Hamata and galvinization

[arklore70]

Folks,
I have a question. I am well aware of all the techniques to remove the galvanization on a set of mail/Amata. unfortunately, I live in the SE United States and with the way humidity is here, short of pulling daily maintenance on my kit, I am very hesitant to remove it for fear of watching my investment rust away. As it is, I have coated with a very generous coating of WD-40, and the leather in treated with lanolin. The Brass, well, I just polish it up with a nice brass/bronze paste polish.


So, in my efforts to always strive for perfection, is there anything I can do to make the hamata look a bit more real with out removing the galvanization?

Cheers!!

Mike

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Titus,

I removed teh gavly from my hamata and I live in WV! I bet the humdity levels here rival South East Asia! One thing I do is give it a good sray down with furniture polish every now and then. Let t dry then wipe it down, and repeat. This will give it a fine coat of wax everytime. I will admit its not the most authentic, nor the most durable, but it has kept the rust away (well mostly)

BTW I learned this trick from a old gun collector who used to spray the external parts of old rifles. He swore up and down it was better than oil since oil actually traps dust and dirt.

[arklore70]

Thanks for the tip!!

What brand/type are you using.

I'm still hoping there is another method to make it look more authentic, but this may be the best course of acttion.

V/r
Mike

[Tiberius Claudius Vindex]

I use olive oil on mine, though having rust on your hamata is probably more authentic than having it shiny and looking like new. If your unit was on campaign or stationed someplace like Northern Europe or Britain your armor would rust some.

[Marcus Mummius]

I also strongly suspect olive oil was used for the care of armour and weapons. The oil has so many uses I think it was one of the most important things a roman soldier carried. You can use it on metal, wood, to wash yourself, to cook, as hairgel,.... We might think it think it's rather smelly with everything drenched in olive oil but this does not mean the romans thought this too!

Best regards,

[ambrosius]

I also strongly suspect olive oil was used for the care of armour and weapons. The oil has so many uses I think it was one of the most important things a roman soldier carried. You can use it on metal, wood, to wash yourself, to cook, as hairgel,.... We might think it think it's rather smelly with everything drenched in olive oil but this does not mean the romans thought this too! Best regards,

An old armourer of my acquaintance reckons the Roman army probably used one of three rust-proofers in the following order of preference:

1.) Olive oil
2.) Beeswax
3.) Pig fat

Though these days, if you wanted to use a natural product that doesn't
leave a stain or smell rancid before too long, try Linseed or Almond oil.

Ambrosius

[arklore70]

I am gonna de galvinize a few pieces of extra mail that Ihave lying around my home and ttest which method works best.

This should be fun.

Mike

[Peroni]

Maille is pretty much self-cleaning anyway.

If rust develops, a few wears should sort it out. Alternatively, place the hamata in an old pillowcase and give it a good rolling around/kicking. This will remove the rust, then a light oiling should keep it at bay.

Regards,

[arklore70]

Good deal.

Does anyone have a close up pic of what the mail should look like once I get done de galvanizing it?

I had a sample piece, that i am testing first, soak for about 10 hours. The mail, after I rinsed it off, had a dull gray color to it much like my Mainz pattern gladius.

V/r
Mike

[Cornelius Quintus]

Ave,

perhaps a typical German idea for cleaning a mail shirt automatically.

Long ago, I have read somewhere about a cleaning device, looking like a mixture of a barrel and a spit. The barrel was filled with chain mail and sand or gravel and then rotated on the spit like grilling a mutton.

I also remember a friend, who collects vintage motorcycles. He often had to clean the petrol tanks, which were rusty inside after being empty for years. So he built just that kind of device (his own idea), combined with the motor of a washing machine. Instead of a barrel, he fixed the tank to the device, filled it with sand, gravel or screws and let it slowly rotate for a few hours. Very noisy (!), but very effective. He also cleaned a tank for me. It looked shiny as new afterward.

Greetings from Germany

Heiko (Cornelius Quintus)

[Caius Fabius]

Cleaning mail, a medieval idea for cleaning mail was to take a barrel filled with oiled sand, and have a couple of servants, or pages roll it around the courtyard for a while. I used a similar method at an event, letting people put their rusty armor into a oil and sand filled mixer. It was hard of the leather, but the metal came out looking nice. Use fine sand, not large stuff or it may scratch instead of polish! We polished up steel, and have not tried it on brass. I would worry about using the technique on softer metals.

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Good deal.

Does anyone have a close up pic of what the mail should look like once I get done de galvanizing it?

I had a sample piece, that i am testing first, soak for about 10 hours. The mail, after I rinsed it off, had a dull gray color to it much like my Mainz pattern gladius.

V/r
Mike

Here is my riveted maile shirt after being stripped with muratic acid.

Try to control yourselves I know I am dead sexy in this kit! :lol:

[arklore70]

Ahh, excellent,

thank you,

Mike

[arklore70]

Folks,
Well after about ten days of experimentation her is what I have to report.

I exposed for about 10 days various samples of chain mail to the elements. Temperatures during this time period went as high as 93 degrees F and and as low as 33 degrees F. During this ten day window the dew count went up and down and there were at least two solid days of non stop rain.

The galvanized mail treated with WD-40 and the untreated sample showed no signs of rust or corrosion.

The degalvinized samples had various results. All listed below were first de galvanized first.

The mail sample treated with linseed oil showed no signs of rust or corrosion.

The mail sample treated with olive oil showed only slight signs of rust.

The mail sample treated with WD-40 showed no signs of rust or corrosion at all.

The mail sample treated with gun oil/CLP showed some slight rusting and corrosion.

The mail sample untreated rusted out very nicely with a lovely bright orange and yellow color.

Once I get a photo bucket account established, I will post the pictures.

For degalvanized mail, linseed oil and WD-40 appear to work the best. WD-40, although less authentic, is a bit finer and easier to apply. It also wipes off easier.

Linseed oil seems to stick better to the mail, although is not applied properly it seems to get a bit sticky and gummy like.

Not sure how much this helps others out there, but it does give me confidence enough to degalvanized my mail, and to treat it with linseed oil or WD-40 and not have to worry about it flaking away into a useless pile of rust.

Cheers!!

V/r
Mike

[Peroni]

Good experimentation Mike.

Have you also thought about storing your maille in an oiled-leather bag?

Regards,