dry, it
doesn't rust. The only thing you need to
consider is sweat.

If your mail gets soaked in sweat, you should

rinse it off afterwards. Otherwise the salt in
the sweat will accelerate rust - even when it’s
stored relatively dry. You can add a bit of
sunflower- canola- or olive-oil to a finished
piece of mail later, Yet for now remove the oil,

Figure 3: Rub the mail with a towel to catch

excess oil.

Put the mail into a bucket or the bathtub and

add water plus dish-washing soap. It is up to
you if you wash the loose rings as well. I
usually wash everything except for the rivets.

PREPARATIONS
TAILORING
A LOOK AT THE RESULT
Following these instructions you will learn to
make a laced coif with a square brim,
A MD
KHEEE
GEELEELE(CCCH
WUCECCCCELC X
Figure 4: The laced coif that we aim to make
MARK THE PARTS
Now that you have acquired or made yourself a
piece of mail, we can start. I mentioned earlier
the dimensions of 33 x 140cm respectively 13
x 5 inches. Yet what we really need is to count
rings: 27 x 129 riveted rings.
Fetch some paperclips or wire scraps to mark
positions. We are using colored butted rings in
the instruction. These colors already give a
hint about how the parts will be connected
later:
+ Red: straight cuts and vertical connections
+ Green: straight cuts and smooth connections
+ Blue: diagonal cuts and connections
+ White: These are the rings that you need to
remove when you cut the parts.
Red, green and blue are the colors that you
need to mark. They sit on the rings. They will
still be there at the edge once the parts are cut.
TAILORING
Don’t mind the white rings. They only show
the riveted rings that will disappear with the
cutting.
Figure 5: At the top: A piece of mail with
marked parts: 27 riveted rings high, 129
riveted rings long. To the left: the head part.
To the right: the chest parts for back and front
with little rectangular scraps. At the bottom:
The cut parts
Before you mark anything, check your piece of
mail. Mail has a pattern that looks different
when you change your perspective by 90
degree. Make sure that the rows are running
lengthwise. That means that you can see
shapes like the letter C when your mail is on
the table as in figure 5. If it was wrong, you
would see shapes like a bowl or a hat.
Furthermore it makes a difference whether the
rings are tilted with a slope to the left or to the
right. In other words: Do the solid rings look
like the letter C or do the riveted rings look like
the letter C? Turn your piece of mail until it
looks as in the instruction. The latter is not
essential, but it will make it so much easier for
your to follow along.
For all of the marking and cutting we mainly
look at the riveted rings. Riveted rings are the
ones that will predominately be cut, because
riveted rings can be added more easily. Count
everything twice or more often. This will save
your nerves later. It so much faster to do this
correct to begin with than fixing mistakes.
To begin with marking, start counting from the
bottom left corner. Then start marking the
edges of the top fringes. It is convenient that
from every marked position you count 10 rings
sideways and with that you get another
marked position. Once it is assembled, this
mantle piece will be 80 rings around the head, DEEENIS A
Yet ring number 80 in each row is the ring that EAN )

we add for the seam. So 79 is the

ring-count/length for the part that we are
cutting. In other words: Position 80 is where CHE CE
we will be cutting through. Hence there are ED) ze )s
white rings there. S AD:

With the top fringes you have a line for

orientation to guide you while you are adding
the other markers. Don’t shy away from
additionally checking the distances to the
edges.

fringes.

Figure 6: The marked head part. White rings

will disappear with the cutting. Figure 9: The marked chest parts with
additional rectangular pieces inside,

Figure 7: The head part. Detail of the face area

Once you have done the head part, you can

mark the two chest pieces to the right. They
are identical except for the circumstance that
we kept an additional row of riveted rings on
the top of the upper piece. In the instruction
we could do so because our sheet was like this
already. This will be useful later. Yet you can
also build the pieces perfectly identically and
add adjust this with the help of a later chapter.

TAILORING
CUT THE PARTS

Cutting time! I know it feels bad to cut rings,

but starting with a sheet has saved us some
effort. For now and almost always we only cut
through the riveted rings. Don’t cut through
the rings with red, green or blue markers. Cut
trough the rings next to them. Near the green
markers this means to cut along a row. Near
the red markers you cut along a column. And
near the blue markers you cut zigzag like a
stair. This requires cutting two riveted rings on
every level of the stairs. Otherwise the two
sides still remain connected by the solid rings.
And we don't cut solid rings.
Figure 12: Near the green markers: Cut the
riveted rings along the dashed line.

