A single ring opened after the punching process, and another one closed and ready to be riveted.

An experimental piece using a variety of rivet types: pins, 18 gauge wire, and carpet tacks. I eventually decided to use #2 size carpet tacks filed into a circular cross section for uniformity. Notice also that the rings themselves are not uniform, due to my experimenting with the flattening process.

Another view of the experimental peice. The flattened oval rivet in the bottom right is a carpet tack, the flattened ovals in the middle are pins and the curved rivets were pieces of 18 gauge wire.

My ideal "fivelet", five maille rings riveted together. This view is of the peened side, on which the rivet heads are semi spherical.

The opposite side of the fivelt, showing the rivet head created by the tack. The nice thing about carpet tacks is that they are made of low carbon steel just like the stock material and have a flat side, unlike wire. The not-so-nice things are shoddy manufacturing which means mold lines that must be filed down, and a rectangular cross section that must be filed into a circular one to fit into the rivet-hole. Also the tip must be snipped off each tack to make the perfect shaft size for the rivet.

A picture of the inside of a coif, a head protector. Not many of the rings have been riveted in this picture, but the coif has grown since then. I am using a pattern of expanding rows starting with one ring, then a row of 10, 10, 15, 15, 20 etc. Expansion rings connect 3 rings rather than four and must be evenly spaced to present a uniform look. Contraction rings connect five rings, but i have not yet progressed to the stage at which I will need them.

A close up of the previous picture.

This is the outside of the coif; notice the flat heads of the rivets. I decided to use the flat head as the outside because they would grab the fabric of the gambeson more than the semi-spheres of the inside. Authentic round-rivet maille, as in some of the Viking hauberks, had semi-spheres on both sides of the rivets! I assume and have read that this was accomplished using a special pliers with semi-spherical depressions in both jaws. Also certain individual rings were stamped with writing and could be stamped with the name of the craftsman.

Finally a close-up of the outside of the coif.

I hope to soon post some pictures of my tools and the nice compact, portable tool-box into which they fit. The portability of this hobby is one of the greatest parts; yet the noise of the hammering limits its destinations substantially. Aside from my hammers, the anvil, the wire and the rivets, all of my tools fit in the box.