How to make Japanese 6-1 Maille Armor

How to make Japanese 6-1 Maille Armor
Much like Japanese 4-1, 6-1 is a simple weave but provides greater strength and protection than Japanese 4-1. The method is slightly different because Japanese 6-1 does not form square-shaped patterns.
 
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Step 1Row 1

Row 1
When making a Japanese weave, two different ring sizes are used; the larger rings are connected together by the smaller rings. To start Japanese 6-1, Take as many of the large rings as you want and connect them to each other in a long strip with the smaller rings. The pattern should be: one large ring, one small ring, one large ring, one small ring, etc. See picture below for clarity on this step.
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26 comments
Aug 22, 2009. 10:25 PMShut Up Now says:
hey guys, with a 6-1 oriental weave, if i use 18ga and 16ga wire, what ratio of each will i need. also, what diameter for each do you suggest.
Nov 9, 2011. 3:09 AMacoleman3 says:
use 16awg-1/4 for the horizontal links and 18awg-5/32 for the connectors for the gauges you specified. OR look up the worth company and order their #5 x2 oval rings. they're only $23.40/thousand and according to my calculations, you would be able to easily fit 6 of them in a 16awg-1/4 link.
Apr 5, 2010. 1:39 PMnaruto the ninja13 says:
is 12-2 stronger? and would this also be possible with rivited rings?www.instructables.com/id/Riveted-Maille-from-Scratch/
Nov 9, 2011. 3:04 AMacoleman3 says:
first of all.....there is no such thing as j12-2. that is a misnomer because the count is taken from looking at the wrong links. you are really supposed to look at the horizontal links for the japanese family of weaves. j12-2 would mean 12 horizontal links going through 2 vertical which makes no sense to someone versed in maille terminology. so the proper name for this weave is j6-1 since each horizontal link passes through 6 vertical links.

native japanese gusari (maille) was never riveted. mainly because the flat or horizontal links were never larger then 16awg x 1/4in and the cross links were never never coiled from larger wire then 16awg. nanaban guasri or foreign maille was introduced from europe in the end of the momoyama period (c16th centrury) and this *was* sometimes riveted. then again, nanaban gusari is nothing but e4-1 hanging the wrong way.

to make so gusari (j4-1) stronger, they just used key ring style links which was named seiro gusari. of course *that* particular weave was woven in the style of so gusari. asa no ha gusari (j6-1) was more rare then that because it took so long to weave and was mostly used in the kote or amoured sleeves and would have hex plates built in to increase the impact resistance of the weave. the worth company sells some oval split rings that are *perfect* for seiro gusari or a seiro/asa no ha gusari hybrid and they're only $23.40/thousand for the size you'd need.

hope this helps! -bows-
Oct 22, 2009. 6:35 PMH3xx says:
What size rings do you use? an aspect ratio would be nice, I have an awesome idea for a jacket and I'd like to make some Japanese 6-1 sleeves for it.
Oct 22, 2009. 7:04 PMH3xx says:
By size, of course, I mean diameter. Assuming I'm using 12 gauge only.
Nov 9, 2011. 2:55 AMacoleman3 says:
12g?! O,..,O holy hell mate! if you go by historical conventions, teh max size for the horizontal links was 16g 1/4 in. typically the cros links were made of 18g and just large enough on the inside for the horizontal links to fit. if you were going to use 12 gauge youd be using 3/8in links for the id with this ar.

i made a pair of kote once using mild steel 14.5g 1/4 in for the horizontal links and mild steel 16g 3/16 for the connectors with 12 mild steel 18g square square plates woven into the upper arm and 3 mild steel 18g plates for the forearm. it in itself was pretty heavy but it was nice and durable. then again i had actual intentions of using it as armour in case of a knife attack. i was a bit paranoid back then. lol
Mar 12, 2009. 7:09 PMHeWantsRevenge says:
this looks way fun to build...is there somewhere to find templates for shirts, heads, and whatnot?
Mar 21, 2011. 10:19 AMdrahcus says:
Historically, the japanese weaves were used to connect plates of armor so making a shirt or helm would be challenging with all of the contractions and expansions you would need. I would suggest using a European weave as there are already plenty of designs and tutorials for making shirts and helms. http://www.mailleartisans.org/weaves/ Dig around this site for a while.
Sep 16, 2009. 11:45 AMmorganwolf says:
This isn't 6-1 mail, it's 6-2 alternating, substantially different from 6-1. 6-1 means every ring is attached to 6 other rings, whereas 6-2 alternating (hopefully self-explanatory when you look at this) means the rings alternate between being attached to 6 rings or 2 rings.
Mar 21, 2011. 10:13 AMdrahcus says:
That is true, but as someone who works with chainmaille a lot, the japanese family of maille is categorized by the horizontal rings and not the vertical ones. Thus, this weave is called Japanese 6 in 1
Oct 1, 2009. 12:51 AMjester68 says:
cool. where do you get all the rings and whats the best tool to use in closing the rings?
May 2, 2010. 1:01 AMGrey_Wolfe says:
I buy my rings from theringlord website. Great quality and they close very flush. Making the ring seem nearly solid.
Feb 16, 2010. 10:14 PMMorliane says:
oops looks like you lost one of the small rings in the bottom row in the 12 in 2.
Sorry I have an almost scary sense of pattern recognition. I spot almost everything out of place.
Jun 6, 2009. 10:34 AMthepelton says:
I am having problems downloading material from this site. Since Friday, it keeps freezing up and going offline every time I try. Before Friday, I was not having any problem at all. I want a copy of this. Please debug it.
Jun 8, 2009. 1:21 PMthepelton says:
As of today, the eighth of June, it seems to be working fine again. Thank you.
Jun 3, 2009. 10:34 AMthepelton says:
Gives me an idea for a belt.
Mar 21, 2009. 1:44 PMAbhorsen says:
Hell yeeeessssss! This looks awesome, i'm tryin to do this!
Mar 13, 2009. 2:11 PMApplejacks says:
Nicely done. Out of curiosity, is that coat hanger wire on the 12-2?
Mar 11, 2009. 11:42 PMkarossii says:
very nice 'ible! One note, in the first picture on step 6, the 12-2 weave, one ring is missing; from the first link of row 2 to the second link of row 3, there is a single smaller loop, not two... :)
Mar 12, 2009. 2:12 PMcorey_caffeine says:
myfavorite weave that i've seen

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Author:ineverfinishanyth
I enjoy building and inventing; I have a specific interest in medieval and roman armor and weapons. I am a student in highschool currently and hope to study Mechanical Engineering in college at BYU. I...
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