Been looking for chainmail on the Net. I jus need a mostly costume piece. I came across blackened chainmail. Is there any historical reference to this?

Were There any "rustproofing" technologies then?

What you want is "natural" black/dark mail. It should not be "metalic" black, or galvanized grey, or stainless shiny.
Just plain, boring metal colour. ;)

Blueing metal was heard of, and done to helmets and, later, plate armour. But I doubt it was done with mail.

There is a nice yahoo group for maille (never use the word chain, it is an obsolete and incorrect victorian era term)its name is rivetedmaille.

It provides info o authentic style riveted mail.

Burnishing is quite period, even if I guess their means were simpler, I have heard of olive oil sprayed on red hot maille, todat somebody obtained good results with cooking oil and a bbq grill.

I don't mean to steal the topic away from Billy, but I have a somewhat follow on question.

I've noticed that in some armour reviews that I have seen, when butted mail is used it is looked down upon as not being correct. Was there a distinct time period when butted mail was no longer used, replaced with riveted? What are the time periods where butted mail prevailed. I would have to believe that even in the hayday of riveted mail there was still plenty of butted mail. It still offered great protection and takes a fraction of the time to make, not to mention cost! Just wanted to know the basis behind some of those comments.

As for rustproofing, I don't believe there were any processes done to the actual metal to accomplish this. Just good maintenence on the part of the owner. Keeping it well oiled with the occasional sand roll to remove any beginning rust. Perhaps some sort of coating was applied (wax / animal fat / ?), no basis for this, just some things that might have worked?

There was never a time when butted mail was used on the battlefield. The earliest extant examples of European mail are all riveted.

Aaron, No worries as I'd like to hear the answers to those questions as well. :)

Are there any websites that would detail how to care for maille?

Anyone think that sometype of spray silicone would work? I know it's not authentic just thought it may work well.

I'll definately defer to someone who has more historical evidence then I, but I've never seen a reference to blackened mail, and it probably is because of the fact that when you wear it the rings rub together, thereby rubbing the blackening off in short time.

I mostly agree with Dan's comment that butted mail was never used, if we confine that specifically to pre-Victorian Europe. There are examples of 19th century Persian mail garments that were butted, but keep in mind this is long after mail would really be necessary, so it didn't functionally matter. I believe forms of Japanese armour used butted links to hold certain plates together, though this would cover a very small area, and the padding underneath these areas was the real armour in this case.

I can agree with that as well. Non-riveted mail is like a half finished armor. To be its most effective, the riveting (or welding) shut of the links is integeral (along with the padded undergarment underneath, of course). While there are a few examples of butted maile, most, if not all, of these are relegated to display pieces, or pieces of armor that were not very integral to the whole suit of armor.

As far as blackening, silicone, or any other sort of coating to mail.....I would advise against it. When the rings rub together through normal wear, you tend to get chips, rubs, and scratches in that pretty finish. Then, you have all these thousands of links that are half bare metal and half bad finish job...ends up looking very bad (warned a friend about this once...he did not listen...a month or so later, he was complaining about how shabby his byrnie looked and asking me how to fix it :wtf: ). I would advise using a good mild steel and let it naturally darken over time. As was stated, just roll it around in a barrel of sand periodically, and maybe wipe (spray?) it down occasionally with a good light oil.

WOW! Thanks for taking the time to type all that out Dominic. :) It really helps. While the first suit wil be for costume i do plan to get a really nice set as well. In browsing the net I've sen mild steel, blackened steel, galvanized steel, and others but just wasn't sure what was good or no.

I guess I didn't explain the silicone right. What I meant was a spray like you spray on leather to protect it.

Pour heated olive oil on rusting mail, it will be blackened the old way.

Blackening assumes a rusty piece.

How heated would the oil need to be?

The two nicest places I've seen in the states to buy mail are:

http://www.forth-armoury.com/

http://www.historicenterprises.com/

The mail sold by both places is very similar, if not the same. They are leaps and bounds better in quality when compared to any other mass produced mail. They are also as close to historically accurate as you can get on the mass market without going custom (which will cost a LOT). These are made of iron, yet they are comparable in weight, and sometimes lighter than a typical aluminum butted shirt. This is because butted mail needs to be thicker to keep from coming undone from its own weight, whereas the rivetted pieces can use a much thinner piece of metal.