oil stains on clothes

[Marcus Mummius]

Salve omnes,

I've been wearing a hamata for the last two events (degalvanised). The tunics I wore under the thing are stained to an almost pitch black colour were they werent protected by the subarmalis (the part that isn't covered by the mail in erect position but gets covered by the mail when doing certain movements).

What do my hamata wearing comilitones do to avoid this blackening of the clothes? Do you wipe of the oil before wearing it? Is the blackening caused by the galvanisation? Is is some kind of loose 'metaldust' that's still on the rings after the vinegar treatement?

I would like to find an answer because I will add pteruges to my hamata soon and I plan to make them out of glued together layers of linen. It will be a very timeconsuming proces and it will be very difficult to remove stains from them so...

Thanks in advance,
Kind regards,
Jef

[arklore70]

Jef,
did you rinse your hamata with water after removing the galvanization ( quickly followed by towel drying and generous coats of oil/WD-40).

If not , it may be residual galvanization from either not soaking it long enough or from not rinsing it perhaps.

Of the two mail hamata's that I have owned, the dark stains disappeared once I removed the galvanization.

Oil should not be leaving dark stains. CLP and gun oil are very light colored oils as is WD-40.

Now, when stored or displayed, I tend to put a heavy coat of oil or WD-40 on to protect my investment, but when I go to an event, I transport it in a cloth army laundry bag and shake it up to remove the excess oil.

I have soaked through my tunic and subarmalis with sweat and been exposed to high humidity in South Carolina and never had a problem with rust with this method.

In addition, I have yet to experience heavy stains as you describe once I removed the galvanization, although where the subarmalis does not cover the tunic, it does get a bit dirtier faster.

I hope this helps, and if you like, please shoot me a PM or an E-mail and I can give you an article I wrote in how to remove the galvanization to compare notes and methods.

Hope this helps,
v/r
Mike