Well Patric, "Cyanyde Gas" !!!! Isn't that what they use in the "Gass Chamber" . GULP.........Good thing we can joke about it!

As they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing! And I am glad that you seem to be O.K.

No, SERIOUSLY, now I am worried and I am looking forward to reading your next post. (Any post!).

I don't know how dangerous this was, but not knowing is the point. I guess, that before playing with chemicals one must be sure and know exactly what safety precautions to take!

This whole thing seems as safe as juggling half a dozen cocked single action revolvers while drunk standing in a canoe.

Best wishes and take care.

James,
I think i've been trying out the same stuff as your using,
although it's labelled brick acid/patio cleaner over here,
A fingernail depth etch in two to four hours,pretty clean too,
crud and crap removal you can watch it work,
Patrick,
Glad to hear you survived without any undue damage,
the brick acid is slow but sounds so much healthier/safer all round,

Like many Floridians, I have a swimming pool. We add muriatic acid to maintain pH of the pool water in the optimum range. Yes, this is nasty stuff, dilute hydrocholoric acid, I think. After breathing all of those fumes for so many years, it is no wonder that we have trouble understanding instructions in the voting booth.

Interesting...

I've been looking for riveted maille, 16 gauge for SCA use (i don't like butted, I want the real thing).

$300 for a decent riveted byrnie is too good to pass up. Although the zinc thing wouldn't do it for me, I'll look up Historic Enterprises.

So far I've has quite an experience with the new maille byrnie I purchased from Wholesalearmor.com. This has definitely been an educational and at times frustrating experience, but I believe I have it done now.

I checked the shirt this morning (because of the muriatic acid experience from the night before). Even though I had doused it pretty good with oil there were several large patchs of light rust on the shirt. I was being *dragged* out for a day of shopping by my wife so I didn't have time to mess with it this morning. I told my wife that I was going to have to clean it when I got home. She commented that one of her romance novels mentioned using oil and sand to clean maille. (This is a point who's importance will become clear later on.) I scoffed at her romance novel trivia and off we went.

I wondered around town thinking about something I could use to neutralize the rust. I considered filling a bucket with something and simply soaking the byrnie for a few hours, but what to use? I'd already had my Haz-Mat experience last night so I wasn't up for another chemical spill. I finally settled on vegetable oil. At least it isn't a carcinogen, nor will it burn my lungs out or dissolve my skin, so what the heck? I bought three gallons of oil and went to work as soon as I got home.

I tumbled the shirt around in the sand for awhile without much of a result. I then dumped the oil in a bucket and threw the shirt in. I repeatedly dunked the shirt in the oil for about fifteen minutes. As I was doing this I glanced over at my box of sand and had an idea. I took the dripping shirt out of the bucket and threw it in the sand. In short order I had a disgusting oil and sand paste that I proceeded to slosh the shirt around in. For about twenty minutes I alternated between scrubbing the shirt in that nasty mess and dunking it in the oil bucket. Scrub and dunk. Scrub and dunk. I'm glad I have a six foot privacy fence around my yard. Otherwise my neighbors would have wondered about my leisure activities.

After the last dunk in the bucket I checked the shirt and it was nice and clean! Damn those romance novels. :mad: I had to call my wife out into the back yard just so she could gloat. If this was anything like the authentic cleaning methods I can see why they had squires to do this sort of thing.

After all this hassle I now have a maille byrnie that is the desired color. I also have a box full of goo too. :lol:

Patrick, this has been one of the funniest stories to follow around here in a long, long time.

Again, this makes me glad that I don't really mind about the color of galvenized steel.

So, do you have to do that sand/oil thing often to keep the rust away?......LOL.

Patrick glad you are still alive: Have you told your wife yet about the possible level of risk you took, I would imagine that you would see an unprecedented level of "rolling of eyes"!

Oh, if you do use your gass mask to do this again make sure that it is rated to protect against cyanide gass.

Also the diluted type used for cement sounds much safer: I assume you used the stuff at maximum strenght?

Sorry for the teasing, can't resist!

As far as I remember, the sand method was what was done in the old days.



Helping a female friend in her 20s (I think she was right at about 20 at the time) move, she got three of us guys with trucks, and her dad's minivan, with two more girls to help move (females, as you all know, have far more in a small apartment than a guy in the same apartment usually). One of the boxes had a romance novel desert and fall to the floor.

My friend Brandon, who is hard to embarass, out of "curiousity" picked it up, randomly flipped open and started reading in a rather loud voice....... he just happened to flip to a major love scene.

The female friend in question nearly died of embarassment, and all the guys had a good laugh.

Thanks Patrick,
That was really fun.

Let us know when you are ready to sell the darn thing - since you have done all the work, I would be inerested :)

Here are 3 pics that Pattie sent me
[ Linked Image ]
[ Linked Image ]
[ Linked Image ]

Thanks for posting those Ben! Compare the above photos to the shirt's original finish.

[ Linked Image ]

Looks good! Coming in late to the thread, but I have I've stripped zinc from mail before & here are some observations:

- Muriatic acid is Monochloride Hydrochloric Acid. I believe the gas by-product is primarily (flammable) hydrogen, but you ought never take chances with anything with a chlorine component.
- You can reduce the strength of the muratic acid reaction by diluting it with water first.
- You can also reduce the rust formation afterwards by spraying the mail with WD-40 immediately after the water rinse. (hot water is a good idea to speed drying, but probably doesn't help too much)
- If you want to darken it a bit more, it may be possible to do so by heating it on a very hot 450-500 degree (closed) gas grill for at least a half hour. If there is oil on it, the oil will blacken. This is useful if you have oiled it enough to have penetrated into the crevases of the rivets & joints, as it will reduce rust formation there, but the oil will wear off on the exposed areas.

Cheers, Jeff,
I have been trying to darken my mail for some rime. Useful tip. Just a slight problem will my wife notice the smell?


Paul