Adam Savage Learns How Real Chain Mail Is Restored!
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- Опубліковано 12 бер 2023
- At the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Arms and Armor conservation lab, Adam gets up close with an example of real historical chain mail that the museum has restored. Conservator Seasn Belair walks Adam through the original construction of this piece--composed of over 20,000 hand made rings--and the lengths to which the department researched and implemented a restoration to preserve the mail and respect its origin.
The MET's Arms and Armor Department: www.metmuseum.org/about-the-m...
Shot and edited by Joey Fameli
Music by Jinglepunks
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#adamsavage #armor - Наука та технологія
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This is probably a stupid question but I am going to ask it anyways so I am just getting into armor making I love suits of armor but I also want to make chain mail and i was wondering if I wanted to get a custom ring die like this made just with my name on it instead how would I go about getting a stamping die made where can I get a stamping die made something like that would be awesome to get made and how much do you think it would cost me for a small business any and all input would be greatly appreciated also I love your show
THAT is passion. From the original creator to the restorator. Just beautiful.
@@ThatOpalGuy same. im an atheist but it still feels like the right thing to do. it has historical value aswell as religous :)
As someone who has made medieval style chain mail in the past the labor that had to have been put into making this is insane
No UA-cam back then, plenty of free time
I only made butted mail so far, just imagining the amount of work that goes in the pieces that have both sides of the ring stamped is breaking my mind!
@@ThatOpalGuy they were hammered in a mold. But yeah still a lot of work.
I heard from a curator on a Viking exhibition that chain mails back then were extremely rare and expensive, as it would take a blacksmith a year to make a single one. I know it's not the same time period but that's a hell of a long time to make all those rings and rivet them, never mind the inscriptions!
@@pingASS_ This is why you had apprentices. Somebody had to do the busywork. The master armorer wasn't making these rings. The stamps and other tools, maybe. But making the actual hundreds of rings and riveting them? Apprentices.
Greatest armor I've ever seen was stumbling entirely by accident on the only intact bronze age plate armor in a little two-room town museum at Mycenae. I had assumed it had been taken to Athens will all the other famous object from the site, but this was one of the pieces that they were allowed to keep locally.
One of the big panoply suits?
Adam's joy and enthusiasm make these videos a pure joy to watch. Thank you.
The expression on his face when the die was brought out was priceless. ❤
@@cryophile Right? the sheer admiration and respect for the artistry and craftsmanship, both of the original maker and the restaurators at the museum.
Insane that each ring is riveted and inscripted!
I have, in a book somewhere about 150 thousand years ago(or at least, that's what it feels like), seen a similar mail as this, except each ring was inscripted with a word from the Quraan, presumably as extra protection for the wearer.
@@ThatOpalGuy Who pissed in your cereal today? My condolences to your parents for having given birth to you.
@@ThatOpalGuy
The belief may have allowed them to be less fearful and fight just a bit harder. The power of of the placebo effect and ultimately our minds is insane.
Riveting the rings was a standard way of making mail for lots of cultures that used mail armor. Butted mail, where the ends of the rings are simply butted up against each other is much easier to defeat than rivewted mail.
@@Riceball01 I was going to post this reply almost word for word. Cheers Riceball!
As a Persian I get a sad feeling that these pieces are no longer in Iran but seeing how well they are taken care of, and respecting it more than the ppl who actually run the country atm I’m very happy to see it kept in the MET. Thank you ❤
Are there museums in Iran and Persia that display local history? Over in the west we're told 0 positive things about the area so I'm very curious
@@Zeldur yes of course! I just meant I’d love to see more of it kept in Iran, the gov has once bombed a historical site, and a lot of our history was taken to western countries but they bring them for viewing every once in a while.. haven’t heard much tho since I haven’t been living there for a few yrs now 🙃
@@nahalhoma That is... A weird concept. Taking your historical artifacts then bring them back every now and then... And yeah, I think I do remember a government bombing some ruins
Naval, do you know if the inscription on the pieces connect the armor to any particular period or possible person in the Persian Army. I would assume it belongs to some of high importance.
