The Armour Archive

All,
i have seen discussions on removing the black oxide coating from mail, polishing it, and coating it for rust protection. I have been experimenting.
I used Kaboom with success to remove most of the coating. I then washed off the mail with soapy water and dried. At that point I tried using Kitty litter, but it just made a nasty clay residue on the mail. I washed it off and tried drying it again and then coated with vegatable oil.

Now keep in mind i am really just in the process of putting the shirt together, and most of these are unconnected links or small pieces. Originally the oxide coating would turn my hands black which sucked but was removable. Now my hands dont turn black, they just get really oily and there is still some black and rust residue that gets into my hands. The problem is now that my hands are impossible to clean. Even GOJO won't take the crap off of it. I tried recleaning the mail with kaboom, water and then using Liquid Gold, but the same thing happened.

Here is my question:
What can I use to remove the grease coating that liquid gold and veg oil left (detergent and kaboom haven't been able to do it). Then, what can I use to dry the mail without leaving crap on it? Just toweling it off seems to not be quick enough to prevent rust. Then do I really need to coat it if I am jsut going to be assembling for the next year?
THanks for the help. I am really stumped.

use sand, it will remove the rust, polish it and it should absorb most of the oil. Place maybe 10 to 12 cups of sand into a, old pillow case , toss in the maille, and then beat the living hell outta some poor unfortunate soul with it and viola!! clean (the beating someone IS quite necessary, it moves the sand all around so that is gets a chance to polish every ring and absorb as much oil as possible, kind of like massaging in...)

Simple green the wonder cleaner..

ok i think i see my problem. I tumbled it in sand, but not NEARLY enough sand to absorb everything. I was just using it as a polishing grit. Makes sense. Should I clean or degrease it prior to tumbling? Or will the sand do the trick. Also, it will be fine with no coating after? Is fine or coarse sand better? I have to go get some from lowes.

I would try the simple green as Angusm0628 suggested, it does work fairly well, but use coarse sand, you want it as an abrasive, a mixture would be ideal, but for cost concerns, course works fine enough alone. As for putting any sort of coating on it... it would depend on how often you use it. If it's only a few times a year, then a light machine oil will work nicely, but if you wear it once a week, then no finish is necessary seeing that maille cleans it's self as it's worn.

What catagory of sand would play sadn fall under?

I would think that play sand is pretty coarse. The finer stuff is more powdery. I just bought a bucket of polymetric paver set from lowes. It is a mixture of fine and coarse, and probably overkill on the expense catagory, but it was sealed and the only sand at lowes that wasn't soaked. I tumbled it by hand through the 24 premier and see not much progress yet. It is going to be slow going.

Simple Green works wonders (and it's non-toxic). Hardware stores sell gallon jugs of concentrate - the purple stuff is a step up. I used the purple mixed 1:3 to de-grease my motorcycle's chain for the first time after I bought it used.

Also, I once heard someone suggest tumbling mail in a bag filled with sawdust, which supposedly picks up all the rust flakes that get worn off by the mail rubbing against itself, and should do a find job of absorbing oil.

Angusm0628 wrote:Simple green the wonder cleaner..

This.

I used a huge jug of the stuff, and dried it as fast as I could, but rust just can't be prevented if you're soaking it in a mop bucket like I was. A stiff wire brush, constant wear (sacrificing an old coat to rub off the rust with), and shaking it inside of a gym bag has gotten all but a few stubborn patches out.

hmmm nice. well for me, here is where i am at:
I gave up on tumbling. I used orange blast to clean, then dried, and used sand to scour and dry. I was left with mail that was coated with a fine sand powder and that still wasn't polished. The only plus is that the black scale is removed, allowing my hands to remain clean when I work on it. I think I am about to try a fine wire brush. I think it is probably the best bet.

I double bag my maille and polishing stuff in garbage bags so that they are full of air like balloons. Seal each bag individually. I then place it in a duffle bag and latch it. Throw it in the cloths dryer and tumble on air dry setting (no heat). Done in 20 minutes.

The wife told me that I'm buying a new dryer if I screw up. Hasn't happened.

If all of the above fails, you can always sell it at Hermann Historica as a genuine antique for 3600 Euro...

ha my mail totally looks like that

RalphS wrote:If all of the above fails, you can always sell it at Hermann Historica as a genuine antique for 3600 Euro...

LOL Yep, herman has the best preserved maille shirt in the history of the world. And it was way ahead of its time in construction methods.
(Probably made in the secret medieval Templar machine shop, under the vactican)

By a master armourer named Blankenshie---er, by an unknown master.

build yourself a rock polisher big enough for your mail and 20 lbs of sand this will do everything you want One if those compost drum things with a electric motor turning it will work wonders and you can use it to polish rocks when your not de-rusting and cleaning mail.

Actually...

If you buy a cheap concrete mixer, and replace the mixing baffles with short pieces of wood, it makes an awesome mail polisher.

You can get a cheap mixer that is easily modified for about $200 at HF.

Once polished, seal that bad boy with a silicone rust preventative. Then just spray it after each use (it displaces water, so no need to dry as long as you're thorough.)

I would use a sand blasting medium a lot of the sand you get at a garden supply is beach or river sand and has rounded edges so it doesn't have as muck bite.