chnmail-clean-msg - 10/18/01 Cleaning mail armor in period and today. NOTE: See also the files: merch-chainml-msg, chainmail-msg, chainmail-beg-art, p-armor-msg, metals-msg, metalworking-msg, metal-sources-msg, armor-chklst-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: caradoc at neta.com (John Groseclose) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Cleaning Chain Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 04:10:12 -0700 Eric Mieczkowski wrote: > I'm sure this has come up before, but what's the best way to get rust > off of a piece of chain mail? I've got a piece that I set aside > unfinished two years ago and just dug out. Its not nearly as bad as I > might have thought, but its still bad. Someone once told me vinegar > worked well. I tried that. It did seem to help, but didn't finish the > job. Any suggestions? Here's a method I've used, and as far as I've been able to tell, it's period, too! 1) Get a largish bucket or barrel, with a lid that can be fastened on. It needs to be large enough to hold your chain in addition to a quantity of sand. Alternatively, you can put the chain inside a large sandbag. Add an amount of used crankcase oil (or other oil) to the sand if you'd like to oil the mail at the same time. 2) Roll the barrel around for a while. If you're using a sandbag, get several large squires to toss it around like a medicine ball. 3) Take your newly cleaned mail out and shake the sand out of it. If you haven't oiled it yet, do so now. Subject: ANST - mail cleaning and care ... Date: Fri, 03 Jul 98 09:22:31 MST From: "j'lynn yeates" To: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG On 2 Jul 98, at 23:14, j_smallw at titan.sfasu.edu wrote: > wolf made some comments concerning cleaning chain mail. One in particular > was dragging it behind a truck at the beach. > > It's been my experience that the washeteria driers are excellent for > cleaning mail. Makes a lot of noise though and you really need to clean > the drier after you're done. better solution: small barrel with shaft mounted on axis (steel pipe and flanges works)... cut door that can be closed ... mount on frame ... add hand crank or electric motor to shaft ... toss dirty mail in barrel ... add sand ... add oil ... turn until done alternatives ... a large vibration cleaner (industrial class) works better ... especially using old cleaning media that is well impregnated with the carbon from the firearmshell casings that's it's used to clean (HK rifles casings leave very dirty brass ... but the older the cleaning media, the better it works). sand blasting works pretty well if you have access to a rig and a form to put the mail onto to hold it rigid. remember to turn it inside to get to each surface). this works if the mail is really grunged out. best way to clean it is not let it get rusted in the first place. store wrapped up in a oil soaked towel out of the elements (i keep the towel covered in a waterproof nylon stuff-sack). apply you favorite anti-rust ageant in the field *before* it starts (i buy the surplus GI "gun grease" and keep a rag soaked with it in the kit ... before putting it one, wipe it down (especially in arm pit area) whan take off wipe it down again and put it back in its wrappings). additionally, during the day the grease on the links serves to coat and polish through as it's worn and the links shift. if it gets wet, take it off and shoot it with WD40 and/or dry it over a fire (ever seen mail "burn" ... grin) followed by WD40 and gun grease using any of these methods is much less likely to torgue off a business owner by possibly damaging a expensive piece of the hardware (dryer) they make their livelyhood from. also less likely to generate negative PR for your local group and the society as a whole. 'wolf .. rust never sleeps Edited by Mark S. Harris chnmail-clean-msg 2 of 2