Looking at modern methods of making chainmail, they use wire. Did people make wire before hand then make chainmail out of that or did they just break chunks off a larger piece and make individual rings out of that? I'm looking to make some riveted mail and would like to do it authentically as possible. Thanks. Edit: also I have access to a forge so that won't be a problem. What tools punches etc would I need.
Wire in antiquity was made by hammering or strip twisting. Both involved a thin strip being cut from the edge of a sheet and subsequently formed to a round cross section by labor intensive processes.
By the second or third century AD we had developed wire drawing. The thin strip was pulled through a metal drawplate with a series of tapered round holes decreasing in size.
We still make make wire the same way.
Good luck with the project. Rivetted links are a pain in the butt.