Figure 10: All parts are cut. The numbers refer

to a count of riveted rings. Figure 13: Near the blue rings: Cut the riveted
rings in stairs. Leave the marked rings
untouched.

There are 5 of them at each of the 4 sections of

blue-markers.

Figure 11: Cutting the fringes at the top.

When everything is cut, it looks like figure 10.

It’s a good practise to count and compare the
ring counts before and while you are cutting it.
Next you trim the edges of the neck hole. I
wrote that we typically don't cut solid rings.
Yet here is an exception: You find dangling
solid rings near the blue markers. I call them
dangling because they are only connected to
one riveted ring each. Remove all of them.

TAILORING
 Figure 14: Near the blue rings: Riveted rings
under the dashed white line are gone. Near the
red rings: cut straight.

Figure 16: Cutting the dangling solid rings

near the face opening

TAILORING
CONNECT THE TOP FRINGES

Enough of the cutting. Now we close some

parts by seams. For the seams we will fill in
rings. So it’s best to have a hand full riveted
rings at hand that are already bent open.
Every time you have filled in rings. Squeeze
their overlaps gently so that they stay together
without a rivet. I recommend to add the rivets
at the end of the project.

At the top of the head piece there are these

eight triangle shapes, the fringes. One side is
each stair-like diagonal. And one side is each
straight vertical. We will connect them all to a
bowl. Let’s begin at the place where the split
starts. Between the blue markers near the
split there is potential to fill in two riveted
rings if one would continue the pattern. We
will do something different: We will add one
riveted ring that links to 5 solid rings: 3 at the
bottom and 2 a little higher. That differs from
the main-pattern. And the result is called an
expansion.
Figure 18: We insert the third connecting ring
just as the others before. We screw it in like a
cork screw - following the arrows.
Now you only need to repeat that step from the
start of the split to the tip. Then it should look
like figure 19. It’s done properly when the tips
come to rest next to each other at the same
height. And the rings are tilted smoothly as
they are everywhere else in the pattern. Like
that we connect all gaps between the fringes
until the top of the coif starts to take shape.
When it looks like 20 we stop.

Figure 17: We insert a ring. It links to 5 other

rings highlighted in orange.

In figure 17 you see the involved solid rings
highlighted in orange. It may appear a bit
messy, but it’s simple. Figure 18 is already two
steps further, but shows the same process
more clearly: Insert a riveted ring. Start at the
top right where the tong is in the picture. Then
make it pass through the solid rings
highlighted in orange. Follow the arrows. It
makes a difference whether you enter a ring
from the bottom of from the top. It is
important that you pay attention here. Check
the solid rings near the edges. Sometimes they
bounce around. Align them nicely as in the
pictures. And you will have it easier.
Figure 19: The first gap is closed.
The back of the coif is still open. So we
connect it. With that the top of the head will
be closed, too. Let’s start at the bottom: Fill in
rings to connect the two sides. This time the
added rings are continuing the main-pattern.
It's all regular 4in1-manner. Fill in the rings in
a screw-like motion. The result looks like
figure 22. Continue to fill the gap as in figure
23 until you reach the top. It should look like
figure 24.
The hole at the top of the head is our next
thing to fill. We will add 6 riveted rings and

TAILORING
 Figure 20: All fringes are connected, Figure 21: The head part is ready to be closed
a Je on the back side.
THINK OF A CORKSCREW
When you add rings, insert them with a clockwise
rotation, Remember: You can hold the mail parts in your
hand.
- Li

one solid ring. That solid ring will be the

center. All other rings orbit around it. So start
adding a riveted ring that links to 3 solid rings
at the border plus the solid center ring. Then
add a riveted ring that links to 4 solid rings at
the border and additionally through the center
ring. It looks like figure 26. In that manner
keep adding riveted rings. Alternate between
linking to 3 and 4 rings plus the center ring.
Do this all around the circle. Once it is
complete it will look like figure 27
Figure 22: We insert the first ring to close the
back of the head.

TAILORING
 Figure 23: We have connected most of the back Figure 26: We add more riveted rings. In
of the head. alternating fashion they link to 3 rings plus the
center ring, then 4, then again 3, then 4 and so
on.

Figure 24: We look at the top of the head -

ready to fill the remaining hole.
Figure 27: We fill in riveted rings in alternating
fashion until the circle is complete.

Figure 25: We fill the hole with a solid ring that

acts as a central ring. We link it with a riveted
ring that holds 3 more rings.

