[Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Beating lumps of bloom iron into iron plates to get the slag inclusions out requires much bigger chunk of metals to start with and much more human and thermal energy.

Mail requires the metal to be highly refined so that most of the slag has either been removed or finely distributed throughout the metal. Otherwise it can't be pulled through the drawplate. Plate can be made from poorer quality iron.