@@jcogs9440 So I did a bit of digging because I’m no art historian but based on the met website this piece is from 15-16th century which is during the rule of Safavid dynasty. This was when Shia became the state religion for the very first time in Persia. I don’t know for certain who this belongs to, but I guess it was probably more of an statement piece than for practical use at war… 🤷♀️ hope this helped a bit :)
I love how much respect and care went into this restoration
I’ve been making a coat of mail in my free time over the last few years and I can say with 100% certainty that the arm pits are by far the hardest part 😅 I have a very large respect for the smiths and armorers of old 🙏 another great video btw
I wholeheartedly agree. I've made 4 shirts, myself, (with the first one being disassembled and reassembled several times) and have not been happy with any of the armpits. Getting a pattern to pass through them is not even the hardest part; that's no big deal once you've done it a few times. The difficult part is finding a pattern that will give it the ability to expand so it doesn't have to carry the weight of the shirt when the arm is raised without adding a bunch of bulk that makes it uncomfortable when the arm is lowered. I still haven't figured that part out, and I've been fiddling with the stuff (off and on) for 20 years.
It’s so great to see they didn’t disregard the religious aspect of the shirt, and went out of their way to find out both what was acceptable, and go above and beyond to do it as right as possible. Absolutely incredible work.
That surprises you? Every link has a religious text on it how and why wouldn’t they mention it 🤔
Why is it great? Who gives a shit if someone says it's "unacceptable" for them to restore it? Why do you expect non-muslims to follow the rules of islam?
@@mellowcreme congratulations you've won the "biggest asshole I've ever come across in the Tested audience community" award.
It's great and admirable because religion is important to some people and they wanted to be accurate AND more importantly, respectful, a quality you don't seem to be aware of.
They went above and beyond the call of duty and out of their way to do a job of work right. It also adds to the story of the piece.
Take your Islamophobic negativity elsewhere, or better yet, stop being Islamophobic and negative. Consider what you're about, sir.
@@mellowcreme its about respecting your fellow man
@@mellowcreme It is about respect, both to the original craftsman, who put that much effort into it, and for the members of that religion, showing that your treating an item of religious significance with care and consideration.
It is the equivalent of why most people don't burn Bibles and are quiet in churches, take off shoes in temples who request it. I'm not Christian or Buddhist or whatever, to me its just a book (for the bible) or a building (for a church or temple), but it means something to people, so being disrespectful just because it doesn't mean anything to you is just being a dick.
So, the brass trim is thought by many to not be solely decorative but also practical as any moisture (blood, sweat, water, etc) would tend to accumulate on the edges where rusting would become an issue if made of iron.
Clever!
The MET is the best. Some real heroes work there.
I learned to weave chainmail like 13 years ago. That bit about expansions and contractions being trial and error can not be overstated. It's dependent on how fitted you want it to be. Which for me was part of the goal. A piece that fit me better than anyone else. It brought me so much satisfaction to take something considered fairly rigid ie iron, and make a flexible, fitted garment. But the contractions and expansions were so finicky. And you may not know if the adding or subtraction of a single ring would work, until you were several inches beyond where you made the adjustment, which could mean weaving upwards of a hundred rings or more, and having to undo it. I eventually stopped trying to salvage the rings from those mis-sized pieces, and just tossed them in a bucket of other mistakes. So I had a large collection of random patches of various wire gauges, and diameter rings, and dimensions of sizes.
I've had a fair bit of luck with eyeballing expansions and contractions, but most of my pieces are costume grade aluminum. I did make one welded stainless steel shirt for myself and managed to get the expansions and contractions right the first time. As I was welding them as I went it would have been more than a little painful to have to cut an area out, then redo it.
