Material of Historical Armor?

[Jonathan Newhall]

We all know that in terms of swords a sales pitch about a 50 on the rockwell hardness scale for the blade, something or another about high carbon spring steel, hand casted, blah blah blah is about right.

However, what about for armor? Chain mail or steel plate in particular is what I'm on a quest to gather information about now. What kind of metal would have been used historically? Obviously stainless steel didn't really... exist... at the time, so what kind of steel would have been used? How would you have prevented rust on your enormous coat of metal rings without something like stainless steel?

[Stacy Clifford]

I don't know about what type of steel they used, but if I recall correctly, the method for cleaning mail was something like putting it in a big sack full of sand and vinegar and shaking vigorously, which sounds like almost as much exercise as fighting.

[Keith Culbertson]

yeah, that is what I have seen done; iron rings especially need this, but oil and sand---vinegar might be an interesting cleaner to start...for plates, well, lots of polishing compond for pages and squires to get their forearm workouts I guess...
of course, for modern effect I cheated by using galvanized fencing wire---once the patina set, it has never died.

[Shane Smith]

Beeswax?