TAILORING
10
BUILD THE FACE-OPENING

ADD THE SMALL RECTANGLES

Let's fill the face opening: In the previous

version of this instruction I had a very large
hole for the face. To that large hole I added a
band all the way around the sides. We will not
do this. Instead we take a shortcut: The
middle of that band is already there. We only
have to make it longer. We will extend it to the
sides with the two small rectangular pieces.
Align the pieces as in figure 29. Make sure all
the rings are tilted correctly. Then fill the seam
with riveted rings as we did with the back of
the neck. I recommend to start from the top.
Once both pieces are connected, it should look Figure 30: We extend the central part with the
like figure ?? two small rectangles. It becomes one long
band.
&

Figure 31: Connect the pieces from top to

bottom.

Figure 28: A picture from the previous version

of this instruction. A long band is added to the
face opening.

Figure 32: The long band is aligned upwards to

demonstrate how it will be connected in the
next steps.

Figure 29: The front of the head piece with the

face opening. A part of the band is already
there.
CONNECT AT THE SIDE

This is about attaching the wings of the band

to the side of the face opening. We start with
the side to our right. The colors indicate
different seams. Green is the easiest seam.
But it only needs one more ring. So fill in this
ring as a regular continuation of the
4in1-pattern. Figure 33 shows it.

Figure 35: The second ring of the diagonal

seam links to a riveted ring on the other side.

Yet do you enter the rings from the top or the

bottom? You remember that it makes a
difference. The answer is the following: With
the seam we aim to mediate between the band
and the main piece, The added rings are part
of both worlds. Thus our added rings aim to
copy the orientation/flip of the main-piece.
Figure 33: The connection above the green ring
Figure 36 shows this with rings highlighted in
links to two rings at the top and two rings at
the bottom.
black and white. White links to one riveted
ring on the right side. And white follows the
orientation of the solid rings from the right
side, This is natural because they sit in the
same row. Black links to solid rings. It does
the same as the riveted rings on the right side.
Fill in all the rings for the seam along the blue
line. The last ring that you link to is the
highest riveted ring with a blue marker.

Figure 34: The first ring of the diagonal seam

near the blue rings. It holds hold two solid
rings from the band and one solid ring from
the other side.

For the connection along the blue rings, we

use a new seam: We still link through the
Figure 36: The filled-in rings are highlighted:
regular positions on the band and to one ring
White rings hold a single riveted ring to the left.
on the other side. Figure 33 shows the first
Black rings hold a single solid ring to the left.
ring of that seam. From then on the seam
Black and white rings take turns.
continues in an alternating fashion. We always
link to two rings on the band side. Yet on the
other side we sometimes links to a solid ring,
sometimes to a riveted ring. And we take turns
with that: solid, riveted, solid, riveted and so
on.

TAILORING
CONNECT AT THE TOP

Along the red rings the band has it’s mail

pattern turned by 90° compared to the main
head piece. In other words: The main piece
has rows of mail running horizontally - around
it. Yet the band has rows running vertically -
along the edge of the main piece. This means
the connection of the two involves a pattern
change by 90°.

To create that connection, the rings of the

seam are half continuing the pattern of one
side and half the pattern of the other side, You
are doing it right when the connecting rings
merge smoothly into the pattern of either side.
Start connecting at the upper left corner of the Figure 38: The band has reached the top. The
face opening. Add ring by ring to connect both gap in the corner is correctly shaped for the
sides until you reach the corner. next steps.

The corner ring itself is a regular continuation

of the pattern. From then on we keep filling in
rings from the corner until the band is also
connected to the to. The seam is the same as
what we just did. It intermediates both
orientations.

Figure 39: Add a ring to the corner (in white).

This is a regular continuation of the pattern.

Figure 37: Near the red rings on the right side.

The seam-rings continue both the orientation
from the left side (black part) and the right side
(white part).

The other half of the face works just the same.

In case your band is too long or too short, you
may have done something differently. Then feel
free to add or remove rings from the band to
make it fit. That said the instruction is already
Figure 40: Fill in the seam rings. There is a 90°
designed to make the flow and hang of the
pattern transition. The added rings are part of
mail optically pleasing the best as we can. You
both patterns: White half like the top. Black
can also undo and redo the seam. As long as
half like the bottom.
the face hole is wide enough, you should be
fine.

I know: for now it looks silly and loose. Yet

later with the laces in place this will change.
 DEN&

Figure 42: The top of the coif with fully

attached band.