@@morallyambiguousnetSounds awesome. Did you order pre-made rings?I did myself zero favors starting out. I was coiling and cutting every ring myself. Idk if I was being cheap, or if I just didn't know buying machined rings was an option.
As someone who has made their own mail shirt. The expansions and contractions of the shirt are one thing... The expansions and contractions of the wearer is another thing entirely.
Ask any married woman if they still fit their wedding dress. Expect to duck shortly afterwards. Expect to sleep in the dog house if you're the husband.
@@michaelparham1328 - Looks like my previous post got deleted, possibly because of a link. I make my own rings in softer metals like aluminum, bronze, and brass, using coiling and cutting rigs I made myself. There are a couple of short videos on my own UA-cam channel that show them. For harder stuff I buy pre-cut.
I am absolutely loving these museum visits! The chats with conservators about the pieces is so incredible to see. I hope you are able to do more of these🤞
The amount of effort that went into this piece is mind boggling! So cool to see it up close and understand the restoration process.
As a non-religious person there is always something I find beautiful when someone, like Sean, butts up against something like the shirt. It has a religious significance that is outside of the conservator's beliefs but to be respectful and considerate of that belief, he asks for guidance and advice on how to best proceed to not harm any spiritual aspect of the piece. It's just a kindness that shows how much it means that they don't alter the piece beyond what is acceptable to all parties involved. I don't have a great answer as to why I like it so much but I do. It just feels good to know that he cares that much, I guess.
This whole project displayed a tremendous respect for everyone, from the maker, to the modern religious adherents, to the conservators of the future, and all the people who will see it.
I did some work conserving some traditional objects of my college band, some as old as roughly 60 to 70 years old. It was great to be a part of the story of the object, to ensure that it endures for another 20 years before another person needs to help it along.
The whole time you are doing it, you know you are interacting with people you've never met, some who are dead, some who aren't born yet. It's a pretty moving experience.
That piece is so beautiful in so many ways, and I love the care that went into restoring it (and the other pieces in there). I would love to make something as detailed and fine as this.
To put the value of a chainmail like this into perspective: A modern fully riveted reproduction (without the inscriptions), just 10 by 10 centimeter in size, would set you back roughly $100. A full size suit would cost you many thousands.
So nothing an average American couldn't afford. We've come a long way since the medieval times when it comes to industrial efficiency and wealth per person.
I want to point out that your mileage on this will vary greatly. A lot of the riveted mail made now is coming out of India, and the quality control is very poor. Your shirt will arrive with loose rivets, missing rivets, etc. and you basically have to go through and check rivets on the whole damn thing unless you want it slowly losing rings all the time. This is still a small time investment compared to making the whole thing yourself. You can consider the cost of a suit of mail to be partly money and partly time. The less money you spend, the more time you spend, and vice versa. You can pay a multiple of the cost of the cheapest riveted mail shirt you can find, but get a totally completed piece. But beware that cheapest shirt.
@@piotrarturklos What average American can just spend thousands of dollars on a whim? Or even quickly when they need it without taking out a loan? A median "average" that's had all meaning destroyed by our hand full of wealthiest people on the planet?
"conversing with the future" is a really great quote
This was mind-blowing. The level of commitment of this people is realy inspiring. Not only a riveted mail is hard to do, but making an exact copy o f the original (with texture) but the fact that he think at future so no one mistake the repair with the original it´s just genious. Thank you Sean, and you team, for you passion.
Love everything that Adam does, but as an arms and armor buff this met series has been like candy to me. Cant get enough!
Absolutely loving all these videos from Arms and Armor crew, it's so nice seeing how much care and attention these conservators are giving to maintaining and restoring historical objects, especially hearing their personal stories and experiences about the work itself
Dedication, was the word in my mind during this video!
Right?!
