Ok, let me start by saying I make maille (among other things) but don't wear it often.  I had a request from my husband for a sterling roundmaille necklace.  It is now finished with 4.5mm 18g rings.  He loves it but wants to wear it all the time like to bed, in the shower and the like.  It will be tumbled tomorrow which I know will make it a bit more durable but from the collective experience, is this thing going to survive that kind of treatment?

P.S. Please don't tell me that the AR of the rings for the weave is off.  When shown samples my husband preferred that AR.

Thanks.

klarsp

 I have a sterling bracelet that I made ages ago.  Not soldered.  20 gauge.  I wear it all the time and have never had any trouble.  

I have a byzantine necklace that is 20 ga. w/ 2.75mm rings and I wear it all the time.  Never had a problem with it. 

I've made some bracelets from 18g with rings that were 4mm (non-chainmail) and they are quite strong.  I'm yet to see a link deform, and I would think it would be more likely on a bracelet that could get caught on something.  Necklaces don't do that as often.

You might inspect it time to time and tighten up any rings that look to be opening, and toss it in the tumber every so often to keep it nice and shiney, but hey, thats half the fun of making jewelry for the people you know... you get the joy of taking it back, making it like new and giving it to them to enjoy again.

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Jim

Thanks for the input.  I'll let him loose with it.

It's nice to see that folks are coming back to the forums so quickly.

klarsp 

Yay for roundmaille! I love it love it love it! Strength wise I agree with everyone else; it'll be just fine.

The only thing I'll add to this though is please please please do not let him wear it regularly in the shower! (or swimming pools for that matter). Our water supply is treated with chlorine to keep it free of nasty parasites and what not; chlorine will have a damaging effect on precious metals. Granted, the amount in our usable water supply is minute, certainly not level with what you would find in a pool, but even that minute amount given prolonged and repeated exposure will begin to degrade the silver. Now I know there will be people that will pop up saying "I have a sterling necklace/bracelet/whatever that I wear in the shower all the time, and nothing's ever happened to it", but I would bet my business that if you had a picture of the item from the first day you got it and compared it with the piece today you'd notice a big difference. Any good jeweler will tell you the same thing.

Have to agree do not wear in the bath or shower. I know I wear mine but it is the look I wanted, Certainly it is not as bright and as good looking as it was first made. If he likes the aged look go for it. Otherwise do as stated above

 

hi sheltie - I've had some issues with smaller gauge (20G) rings deforming under heavy bracelet wear - my answer to this is to tumble overnight or for 20 hours - REALLY makes a difference in hardness.  If this is a bad idea, someone let me know!!

I can't imagine tumbling for 20 hours?  I use the Lortone and after 2 hours my barrel is HOT.  Is that normal?

I've never used the kind of tumbler you have, but my gut instinct says no, you're barrel should not be hot after two hours. I generaly tumble my pieces at least over night and my tumbler gets only barely warm. I hope someone with experience using your brand of tumbler will post a definitive answer, I'm really very currious to know if that is normal or if it's abnormal like I'm thinking.

Sterling maille is actually quite strong and durable.  I have been making maille, steel, sterling, etc. for at least 10 years  and have not had any problems with it or complaints from customers about not wearing well.  Don't worry about it.  The necklace will be fine.

 I have a friend that is extremely hard on her bracelets..............pulls, tugs, etc. She has been wearing one of my bracelets daily for over a year and just now I have to fix it. BUT..........it's the toggle that broke, not any of the links or anything structural. I think you're fine.

I have found that the more you wear sterling, the harder and more durable it gets. Water will increase patina, but a polishing every now and then should take care of that. And keep an eye on those clasps. Check the whole piece occasionally..

CC and I:

I can't imagine tumbling for 20 hours?  I use the Lortone and after 2 hours my barrel is HOT.  Is that normal?

I've never noticed the barrel of my Lortone tumber being hotter than the temperature of the room it is in (which can be quite hot here in Phoenix in the summer!). 

I'd try to figure out where that heat is coming from.  It might be time to put some oil on the roller bars.

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Jim

Hi!

 

I have the Lortone 3A, when the barrel heats up in a short time like that, it usually means I need to oil the rollers, or that the rubber drive belt needs replacing, something I did recently. I usually tumble my jump rings for 4 hours at a time.

 

Love, Jan
 

I will oil the rollers and purchase all the parts I need.  This probably should have been in another post...ooops. 

 Thanks for the advice.  CC

I don't do maile, but I purchased a handmade maille bracelet made of half-round wire from a local artist recently. Really cool-looking bracelet, but rings have popped off twice and finally the end of the weave seperated from the clasp. I'm not that happy! I can fix it, but I have a feeling the same thing is going to keep happening. Too bad, because I love how it looks and feels.

First of all, I would DEFINITELY let said artist know about the problems you're having.  If any of my clients had a problem with one of my pieces, I would REALLY want to know.   Maybe it's a weave that just isn't tough enough to be used as a bracelet (and out of all jewellery, bracelets DO suffer the most abuse) or some kind of design flaw - such as using rings that are too thin and/or too large.

Whether or not you choose to fix the bracelet yourself or have him/her fix it is, of course, entirely up to you but after it's been fixed you might want to consider tumbling it for at least a couple of hours  - hardening it up may help somewhat.

jetflair:

I don't do maile, but I purchased a handmade maille bracelet made of half-round wire from a local artist recently. Really cool-looking bracelet, but rings have popped off twice and finally the end of the weave seperated from the clasp. I'm not that happy! I can fix it, but I have a feeling the same thing is going to keep happening. Too bad, because I love how it looks and feels.

 

Yikes! If you have the artist's conact information, let them know what's happened to your piece. I'd be mortified if one of my pieces continualy fell apart on a customer and would want to know about it, as well as correct the problem as soon as possible.

 There are a couple of reasons that come to mind right off bat as to why your piece is coming apart. The first one is they used half round wire...it probably looks cool, but there's a reason it isn't used really at all in hand made maille jewelry (besides the prohibitive cost); the rings don't have their normal range of movement like full round wire rings do, disrupting the entire weave and how it holds. It's sort of the same principle as making maille out of say oval rings, looks cool, but doesn't hold shape and eventualy works loose. Other reasons or things that could be going on in addition to the half round wire issue are, the AR is too big to support the weave, and/or the wire is dead soft (or in the case of some metal's and alloy's, even softer; take aluminum sculpture wire or enameled copper for example).

 It's been a loooong time since I checked out the forum here, so I hope I'm not duplicating a previous question!  My son does chain maille and made a nice stainless steel bracelet for himself out of 18 gauge rings...the rings aren't a problem, but he wanted to keep the dark look about the bracelet and used a comparably sized pewter toggle.  The toggle is wearing and can't manage the stress.  Any suggestions from any of you about what to use instead?  I suppose he could use sterling silver and then oxidize it, but any thoughts on this?

 Thanks!

Nan