Figure 43: The top of the coif has a wide face

opening. Later you will tame it with a lace. Can
you get your head through the opening?

TAILORING
BUILD THE CHEST PART

The Templar had octagonal churches. We will

have an octagonal neck hole. And we will make
that neck hole more difficult than we need to:
We will be sandwiching two parts together. The
reason behind this is not about reducing lost
area when we cut the parts. The true reason is
that this enables us to connect the coif with a
hauberk if we wanted to. Then the tilting of the
rings already falls into place the way we want
it.

So take the two chest-pieces and align them as

in figure 44. You should notice the different tilt Figure 45: With a hem of solid rings on the
of the rings at the hem. Riveted rings from the upper part and a hem of riveted rings at the
lower part are tilted like solid rings from the lower part the rings match in their tilt. The
upper part and vice versa. This requires us to first ring for the seam is already inserted.
prepare the hems before we connect them. We
need one hem to have riveted rings and one
hem to with solid rings. Only then will the
rings match in their tilt. If both of your edges
have solid rings, then add a row of riveted
rings. The result should look like . In the case
of this instruction the line of riveted rings was
already present since cutting the parts.

Connect the two parts by filling in rings in

4in1 manner. It is almost like a continuation of
the pattern except that there are riveted rings
linking into riveted rings. The entire
connection line looks like that and figure 46
highlights it. Do that connection on both sides
of the chest piece. The seams will later sit on Figure 46: The parts are connected. The
top of the shoulders. riveted rings in black have been at the edge
before and the pink rings have been added to
connect the parts. Together they form a
riveted-riveted-transition line.

Figure 44: The two chest pieces are aligned for

assembly.

Figure 47: The parts of the chest piece are

connected. And there is already the head piece
in the middle, ready for the next assembly.

TAILORING
CONNECT HEAD AND
CHEST-PARTS

Time to bring the head and neck parts together.

We approach this in several steps: front, side
and back. We work from the front to the back -
both on the right and the left side.

CONNECT AT THE FRONT

Let’s get ready to connect the head and the
chest piece. The chest piece should lay on the
table with rows running sideways. That means
the lines of green markers run sideways. If you
fold the head piece a little, you can place it
Figure 49: Along the green line: Connect by
inside the head hole as in figure 47. Make the
filling rings in the regular 4in1 pattern.
face hole face towards you. From the marking
session you should have a marker on the top
piece that marks the front center. I typically
mark that position with rings of three different
colors at once. Align that with the front center
of the chest piece.

Figure 48: Head piece and front piece are

aligned. Start connecting at the front of the top
part. The triple marked rings indicate the
centers.

Compare the orientation of the rings. Do the

edges of neck- and head-part fit together at
front and back? They fit if the rings of both
edges are tilted towards the same direction.

You find the middles of front and back marked.

Start connecting the pieces in the middle of the
front and sideways along the green markers.
For that you use the regular filling of the 4in1
pattern.

TAILORING
CONNECT AT THE SIDES

When you reach the stairs-like section with the

blue markers, you need a seam that you have
already learned before. It is the same seam
that you have used for the blue marked section
near the cheeks: The added rings are holding
three neighboring rings: two at the coif
precursor and one at the stairs.

Figure 51: Near the red markers: The

90°-seam has already two rings.

Figure 50: Near the blue markers: Connect as

you did before: The added rings hold three
other rings: Two from the top part and
alternating either a riveted or a solid ring from
the neck part.

Near the red markers we do the 90°-connection

that we have learned before. Part of the ring is
imitating the pattern to the left. And at the Figure 52: The exception near the riveted
same time it is imitating the pattern to the riveted line: One connecting ring only links
right. In the middle of this connection there is through 3 rings,
the riveted-riveted line where the two parts of
the chest piece have been joined. To make the special rings at the riveted-riveted line and
connection here, we will insert two rings another 2 rings for the 90°-transition.
differently. One ring is almost like
90°connection before: It connects to 4 rings on Do as you did at the top of the band around
each side. The difference is that it doesn’t the face, After that there are more stairs and
connect to 4 solid rings. Instead it connects to finally there is a regular connection of rows at
4 solid rings and 1 riveted rings. That riveted the back. Continue connecting until you
ring is part of the riveted-riveted line. It is almost reach the middle of the back.
located and behaves like a solid ring.
When you have almost connected the right half
The other special inserted ring only links to 3 of the circle, then do the same on the left half.
ring in total: 2 rings on the side of the head Start from the middle of the front. Connect
piece and one rings on the side of the chest until you almost reach the middle of the back.
piece. That one ring on the chest piece is a
riveted ring that is part of the riveted-riveted
line. Depending on your work-piece the two
inserted rings can swap position. Maybe you
need the ring that links to 3 rings first and
then you need the ring that links to 3 solid
rings and 1 riveted ring.

