Rob MacLennan

Moved to Discussion so it gets more traffic.

You're looking for expansions/contractions and hole-row expansions/contractions, depending upon in what direction the mail hangs. I tried posting a link to the discussion on that topic, on this board, but it errors out. Try searching for those terms.

A cheap plastic storage box from Target or Wal-Mart would do the trick, plus you'd be giving something to store it in at the same time. In the past I've used boxes from IP phones and Dell replacement parts, because they aren't your typical flimsy shirt box. An 8 pound aluminum chain shirt, with scale upper arm, made it from Toronto to Chicago, with barely a mark on the box.

"Furniture Grade PVC" is PVC pipe that is usually coloured, and doesn't degrade badly in the presence of UV light. Sorry, no experience of that particular type, though I've made several archery bows out of the regular stuff, Red Oak, and paracord by using heat forming. I've seen people make armour stands out of metal plumbing pipe though.

I can't answer it all, but I'll give what I can. If you check this link, it states the number of scales per square foot for large and small scales. https://theringlord.com/cart/shopcontent.asp?type=ScaleCalculator If you're going to do a dog shirt you'll have to consider the shape of the dog and the hang of the scales. I did a coif for a cat and first stated out like I would for a human, which was a big mistake. If you make it to run from front to back, as if the dog was to be standing on its hind legs like a human, the scales will tend to slide forward unless they're somehow fixed at the back. That has to be a design consideration if you're going that way. If you make the scales hang down the sides then you don't have the bunching/sliding problem, but you likely want to do something to cover the spine area where the two sides join. Again, just another design consideration.

If you look carefully at the scale shirt kit picture, on the purchase page, you'll see that the top row of scales on the front and back are simply joined with appropriately sized rings. You could get fancy and join them with chain, incorporating scales at 90 degrees to the front and back. I'm currently working on a shirt, using large scales, with 90 degree joins as you are. The difference is that I will be abbreviating the length of the shoulder pieces so that they don't limit shoulder movement, making them wider so that they don't get pulled so much out of shape, and making the top of the arms chain for greater mobility. https://theringlord.com/cart/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=216&cat=Scalemail+Project+Kits

Shave a couple of diagonal rows off the chest and back. Expand the shoulder piece to match. Then see what the angles are like.

I know that I'm a crotchety old man. It's easier if you own it

Distinct possibility, but no spam as of yet. One spam post and everything posted is wiped with a couple of clicks. *EDIT* The account was accessing the forum from two different countries, on opposite sides of the world, so I nuked it.

If you click on the picture, it will take you directly to the page. It's a "wreath kit."

The majority of us here are makers, not buyers.

Facebook definitely took the wind out of the sails, of a whole lot of fora. Pity, too, because a forum is a far better and easier place to have actual discussions than is something like FB.

The Ring Lord sells jeweler's slotting saw blades and arbors to hold them, in their Tools Section. I originally started cutting my own rings by drilling an appropriately sized hole for the coils I was cutting in a block of wood, clamping that to a drill press, then using the slotting saw and arbor in the drill press to cut them. I later built my own cutting rig, but there are numerous ways to use the blade and arbor. There's a commercial solution called "The Ringinator" that operates in a similar manner. https://www.ringinator.com/ This is my rig. The video also shows the hand-run windlass, that I used to use for making coils. I've since made a powered coiler.

I try to go easy on the pressure, when using toothed pliers. Just enough to get the job done. I've also been experimenting with toothless parallel action pliers; kind to rings, not so kind to hands.