ancient techniques against rust

[hoplite14gr]

Oral tradition has it that guerrilas fighting the turks in 17th, 18th, and 19th century used bone marrow from lamps and goats to treat their blades.
Olive oil from kernel (high in acidity) not the edible stuff was used to clean muskets from gunpowder. Its use is supposed to go very long back in time.
Never tried it myself.
Only for those who have objects to risk.

Kind regards

[Matt Lukes]

Apparently one of the ways medieval squires cleaned their knights' armor with a mixture of urine, vinegar and sand.

Matt

[Magnus]

On that note, maybe we could market a new rust remover called "Piss off".

[DECIMvS MERCATIvS VARIANvS]

http://www.legioix.org/

[Crispvs]

I have used pig fat on my helmet for a number of years and have found that as long as I re-apply it every month or so (which I often forget to do) it keeps the rust off very well. A very small amount will comfortably coat an entire helmet and only a very light greasing is necessary. The only visual effect is a slightly blue tinge to the metal in some lights. A slightly greater amount of fat is needed for the places that attract rust easily, such as the eyebrows, the occipital ridges, the cheek guard hinges and the crack along where the re-enforcing peak meets the helmet bowl. The fat is not visible from more than a foot or so and it is not smelly (I can't smell it anyway). I have not tried to rust proof my armour with pork fat, as my cloak, sword baldric, arms and sword pommel would quickly remove most of the fat from the armour (unless of course they were heavily impregnated with fat as well).

Crispvs

[tlclark]

I wonder if garum will clean as well as

I think I'd prefer pig fat. The smell wouldn't make me faint oops:

Just for grins I tried this. I do a lot of thai cooking so I have a huge bottle of Vietnamese fish sauce.

Ugh, no affect what-so-ever. and I imagine the high salt content would make the rust worse.

[Pieter]

I have to agree with Decimus as far as leaving things forge blackened. This seems to be anarument with some in the reenactment world to go along with the idea of the "logical" solution. Of course this rules out military "sensibilities" and discipline. I hate to say it too, but it does seem Farbish (no offense intended), and to put it simply: it looks like crap! There simply is not enough evidence to prove this! I have heard and read that a mixture of brick-dust (pulverized brick)and olive oil was used to polish (I do not know about preserving - although I'm sure it would also help), in Medieval Italy. Both products in abundance in ancient times. I like the argument for pumice as an abrasive. I will go look for the source of this info. - although it is medieval. As far as animal fats being used is concerned: There is a helmet that is somewhere in a museum either in northern England or Scotland, that I believe may have belonged to a Border Reiver, that was polished by the owner using sheep's fat. It has a nice russet-brown colour to it(I will try to find out about the exact piece). Animal fat has a tendency to go rancid quite quickly and if left on metal will turn a reddish brown colour. The other drawback is it also attracts flies when left in thick patches! I do not have too much experience with Olive or other vegetable based oils, although plant oils can also go rancid. I have read that during WWII German soldiers issued K98 rifles used anything they could get their hands on to preserve the wood (not metal though)stocks (as nothing was issued for that purpose). This of course leads to the: "anything the legionary could get his hands on" speculation. I for one hate to speculate on historic methods without out period evidence (written and or archeological evidence). If we are merely preserving our own gear, why not use some modern product? (only a question!). If you are, as a reenact-or, providing answers to the public, why make something up? I will not claim to know the answer of having read up enough on it. I'm sure there are others who have. There is archeological evidence of tinning, although I'm not sure of any evidence of this being a most common means of preserving armour.
Pieter.

[Antonia Auriga]

I always use very fine sandpaper, steel wool and a a product called "Brasso" on my armor and jewelry cleaner for the priestessly goods that aren't brass. On the converse, is there any incidcation that these modern convienences may harm our armor? I have never tried anything else (yet). Brasso can hurt thinner metal veneers that aren't brass, like silver, nickel, etc. That's what I found out on one of my sacrificial bowls...

[Lýsandros]

Concerning preservation, olive oil is excellent! But you must make sure its a 100% virgin olive oil, no salts added. It has very good consistency that literally sits on metal and creates a thin coating. Compared to modern synthetic preservants it has another benefit - it smells naturally, and people wont take you for a mechanic

I have been using olive oil for preservation of wood, metal and leather for some three or four years and I have yet to discover something more reliable. Altough preserve leather with olive oil only if you must, I have noticed that years of olive oil preservation make the leather (especially on hilts) a bit strange. Go for linen oil, it is recommended and is much better for leather.