After that there is a bit more of the

90°-cross-grain connection. For the lengths of
the red line you will have inserted 2 rings for
the 90°-transition as we regularly do it, 2

TAILORING
 Figure 53: Beyond the exception keep using
the 90°-seam as we did before.

Figure 54: After the red line we connect the

along the stairs of the blue line as we have
learned before.

TAILORING
CONNECT AT THE BACK
Finally you have connected both parts almost
all around the circle. There is only a little gap
remaining at the back. Possibly the number of
rings on both side matches exactly. That is
good. Yet maybe it is not the case. Then you
can do this: Make some of the connecting rings
link to five rings. That means you create an
expansion respectively contraction: Link three
rings from the longer side with two rings from
the shorter side. Try to spread these
expansions apart from each other along the
seam. In between the expansions connect
regularly.
Figure 55: Head- and chest-piece are almost
fully connected. There is only a gap at the
back.
Figure 56: Upper image: before connecting.
Bottom image: after connecting. The lower
edge has one ring less than the top. Thus one
added ring (white) has to hold 3 rings from the
top and 2 from the bottom.
Fixing folds: This section is here to guide you
in case the head-piece and the chest-piece just
Figure 57: In case you have forgotten what the
pile of mail in the middle is: It is the head part
folded back.
don't fit together at all. That means one edge is
much longer than the other. It is not smooth
enough to do the above tweak with expansions
at the neck. Then it’s better to check the entire
length of the seam. Compare the pieces: Does
your chest piece have the same dimensions as
in the instruction? Does your head-piece count
80 riveted rings around the neck? If something
is wrong here, undo all of the seam and start
again. If that is alright it must bee the seam
that has gone wrong. The following offers some
solutions:
a) Seek and destroy: Possibly you can locate
where things have gone wrong. It can be visible
when that area looks baggy and not smooth. It
could be that there is one area where you are
connecting a lot of length from the chest piece
with only a short length of the head piece. Asa
result there is not enough length from
chest-piece and plenty of length from the
head-piece to close the final gap. In that case
undo the seam from the gap until the faulty
area. Then reconnect it correctly. With that it
should even out. The same goes vice versa for
too much length of the head piece.
b) Quick and dirty: It’s the same problem as in
a). The final gap has too much of one length.
We need to deviate from the pattern to close it.
We use rings that link to five neighboring rings.
That means expansions. If we use too much of
these in one place, it looks ugly. Yet we can
make the gap walk and spread the 5er -rings
on different positions. To make the gap walk,
we remove one ring of the seam and add it at
the other end of the gap. Place some
intentional 5er-rings when you close the gap.
Distribute the 5er-rings evenly with some
distance to each other. You can place some of
the 5er-rings near the riveted riveted line
where it looks irregular anyway.
As a last resort you also have the option to
TAILORING
make a cut through the chest piece. Such cuts
can be along the riveted riveted-riveted line or
vertically through the back or through the
front. When the cut is made, you can insert or
remove area from the chest piece to make it fit
with your gap. In other words: if you had too
much length on the chest piece you cut a
rectangle off of the chest piece and thus solve
it. I can not recommend this. This is only for
the lazy and those who know exactly what they
are doing.

c) Do it again: You must have guessed it. Mail

tailoring is for the patient and the best results
are achieved doing things correctly. You do
well by undoing all the seams and creating
them again. Before you do that you can mark
some control-positions on the head-piece and
chest-piece. With them you can see whether
the new seam brings the two pieces together as
you want it or the same way as before. The Figure 59; You are close to the end of the
head and chest-piece in this instruction are project!
designed to fit together. Doing the seam again
is your best choice for a good result. The other
two options are only there if doing the seam
again doesn’t work for you.

Figure 58: Top and neck are combined!

TAILORING
FINAL TWEAKS
Time to fine tune the appearance of the coif. the remaining ends between skin and mail to
hide them. It helps to pull the lace at various
places while you tighten it.
INSERT THE LACES
To get your head through the face opening, you
Laces help to tame the mail for a tight look. need to untie and pull the lace around the face.
Help it to move through the rings.
You should have four of them. They should be
thin but strong and glide smoothly through the
rings.

main lace: 120cm /42 inches

neck lace: 60cm /24 inches
2 armpit laces: 40cm / 17 inches each

MAIN LACE
Take the longest lace. Start to insert it through
the rings along the face opening. Pull 20 cm of
the tip out.

