I am about to commission a new 16th-century harness from a very good armorsmith and wanted to solicit some opinions on the suitability of stainless steel, which is the option I am looking at.

I will be using the suit for occasional reenactment and manual interpretation, but honestly, it will spend most of its life sitting in my office on a stand. So, I like the low maintenance aspect of stainless. Aside from it being historically inaccurate, are there any other factors that should affect my decision? Durability? Weight? Etc.

Stainless steel can be stiffer than mild. In fact some combat organizations allow thinner stainless gauges since it should be harder than equivalent gauge mild.

A good tempered spring steel will be the lowest weight option of course, but I think stainless is a viable alternative for occasional use armour. If you can get the maker to give it more of a satin finish than mirror, you might be able to make it look less like typical stainless and more historical.

I'm sure some folks here are clutching their chests at the mere thought of stainless steel, but I think it's a pretty good option for your purposes. All the jouster I saw at the Ohio faire during the years I worked there wore stainless.

I'd be curious to know what maker you're using, too. :)

I'm using Illusion and having quite a bit of custom work done to it.

I will post pictures later this year when it is finished.

And yes, it will be in a satin finish.

If you don't like that rusty look and hate the upkeep of Hi Carbon, go stainless!

if it would sit in your office, with a humidity that is quite low, it would not rust very much in and on itself, do you have airconditioning? that will reduce air humidity more

There are extensive discussions on this topic over at:

http://www.armourarchive.org

Spring that has been properly heat treated and then properly tempered, should not have the breaking and cracking that is being discussed here. But this process is very much an art form in itself.

I dabble in armour but I'm still very much at the self taught apprentice stage.

I'm quite partial to stainless. Low maintenance, and high durability. But much more expensive usually. Then again, spring steel is the most expensive, so I guess its a wash in those terms.

Here is an article that addresses the topic that I just found:

http://www.armourarchive.org./essays/essay__m...tion.shtml