Wow! When i was younger, I was a member of the SCA, and I made chainmail...not riveted! Just closed. So I was fascinated by this video...but the old habits die hard...the first thing I did when there was a closeup on the armour was pause the video, count the rings, and recognize the 4-in-1 chainmail pattern! Coo stuff! Of course, each one bearing an inscription and rivetted, that is like wow! That increased the work of making chainmail by an order of magnitude!
Honestly it's a little thing, but being able to zoom on these videos is amazing. The camera can't always focus on all the details, but I get to zoom in and appreciate and wonder on a new scale as we listen to artists/makers talk
What a beautiful work of art that chain armor is. And the respect they showed to the art itself is absolutely wonderful
As someone learning jewelry making the inscription on each ring is exciting.
Sensational video! These stories are just incredible thanks for everyone involve!
That's absolutely amazing. The craftsmanship and attention to detail is unreal.
Great video sir you are awesome Adam sir. Thanks
immense attention to detail.
I'm loving this series at MOMA and the talented crafts(wo)men and conservators that keep history alive. Its in the same spirit as the dive into the Air & Space Museum and I'm amazed every time.
Amazing! Thanks for this behind the scenes video.
I would love to get my hands on pieces of recreations of museum objects like this. those stamped rings are incredible
beautiful work
Wonderful exchange and a wonderful example of living history. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Absolutely stunning piece!
Just wonderful!
Thank you.
Such a fantastic journey through time with this video. Thank you very much for sharing. Everyone keep yourselves and love ones safe and healthy and remember to SMILE 😃 😊
thanks to the MET, this conservator and Mr. Savage. what a treat
Pretty amazing, thank you for sharing!
* I love the extreme care they took to restore that Mail shirt. Taking the most difficult path at every turn to get it right.. I have seen Crafters make Chain mail garments that they sell. But to recreate the Writitng on each ring is breath taking. Thanks for showing us this..
Went through videos yesterday, not enough on historical armour. Hope this series continues!
More to come!
I find amazing that they can take off the restored portion and leave it in the original piece,tremendous work 👏
WOW. Thank you Norm, Adam and the Tested team. I have not been soo fascinated by a video in long long time. 🔥🔥
Wow. Thank you Adam.
Amazing to see something like this that somebody probably also spent a year or so working on with other projects hundreds of years ago. And the level of technology we're at where we can more or less copy that artist's script from hundreds of years ago is incredible.
I hope Adam never leaves.
I am loving this little miniseries!!!
Just awesome, thank you for sharing, everyone stay warm, safe, happy and healthy. From Henrico County Virginia
Being a reenactor who creates mail armor pieces, my first thought was "fairly big rings for a historical piece". Then I saw the inscriptions and my mind was blown.
I love all of these armor and arms videos, I feel like Adam is doing what he would be in his spare time, but he's sharing it with the world
That level of concern for authenticity makes me emotional
the small marking of the rings that they've added from their repairs brought this way over the top. thanks, tested :)
Very good use
Adam geeking out over anything is such a mood
This is one of my most favourite things on UA-cam
Very impressive!
This is fascinating
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I share your fascination with armor (and space suits!). I even made a chain maille shirt years ago. I think it took me about three years. I made mine from 6mm split metal rings. Even without doing rivets on each ring, it gave me an intimate understanding of the amount of labor involved. So glad to see you giving this bit of history the coverage it deserves.
I really love the episodes from Museum of Art's Arms and Armour! Do they have their own channel showing interesting pieces etc? I would LOVE to see more of that, beczuse usually you see this pieces in museum behind glass, and here you can cee how they look inside, how they are moving, and other things which are just amazing for people interested in arms and armour. :)
Awesome and fascinating
I love this series so much, when I was 17 I went to the MeT, left a huge impression on me Humans are just amazing and I hope we continue to create much love Adam
That is a thing of absolute beauty!!
I've met some people who make Chain Mail and the dedication and skill are just incredible........and to INSCRIBE every single ring is mindblowing!!!
