A particular weave of chainmail that was common to Eastern Europe when chainmaille armor was in use. The name is often shortened to four-in-one once context has been established.
Four-in-one is as its name describes: each link or ring goes through four others, excepting edges and corners. This weave is of average density; it can be used for armor that will see combat, but care must be taken so that the rings are of a thick enough gauge and small enough ID that the armor will hold up.
This weave has rows of links which alternate in the direction in which they overlap. It is more flexible in one dimension than in the other, and chainmaillers tend to make their shirts so that the rows run horizontally and the shirt expands and contracts easily when you breathe.
Strips of it that are at least three rings wide can be used as chains for necklaces, bracelets, guitar straps, sword frogs, etc.
Tables of gauges and ID's:
You should be able to extrapolate more information from these tables.
12 gauge
- 1/2" ID: normal
- 7/16" ID: heavy
14 gauge
- 1/2" ID: very light
- 7/16" ID: light
- 3/8" ID: normal
- 5/16" ID: heavy
- 1/4" ID: insane
16 gauge
- 3/8" ID: very light
- 5/16" ID: light
- 1/4" ID: normal
18 gauge
- 5/16" ID: very light
- 1/4" ID: light
- 3/16" ID: normal
Smaller gauges are really only useful for jewelry. You can knit four-in-one out of tiny links, like 1/8" ID or even smaller, as long as your wire is 20 or 22 gauge.
I will attempt to write instructions on how to weave this stuff. First, make two chains of 2-in-1 (ie, two links in one in two in one...), with the ends being two links, and nine single links in each chain. Place these two chains horizontally in front of you, lined up and about a centimeter apart. Position the links in each chain so that the single links are going up and away from you, and the doubles are going up and towards you.
Now, grab another ring. Open it right-hand-back (the right side of the ring goes away from you if the opening is at the top). Grab it roughly in the middle with the tips of your pliars (pliars held perpindicular to your vertical axis, so the plane of the ring is parallel to your vertical axis), and then rotate the link along its current vertical axis in the pliars so that its opening faces away from you. If this doesn't make any sense; don't worry, if you try it a couple of times you will figure it out.
On the left end of the two chains, you will see that the left four doubled rings (two from each chain) look 'right', but one ring to the right, in between the leftmost single rings of both chains, it looks like there's a link missing. This is where you want to put the ring you now hold in your pliars. It should go through the top two doubles of the bottom chain and the bottom two doubles of the top chain, so that it lays properly between the two single rings and completes the pattern. The order I usually hook the ring through is bottom right, (now rotate the ring in your pliars so its terminus swings out from underneath your pliars and to your left) bottom left, upper left (this sequence is completed with one end of that open ring, the 'left' end that was towards you after you opened it), upper right (the last one is with the 'right' end of the link that you opened back).
Upon completing this sequence, you will notice that the upper right ring that you just put your ring through is on top of your pliars in your right hand - this is all right, don't let go of the ring. Just grab the left side of it with your left pliars, and close that puppy!
That's the best I can do. I suggest looking online for visual aids.
Related weaves:
European six-in-one
European eight-in-one
Boxchain