Figure 61: Lead the long end of the lace

through a few solid rings along the way: one
row above the edge and spaced 15 rings apart.

Figure 60: Start inserting the lace from the top

right corner. Lead it counterclockwise through
the solid rings around the edge of the face
opening.

Take the other, longer end of the lace. Lead it

horizontally around the head. Push it through Figure 62: The first lace is fully inserted. The
a few solid rings along the way. These rings ends can be tied and stuffed between mail and
should be located one row above the edge of face.
the face opening. And they should be spaced
about 15 rings apart from each other. Finally
lead the lace through one ring right above the
top left corner of the face opening.

When you tighten the coif, you can pull this

lace on both ends and tie them together. Push
pr I.
RIGHT-HANDED?
This is written for right-handed people. They find it
easier to touch the left side of their face.
- Li

FINAL TWEAKS
NECK LACE ARMPIT LACES

Take the second longest lace and tie it around There is a handy way to prevent the square
the neck to give the coif a tight fit. You can run ends of the coif from dangling: You can tie the
it through a few rings along the way. You don’t corners together under the armpit. It works
have to. best to have laces tied permanently to each of
the backside corners. When you want to tie it,
Maybe you feel that the neck lace is dangerous you can pull these laces to the front and lead
on the outside. It could get caught somewhere them through a ring at the front corners.
and pull on your neck. In that case you can
also lead it through rings all the way around
the neck. Find a position that fits you.

Figure 65: Armpit laces: The laces are

permanently tied to the back and fastened at
the front.
Figure 63: Coif with main lace, neck lace and
armpit laces. In this picture the neck lace is
added from the outside to experiment with its
position.

Figure 66: The backside of the coif. In addition

to the main lace there are two armpit laces.
The neck lace is missing.

Figure 64: The coif as seen from the side. This

time the neck lace is hidden because it is
running through a row of solid rings.

FINAL TWEAKS
POSSIBLE FIXES HEAD-PIECE TOO TIGHT

This is a similar case to the above. The above

Here are some fixes in case you are not happy
with the fit. Generally the coif should fit most
people as it is. You can almost always regulate
the fit enough by adjusting the laces. You only
need the following sections for very bulky coifs
or extraordinary head shapes.
FACE OPENING TOO TIGHT
Maybe you find it difficult to pull the coif
backwards when you want to get your head
through. This happens more often when you
are wearing thick textile padding under the
mail. You have to know that this natural. It is
always a bit difficult. You need to make sure
that you have loosened the lace enough to
make the face opening maximum wide. Only
after that you are able to get your head
through.
is when you only struggle to get your head out.
Yet apart from that it feels alright. This section
addresses the problem of your head piece
being too tight in general: Even during normal
wearing you feel restricted. And you struggle to
enter with your head through the chest-part.
Likely you are wearing a massively padded coif
or you have a very huge head. Here is how to
adjust the coif:
Make a vertical cut on the backside. Cut from
the bottom middle to the top center. Then
prepare a long column-like piece of mail. It
should be tapering at the top. Insert it and
start connecting from top to bottom. Use
expansions to connect the tapering side. This
will widen your neck hole and make the head
piece feel more roomy.

If that is not enough, here is a plan to alter the

coif: create a little wedge-shaped piece of mail.
It can be 5 riveted rings wide and 4 riveted
rings high. Make a cut from the center of the
forehead upwards., Insert the wedge-shaped
gore to expand the coif at this location. As a
result the face-opening will become wider. With
the lace fastened, it fits nicely nevertheless.

When you insert the gore into the gap, you

need to use expansions. This means you add
rings that link 5 other rings.

Figure 68: If your head piece is to tight: Make

a vertical cut and insert a tapering stripe.

