I recently bought a maille aventail which came covered in a gooey grease product to protect it. It was impossible to even handle without gumming up everything it touched, so I degreased it. It promptly proceeded to rust.

I`ve heard of tumbling it in a container with some sand to clean it up. Has anyone had any success with this technique? Any other suggestions? I will, of course, oil it lightly after I'm done to prevent a recurrence of said rusting process...

Thank you in advance,

Cheers!

Don't use sand. It leaves a "sandblasted" type finish.

Tumble with wood shavings, as would be used in a stable or hamster cage. The mail will burnish against itself and the shavings carry away the dirt. Change the shavings when they get dirty.

Cool...

Thank you!

Also, spray some sort of rust retarder on it.

I think they used to use pig fat, but WD40 might be a better choice.

M.