ancient techniques against rust

[Cacaius]

Does anyone have any experience in this fight against rust on your helmets etc, using ancient techniques ?

I have many friends in 17 c and 19 c re-enactment in Poland and they produce for own needs, greases etc, using old recipes from those times.

I am looking for any knowledge in this matter concerning ancient times.

Does tining was so cheap in ancient times that I can do it with my Imperial-Gallic G ?

What do you do with your lorica segmentata from inside to keep them in good condition? Inside is always more wet from our body, than outside. Does tining in this case is also possible ?

[Magnus]

Chances are the inside of anything that was "forged" would be left blackened, thus protecting it against any active corrosion. You can either heat blacken the inside of your gear (difficult if you're buying it), or some people (like me) just spray paint the inside flat black.

On some of my other items, like my javelin tips and such, i'll coat it with beeswax then give it a quick once over with a heat source. That tends to seal it up nice.

[Peroni]

Alternatively, although a bit smelly, pigfat would have been used too.

Regards,

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Do you have any evidence that pigfat would have been used? I would think any animal fat (especially pork) would quickly turn rancid and cause iron to rust.

[Caballo]

Hi,

I tried pigfat on my gladius from a particularly big roast , and it seemed to work fine. Howver, it does need regular re-application if it is not to become "sticky".

Regards

Paulus

[Hibernicus]

Use nut oils.. palm, walnut, almond..

olive oil , animal fats go rancid....

I'm keen on forge darkened iron myself.. why buff off the protective layer?

The iron seg I'm working on is seriously dark from all the hammered in carbon. Ever try buffing your cast iron fry pan to a mirror finish?

We've settled on a buffing kit comprised of finely ground pumice, nut oil and a sea sponge or square of felted wool as the buffing pad. Works quite well!

[Caius Fabius]

what about cleaning brass and bronze using only period materials? Even if you leave the forge blackened iron, ......
:?:

[Hibernicus]

Brass or bronze cleaning...
... a very mild abrassive such as talc in an oil

... vinegar and salt

... ... you can use a frayed stick to dig into the hard to reach areas

[John M McDermott]

My favorite is Lousiana Hot sauce that will clean all metals, even iron, but there is no proof the Romans had it.

[Caius Fabius]

I wonder if garum will clean as well as Louisiana Hot Sauce....? Another use for the liquid of Roman military reenacting.... hock:

[Tarbicus]

I wonder if garum will clean as well as

I think I'd prefer pig fat. The smell wouldn't make me faint oops:

[Atrectus]

You can use Coke, too. But be careful or there won't be anything left.

[Matt Lukes]

Oil blackening works wonderfully to protect the interior surfaces of armor and seems to me to be superior to simple heat blackening. I use a mixture of beeswax and a little linseed oil. The heating necessary to cause the coating to blacken leaves the outer surface of the steel rather dark, but some wet sanding with 280 and 400 grit sandpaper gives a burnished finish that is pretty rust-resistant. The very light rust that can appear is easy to brush off with a little steel wool or other soft abrasive.

I don't have any evidence that this method was used- to my knowledge only a couple of uncorroded Lorica segmentata plates have ever been found and I'm not sure of the details of the inner surfaces. However, the materials would have been available and the method is certainly plausible. I do recall that the exterior surface of the uncorroded artifacts looked quite clean and smooth, so good polishing during production could have been the case.

Matt

[Mithras]

I've read that fish-skin was used to get rust off. Not tried that yet. We have successfully used a piece of woollen cloth, moistened with a bit of olive oil and dipped in sand. You end up with great sandpaper for cleaning up blades and helmets, works a treat! Just keep dipping it in the sand.

[Mithras]

Use nut oils.. palm, walnut, almond..

olive oil , animal fats go rancid....

I'm keen on forge darkened iron myself.. why buff off the protective layer?

The iron seg I'm working on is seriously dark from all the hammered in carbon. Ever try buffing your cast iron fry pan to a mirror finish?

We've settled on a buffing kit comprised of finely ground pumice, nut oil and a sea sponge or square of felted wool as the buffing pad. Works quite well!

The problem there, Hibernicus, is that my legion is sat here in Britannia Secunda fighting boatloads of Saxons. I can't get much olive oil, walnuts, almonds, palm oil, pumice or sea sponge!

Animal fat is the Northern European (read 'barbarian') stand-in for olive oil. I also collect sandstone pebbles of various grades from the beach and use those as sanding blocks. Again, they seem to work OK.