Figure 67: If the face-opening is too narrow:

Insert a wedge-shaped gore,

FINAL TWEAKS
HEAD-PIECE TOO LONG OR SHORT GROW THE CHEST PIECE

Since mail behaves like a net, the height and Possibly you like to make the chest piece a bit
the circumference of your head piece depend larger. Feel free to attach some mail scraps
on each other. That means making the head from the sheet. Keep in mind that a persons
piece wider also makes it longer. And making it head is not centered. It is located a bit more to
longer also makes it wider. This section is the front. That means you have to add more
useful when you are generally happy with how material to the back. The difference is about
tight the coif sits. Yet you feel restricted when 3cm respectively 1 inch. When you take care of
you want to turn your head sideways. The that, front and back will hang equally high.
additional band will enhance your mobility at This instruction also contains images from
the neck. different builds. Most of the finished pictures
show the chest area larger then the pieces in
These are the steps: Make a cut around the section .
neck. I recommend to make the cut a little bit
higher than the connection of head- and
chest-piece. That is easier. Then insert a band
of mail. Sometimes just a single line of rings is
already enough. It’s a good idea to Keep a
small section of head and chest connected at
all time. With that you make sure to not
change the rotation of the head. Just increase
the cut step by step and add more and more of
the band. Do this until you are once around
the neck. Similarly you can use this technique
to remove a band in case your head piece was
too long.

Figure 69: If your head piece is not high

enough: make a horizontal cut and insert a
band around the neck.

FINAL TWEAKS
REPLACE BAD RINGS
You must have noticed that there are some
rings with sharp edges or torn out rivets.
While I try my best to put well-made mail parts
into the kit, it’s always far from flawless. Now
is the time to change that.
Look for the obviously faulty rings. Cut them
off and replace them. Some rings have loose
rivets. You can squeeze the rivets properly -
yet sometimes the rivet have already spread
the overlaps apart irreversibly or deformed the
ring too much. Many times it’s quicker to
replace the rivet or the entire ring.
If you find solid rings with sharp edges you
can either sand them off with a file or replace
them with riveted rings. I wouldn'’t take the
effort of removing four riveted rings just to
change one solid ring.
Figure 70: Faulty rings. Left: Rivet is not fully
set. Right: The hole through the overlap is
torn.
a.
REPLACE RINGS SMARTLY
If you struggle to maintain the pattern, you can insert a
replacement ring while the faulty ring is still in place.
DB
ADD RIVETS
Admit it: You have already added rivets along
the way. That’s OK. Yet there are a few hints to
make your life easier:
Use flat pliers to grab the ring while you set
the rivet. When you do this, you can press the
overlapping areas of the ring shut. That way
you ensure a firm connection.
Never squeeze the rivet all in one go. Instead
squeeze a little. Check the angle. Is the rivet
aligned properly? Only then continue to press
a little more. Adjust the angle another time
until you fully set the rivet. This helps you to
preserve your rivet setting tongs. If you neglect
this and squeeze with tilted rivets, the dents in
the tongs jaw can eventually deform in a bad
way. After a while you develop a feeling for
when the rivet is aligned properly.
It may happen occasionally that you break the
overlap when you set the rivet. Likely such a
ring didn’t have the rivet hole centered.
Replace it with a better one. Maybe squeeze
with less force.
I
Figure 71: Press the overlap together when you
squeeze the rivet.
v
FINAL TWEAKS
PICTURES AND COMPARISON
Let’s see what we have made. This is also the
chapter that you need for the discussion with
your super-critic reenactment friends,

FINISHED COIF

Figure 73: Back with tied neck lace

Figure 72: Front: The main lace is tucked

under the coif.

You see that chap who is trying very hard to

look friendly? Ignore him and focus on the caif:
This time the neck lace is almost hidden
because it is running trough the rings. Only
the loop at the back is visible.

I’m wearing a modern cotton-hoodie under the

mail. It provides about the amount of padding
that I find convincing for 11th- to
13th-century. The topic is highly controversial
and perceptions keep evolving. As you are S % n
likely Di this for en na you RE EG
should wear as much padding as you deem
necessary for your safety. I just want to note
that maybe a medieval fighter had a different
fighting style and a different claim what safety
means. You might encounter though, that a
massive amount of padding will render the coif
less practical. It causes an undesired weight
distribution and a helmet need to be even
bigger to be worn on top of it.

PICTURES AND COMPARISON

 Figure 77: Front with hood pulled back

Figure 76: Front with open face part Figure 78: Back with hood pulled back

PICTURES AND COMPARISON

HISTORIC SOURCES chin. The transition does not look very
convincing. I’m talking about the sides of the
brim where it starts folding down. The rows
OK history-buffs! Did I make all this up? - Not
from the chin and the rows from the cheek bite
at all: Dominik Huber made it up! Just
each other.
kidding, but in fact he was the first one that I
have seen recreating a version of this design
If the mail orientation of the back of the neck
and he deserves credit here. Let’s look at
was continuing with rows running horizontally
period artwork to compare.
until the front of the neck - then I would not
expect the edge of the face opening to fold that
The coif in this tutorial can be seen as an far down. I would rather expect it to stand up
interpretation inspired by various medieval until the chin.
sculptures and depictions. It is certainly not
the only way to interpret these and likely there
were many different coifs designs that have
coexisted next to each other.

