A chain mail tee shirt. Made from aluminum.

I don't know, while it would be fairly light, aluminum is pretty soft. I wouldn't think it would stand up that well to a blade. When you're making one from mithril, get back to me.

[Via Geek Press]

Hmmm, it'll probably hold up well to small knives and broken beer bottles. With some leather padding (or similar) behind it, you'd have good protection from blunt weapons like baseball bats.

Actually, I have a friend who owns what is essentially a mithril shirt: it's titanium. And the person who made it vowed never to do that again. :-)

I have an iron chain mail shirt I wear every once in a while. Comfortable if you know how to wear them, and comforting in certain parts of LA.

Nah, I'll hold out for the adamantium version. :)

Semi-seriously, something like this made from titanium might actually be useful; the same strength as steel but half the weight. Or maybe some exotic hyperalloy.

If it wasn't for the probably crippling shipping charges, I'd have ordered one already (I'm a Brit).

I have an iron chain mail shirt I wear every once in a while.

Hmmm...the ThinkGeek site claims their aluminum shirt weighs "about 20 pounds." Given the difference in density between Al (2.70 g/cc) and Fe (7.87 g/cc) your shirt might weigh nearly 60 pounds.

Comfortable if you know how to wear them

And have done plenty of Pilates, I guess.

OK, time to geek out here: titanium as mitril? What are you smoking?!! Mitril is lightweight and strong like titanium, yes, but it's also supposed to be a joy to work with! Anybody who's tried to forge titanium knows it's not exactly a joy to work with! ;)

As I said, he vowed never to work with the stuff again. :-)
Yeah, the iron shirt masses about 35 lbs (it's sleeveless) but belting it properly and padding your shoulders makes all the difference (it's your back muscles you have to worry about). The titanium shirt's mass I don't know, but I remember holding it and thinking, "Paper. Compared with my shirt, paper."
The ThinkGeek price is _really reasonable_ and I wonder who's making it???? Now, if they offered a welded-link shirt I'd go for it in a heartbeat.

I was suddenly reminded of Leslie Fish's song "Love of the Game": "Rebuild the future as a composite age: chain mail, computers, laptops and swords..."
Heh.

Beats the environmentalist vision for a composite age of primitive farming, electric guitars and private jets.

"...light as a feather and as strong as dragons' scales."

Hmm...room temp stabilized metallic hydrogen???

Does it come with a grounding strap?

Light-ish stuff - 22g stainless, 7 lb, welded rings - is available for about $500 from
http://drunkendragondesigns.com/armor.php
they say.

Titanium sheet, 14" wide, welded rings is 0.3 lb/foot, $65 per foot at http://tinyurl.com/6nwsm
(the pictures at the drunken dragon link also appear here under their 'chainmail clothing' link. perhaps the DD supplier).

Probably still want the leather or quilted fabric under it. Looks like more fun, to me, than hand-knitting the rings and trying to spot-weld all the cut ones.

So, in another 200 years people will be armed with plasma rifles and sonic disrupters. They will be sporting vintage flak vests for casual wear all the while talking about how these actually stopped primitive ballistic weapons.

I've worn both the aluminum and the steel riveted mail hauberks made by MuseumReplicas.com, which are made from 16 gauge links.

16 gauge links is pretty thin. I can't imagine the even thinner 22 gauge is good for more than decorative purposes.

The aluminum is very light and very pretty, only weighing about seven pounds. The problem is the links are so thin where they are flattened for riveting that they are as thin as a beer can. Even as light weight as the armor is, it begins to tear the links apart at the neck area.

The steel armor weighs about 30 pounds and you really feel it after extended wear. But it seems pretty tough and like it would stand up to a solid blow.

Take a look at the closeup view of the thinkgeek aluminum mail shirt. The links are butted closed instead of riveted. Therefore the soft aluminum links would be prone to splitting apart from a knife thrust.

Yeah, I saw that on the site. Thanks for the review of the Museum Replica stuff. I have longingly drooled on their catalogs for years. So the stuff is as good as they advertise?

it'll probably hold up well to small knives and broken beer bottles.

And lightning bolts.

[quote]The steel armor weighs about 30 pounds and you really feel it after extended wear.[/quote]

Yeah, but that is in 16ga. Actual historic maille would only have about 18ga before flattening, and so somewhat lighter. Not as light as aluminum now, but even so...