Tumbling a mail hauberk -- myArmoury.com

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Wed 20 Sep, 2006 9:18 pm Post subject: Tumbling a mail hauberk

I've been searching for an efficient and easy way to clean my mail. One of the methods mentioned is tumbling the mail in a dryer, with the heating element deactivated. Well, by happenstance I found just such a dryer that a friend uses to soften animal hides. He's not into medieval arms but is an outdoorsman as well as a Wildlife and Parks Officer with a passion for history in general, so he was more than interested when I told him what I wanted to do and very eager to assist. He'd also read my recent article on the Normans and was very interested to see my "stuff". (BTW, he printed that article out and it comes in at 35 pages!)

We put the hauberk in the dryer with a large amount of old rags and let run run for about five hours, with periodic inspections off and on. What was the end result? Well............................................

It didn't remove all of the grime from the mail and I've just spent the better part of three evenings replacing exactly 331 rings that had their rivets pop loose. Mad

All of the loosened rings were of the wedge riveted variety while the round riveted rings, which comprise the majority of the hauberk, came through unscathed. The GDFB coif also came through well but given that its rings are quite a bit heaver I wasn't surprised. Granted, I knew I'd find a few rings that needed replacement and considering the hauberk alone has somewhere around 35000-40000 rings, this isn't even one percent of the total. Still, it was a major pain in the buttisimo replacing them all. At least I found out which rivets could have been set better!

To add insult to injury: while we had the mail tumbling away someone walked in and asked what we were doing. My friend told him we were cleaning the oil off of my mail armor by tumbling it. The individual replied with, "Just spray it down with some brake cleaner." I immediately had a "duh" moment. I tried that this afternoon and it did a good job of removing most of the grime. There's still a bit of oxidation or something that won't go away. I don't know if this is the result of treating the mail with vinegar or what. However, it's not nearly as bad as it was and I can live with it. At least the mail won't spontaneously disassemble when going that route.

Chuck Russell · Posted: Thu 21 Sep, 2006 3:31 am Post subject:

good to know good to know.

a friend ofmine in ohio sprays every mail he owns with brake cleaner. but man, its just as mesy afterwards as the junk thats regularly on it when u buy it.

to be honest i've only cleaned my mail once and thats cause it turned orange with rust. i put it in sand and shook it around in a burlap sack for an evening. then took it out and whipped it all down. i now keep the mail in the burlap sack without the sand. havent had a problem since.

Shane Allee · Industry Professional

Thanks Patrick for taking one for the team.

I traded for a shirt that was too small, but I need to clean it up before trying to trade it for a larger size. It has the orange color things going on with it. I'm thinking that I'll try putting it in a canvas bag and driving around with it in my trunk for a few days to see if that works.

Shane

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Thu 21 Sep, 2006 7:20 am Post subject:

Torsten F.H. Wilke · Posted: Thu 21 Sep, 2006 10:51 am Post subject:

Patrick, pardon the following, but did you 'member to set the dryer on delicates??? Sorry, had myself rollin' over that... Happy

Ok, that was really bad humor...

Quote: The Only Good Rivet Is A Set Rivet! ( Knightly Bob, late 13th Century)

Jonathan Blair · Posted: Thu 21 Sep, 2006 11:29 am Post subject:

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Fri 22 Sep, 2006 8:24 am Post subject:

Maybe I should have used fabric softener? Surprised

Greyson Brown · Posted: Sat 23 Sep, 2006 5:59 pm Post subject:

The town where I grew up had a dry cleaners called Camelot Cleaners, and on all their hangers it said "All suits of armor cleaned free." I always wanted to get them to live up to that promise, but I just never got around to it, and they aren't in business anymore. You should check around, and see if any other dry cleaners are making similar foolish promises.

-Grey

Jesse Zinn · Posted: Sat 23 Sep, 2006 6:48 pm Post subject:

For what it's worth, George R.R. Martin, in his medieval fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, writes several times about squires and hands tumbling mail shirts, etc. in barrels filled with sand. I have no knowledge whether this is historically authentic or not, however, when I read it, I felt I had heard of it before. I'd love to test it out sometime...

Cheers,
-Jess

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Sat 23 Sep, 2006 8:23 pm Post subject:

Bob Burns · Posted: Sat 23 Sep, 2006 10:09 pm Post subject:

Thanks for more mileage on your "Hauberk Happenings" Laughing Out Loud

! What about spraying it with gun cleaner?

Well, not that it would have ever have occured to me to put my hauberk in a dryer, it's a definite don't do on my list now and I do thank you for this terribly funny post which sadly was at your expense and it's probably a very good thing for my health that I was not there for the end result! Laughing Out Loud

Also, I thank you and the information you gave me which prompted me to buy a gambeson and riveted hauberk, arming cap and coif to wear while wielding a sword or sword and shield. It's quite a difference in feeling, both in that it takes much more effort, movements are slowed down, but it also adds psychological vigor and vitality to the whole thing.
My hauberk is the steel riveted dipped in zinc version made by Windlass and weighs 23 lbs, and I tell ya to put the gambeson and the hauberk as well as cap and coif it does not take long to feel the effects of the heat!

Thanks for the laughs!

Bob

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Sat 23 Sep, 2006 11:20 pm Post subject:

You're most welcome Bob. I'm glad my tribulations give you a jolly. Razz

Honestly, I wasn't too upset about it as I was fairly sure it would happen to a certain extent. So when it did happen my reaction was more of a "that figures" kind of thing. The entire process with this mail has been a learning experience and apparently it isn't over yet.

My friend (with the dryer) thought we should try putting the mail in a bag and tumbling it that way. The mail might not be thrown around and abused as much if tumbled in that fashion. He has a point but frankly, at this point I'm not eager to repeat the exercise.

Your gambeson is the typical modern poly-fill stuff. I have one as well and they don't breath like natural fiber garments do. In terms of heat dissipation it's like wearing a plastic trash bag under your mail. A good quality gambeson is one of the things on my longterm list.