Figure 79: Limestone effigy of a knight from

the Loire Valley, France. Dated 1248 - 1267.

From artworks like figure 79 we know that

there were hoods that can be pulled down. For
that, the face opening must be wider than the
head. Consequently there is a lot of baggy mail
material around the face that needs to be
tamed with laces to fit tightly around the neck
and chin. When the laces are loosened, the
opened face-hole looks way too wide at first
glance. It almost looks ridiculous. Thus it is
very reassuring to have figure 80 as a rare
example presenting us this state. Figure 80: Knight from the facade of
Strasbourg Cathedral, France. Dated about
Interestingly the mail pattern in figure 80 is 1290. Photos by Roel Renmans
not very convincing. The pattern only has rows
running horizontally regardless of the position.
They run horizontally around the forehead.
They also run horizontally into the cheek area,
into the chin and along the brim below the

PICTURES AND COMPARISON

It is known that period artists have
represented mail patterns with varying
accuracy. Another point to be sceptical about
figure 80 is that rows run around the arms -
not along them. There is not a single mail shirt
amongst hundreds of surviving examples that
validates this. They all have rows running
along the arms.
Nevertheless many period artworks follow
figure 80s style. Hence we have to assume that
it was a more convenient way for the artist to
make the sculpture aesthetically pleasing. And
accordingly we should not get inspired by the
mail pattern around the chin of figure 80. Yet
we still have reason to trust its general shape.
Figure 81: Fragment of a sculpture. Likely it
was the effigy of a French knight named Jean
de Seignelay, who died about 1296. Photo by
Roel Renmans
Let’s discuss figure 81. The most plausible
solution for the chin is a band with rows
running horizontally. Yet how is that band
continuing near the ears? In these instructions
we stop the band at height of the eyebrows. We
merge it with a 90-degree transition into the
upper part of the head. Figure 81 suggests a
similar design. And so does the coif from the
statue of St. Maurice in Magdeburg, Germany.
Yet there is another way to interpreted figure
81. It could be a mail coif with a second layer
of mail on top. That second layer - if we do see
it here - is called a mail cap. We know it from
rare appearance in other artwork.
Next to the interpretation of this tutorial, there
are versions with rows of mail running all
around the face-opening in a circle. In fact
these are very numerous in period artwork. Yet
arguably they are more challenging to
construct.
And finally a few sources for the laces: To be
honest: The neck lace is depicted rarely.
Figure 82 is an exception. Yet most artworks
do show necks that are tighter than the top of
the head. That suggest that there were hidden
laces around the neck - neglected by painters
and sculptors. I’m thinking that the same
applies for the main lace around the face
opening: It is not always shown.
Figure 82 also finally gives us proof for the
existence of armpit laces. Again there are
plenty artworks not showing them. And one
medieval bible even shows armpit chains
instead of laces.
Figure 82: Coifs with square bib from
Karlsruhe Codex. Dated 13th-century. Pictures
by Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe
Germany
PICTURES AND COMPARISON
29
FINAL ANNOTATIONS
Tailoring mail is an art that takes practise and
a lot of patience. It is not uncommon to do and
undo connections a couple times before
reaching the final form. And it takes a trained
eye to spot the orientation of the rings. Hence
you can feel proud to have completed this
project.

A feeling similar to being proud is being helpful

to others. I bow in front of you with gratitude
that you bought this instruction and with that
support Ironskin to make a living! It’s not too
late in case you haven'’t. You can still reward
yourself with this good feeling on the Ironskin-
website and on Patreon. Your financial support
makes a difference!

Maybe you already think of applying your new

skills on another mail project. If you want to
take this one step further you could build a
mail hauberk with integrated coif. You can
also learn to make your own riveted rings. For
this and other mail related projects I want to
support and inspire you on my platforms:

Website: www. Ironskin.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/Ironskin

Instagram: @chainmail_ironskin

Facebook: “chainmailironskin“

Etsy: “IronskinCreations“

Patreon: “www.patreon.com/Ironskin“

I hope you have discovered a beautiful hobby

for you! Keep learning and have fun!

Sebastian Völk

Nuremberg, Germany

August 2022