Making a Chain Mail Coif

Front of Mail Coif

This photo shows the author with a simple tunic, arming cap, sword, and of course the mail coif. I used galvanized steel rings which are 16 gauge (about 2 mm) thick and have a 1/4 inch (about 6 mm) inner diameter. 1/4 inch rings make a nice sturdy coif that looks ready for battle. There are about 7 pounds of rings (3 kg) in this coif and mantle.

Flat View of Mail Coif

A coif consists of several parts. At the top is the cap which begins with a single ring, has 12 or so expanding rows, and joins with the headband. The headband consists of 7 to 8 rows which just fit around the crown of the head. Leave a little bit of room for a padded arming cap or changing hair styles. My headband size is 90 1/4" rings. The face of the coif is a cylinder which goes from headband down to the mantle. There are about 16 rows 70 rings long which provide the face opening and about 16 more rows 90 rings around which protect the neck. The mantle is about 16 rows and starts at the 90 ring neck and expands to about 250 rings at the edges.

This pattern is known as a European 4 in 1 pattern because historically it was used in Europe and each ring interlocks with 4 of its neighbors.

Top View of Mail Coif

A coif is an interesting piece of armor that requires two primary mail making skills: making mail rows, and expanding mail rows. Start a row by closing 1 open ring onto 4 closed rings. Add an open ring and two closed rings until you have a rope of mail, 3 rows tall and X rings long. Make a second rope of 3 rows and join that to the first, and now you have a sheet of mail 7 rows tall by X rings long.

Make an expanding row by adding a spare ring to the bottom row of a rope. Add the expansion rings every third to every eighth ring depending on how rapidly you want the row to expand. For this mantle I added a loose expansion ring every 3 rings, which is a very quick expansion. It forms a nice dense circle on the table here, but shoulders which angle downwards can use a slightly more gradual expansion. The next coif I will try with a loose expansion ring every 8 rings.

Side View of Mail Coif

To begin the coif, I closed a single ring onto 7 closed rings. (The number you start with depends on the diameter and thickness of your rings.) That seven expands to 14 in the next row and about 25 in the next row and so on until it meets the 90 rings of the headband. You must expand the first few rows rather aggressively, so that the cap lays flat and does not come to a point.

The head band and face are simply a sheet of mail that wraps around the head to form a cylinder. You should choose the face opening that has the look you need, here I have a simple rectangular opening that looks like a historical Norman or Saxon mail coif. Although the opening is rectangular, it bulges to fit the face. I made the opening rather small so I can wear the neck up over my big chin (Norman style) or down under it (Saxon style).

My pet peeve with coifs are those with open or droopy necks. Guard that neck! If I were a fighter and saw and open neck, that's where I would strike.

Back of Mail Coif

Here's the back of my coif. Again, notice that the mantle expands so much that the rings bunch up and wrinkle in the middle of my spine. As soon as I get more rings I will remedy this by adding a few more rows to the neck. This will bring the mantle down the back, and then it can spread out more. It's an interesting property of mail that you can always add or subtract rings later on.

Also note the changing ring colors by the edge of the mantle. There are 5 pounds of galvanized rings from the top of the cap down to the middle of the mantle. I bought these from Myron's Mail Manufactory who went out of business and could sell me no more. So I stole a pound of rings from an earlier project to continue expanding the mantle. This was not enough so I purchased yet another pound of rings from The Ring Lord to finish it all off. The Ring Lord's stainless rings were closer in color than the Ring Lord's galvanized rings to my previous rings, so that's what I used. A few tumbles in a sack in the dryer should shine up the rings to about the stainless color.

Chin coverage of Mail Coif

Thanks for visiting and reading about my mail coif. If you enjoy this article, you might also like my other armor-related articles:

• Constructing mail for a steel spangenhelm.
• My first attempt at constructing scale armor.
• My second attempt at constructing scale armor.
• A five dollar Spangenhelm.

Thanks for visiting.