These are great
this chain mail is so cool
From a distance it looks like a ruddy chainmail vest but when you get closer you realize the links are engraved, not pitted! What a work of art and a true show of dedication to a craft.
incredible... probably the most intricate mail armor I have heard of..
I sense there may or may not be a plate armor making video soon….
🤔
Ahh, that is an amazing piece of work. A lot of care went into that thing. A lot of care.
Absolutely awesome! My other half makes chainmaille jewellery (amoungst many other things) and I can attest as to how much time can be involved in simply weaving rings! Some of the weaves are fiddlier than others and its hard to comprehend how much longer things take when you scale down the size of the rings! And if you take the time to make your own rings, you will get a cleaner result than machine cut but it just keeps adding to the time.
This level of detail & craftsmanship is almost unimaginable in today’s world, unless you’re doing restorations like this, incredible !
I believe it still exists, but we are talking Rolls Royce type of work.
@@ronray4294 it’s certainly rare & restricted to elite products…but then I suppose chain mail was rather elite in its day too.
Amazing.
Even butted link chain mail, meaning chain mail where the links aren't riveted or welded, is a huge amount of work to make. Some of my SCA friends made small amounts of it for their armor. An example like the coat shown here must have required many hundreds of hours of work.
I hope more armor videos are coming!
Very cool!!!
This is so cool!
This is cool, in all the ways, it should be, well done!!!!
Very cool
Oooohhh man, I got goosebumps when he said that each ring was inscribed like that.
I was part of a re-enactment group in the 1980s. It took me 6 months to make a mail armour shirt. I still have all my hand made armour on show on a dummy. Loved this segment.
this is a noble career path, exalting the craft of our forebears
It's exactly the kind of item that should have a story like this as part of its journey.
WOW....Just Wow! It must have taken 100's of hours to make that shirt. Putting scriptures on each ring , then riveting each and every one. It boggles my mind. I made a chainmail belt that was 3" wide and 4' long , it took me 36 hours to make and that was just butted rings. I can't imagine engraving scriptures and riveting it all OMG. Thank you for the video Adam, i look forward to the next one.
super neat. just imagine, in a couple hundred years from now they'll be talking about those repairs and how every replacement ring was stamped for identification.... you know, like you guys were just talking about it being dirty and getting an acid wash.
I hope they keep that die/rivet kit to display along with the piece. special purpose built tools add to the mystique. thanks for posting.
that armor is a work of art and honestly probably still rather functional
Very poetic
watching Adam get giddy over things will never not be awesome
I live in Iran and I was very happy when I saw this
Now I want to know what it looked like when it was new - I imagine the distinction between the brass and iron was much more pronounced
i show the making of riveted Chain Mail on Medieval Market's (renaissance fair) to the visitors. It took me 2 years to get the basic technic and tools right. This is incedible!
mindblowing peice
Friend has a suit of chainmail he pulls out once in a while for events. It often gets rusted and he just throws it in some dirt and kicks it around till most of the rust rubs off.
I love chain chain!
It sounds like restoration of any kind follow the same tenants. mainly to be as respectful as possible, and then to have any changes they make be fully undo-able in the future. its cool to see.
Epic.
@tested >>> Great video...👍
I was hoping for a discussion on where they sourced the metal for the replacement rings. And perhaps relevant concerns based on corrosion from having different types of metal than the original.
I found myself thinking, did you get to souvenir one of the dud rings.
I would so love to have a ring even one the duds as a reminder of my time there. I’m so jealous that you got to do this episode.
Nope! No souvenir!
Absolutely gorgeous. In terms of modern metallurgy, would that trim be considered brass or bronze? It was my understanding that (at least in the West) it was extremely difficult to make large quantities of brass because of the huge melting temperature difference between the zinc and the copper, a problem that tin and copper don't have. I would also think bronze would work better for armor, since it's as hard as iron.
Thanks for this look at a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.
I need to go to bed but....after this 🤘😆