[Adrian Thurnwald]

Howdy,

Does anyone have any tips for getting rust off lamellar armour?

I've started scrubbing with light sandpaper and metal polish, but it doesn't get in easily behind the overlapping plates, and makes the laces very ugly.

Thanks in advance!

[Mart Shearer]

Step1: Unlace the lames
Step 2:.....

[Dan Howard]

You've just discovered one of the problems with lamellar. It is a major pain to maintain

[R Lister]

I tried to clean my lamellar with sand paper and stuff. It did not work.

I then unlaced my lamellar.

I cleaned all the bits

I covered the whole bloody lot in iron dwarf battle wax

I then re-laced it. It took fing ages.

I'm still not done.

I've however laced the lamellar into sections, so they are modular, and can be taken apart without destroying the whole armour.

[Stephane Rabier]

Hi,
the traditional and historical technique is : call one of your slaves / serfs, give him a piece of rag, promise him to whip him vigorously if it does not shine until tonight or if the laces are soiled...
Simple, isn't it?

[Ian Hutchison]

[Jeffrey Hildebrandt]

This won't help you with cleaning the lamellar, but it might keep you from having to clean it again: Spray a bit of oil on using a salad oil sprayer (they make a finer spray than the gun oiling sprayers - fine enough that it doesn't need to be wiped to improve coverage). Flex the armour so that as much surface gets sprayed as possible, then lightly wipe the exposed surface. The coating is fine enough it should not make your lacing slimy - if the lacing is leather, it will actually keep it supple. This form of maintenance has kept my lamellar from rusting in the oppressively humid Niagara Peninsula.

As for removing rust from hard-to-reach places, sometimes muriatic acid is the ticket, when rinsed and neutralized immediately afterwards. I find myself saving a lot of time using acid for rust removal and de-scaling. You could test a small spot to make sure it didn't damage the lacing. Acid has to be handled with extreme care, of course, and I wouldn't venture near it without a proper organic vapours/acid fumes mask.

I hope this helps

-Hildebrandt

[Gabriele A. Pini]

It's possible to use electrolysis for rust removal?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electrolytic-...aka-Magic/

The biggest problem I see is the contact between the lamellas and if the washing soda negatively affect the laces.

Before trying I will attend the guidance from the Olympus of myArmoury: I have and old maille coif with which I could make an experiment, if it's necessary.

[Boris Bedrosov]

Indeed, the rust is major problem in lamellar armours. That's why I blackened every individual plate of mine before lacing (you could see how it looks like in the "Show Us Your Kits and Harnesses" thread).
As you obviously couldn't do so it yours, the only left is to oil it regularly. For this purpose I usually use WD-40 - although blackened, it still gets rust, especially inside and under the overlappings.

I just wonder how this problem would reveal itself in discussed here http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=27977 "lamellae-riveted-on-leather-band" construction?
Obviously , the inner side would be protected by the leather, while the outer - a bit easier to clean.

[Adrian Thurnwald]

Thanks guys. The lamellar is blackened but it has some spots showing. I've worn in a few times in the weather, and, well, now here I am starting this topic

The rust is not terrible at the moment. It's at the level where it comes off without heavy sandpapering. I'll try and rub it with a little bit of polish and cloth and then spray it with oil, as mentioned above. If the laces get a bit off-colour... well, they'll be consistently off-colour!