If you’ve worn your aluminum chainmail outdoors a lot, whether for renaissance fairs, cosplay shoots, or LARP events, then it might have accumulated some dirt and debris. Maybe you tripped and fell in some mud while wearing it. Or maybe you just want to clean it up before you put it in storage for a while. Lucky for you, aluminum chainmail can be easily cleaned, and you don’t need to worry about causing rust.
So what’s the best way to clean aluminum chainmail? The best way to clean aluminum chainmail is to wash it with soapy water, then rinse it with clean water and dry it off. You can do this in a basin, sink, bucket, or even by hanging it up outside and spraying it with a hose. If your chainmail is really dirty, then you can scrub it with a brush.
In this article I’ll go over each method and explain why you might want to do it one way or another, so let’s get started.
Basin Or Bucket Method
One of the easiest ways to clean your chainmail is to fill up a bucket or basin with warm, soapy water, and wash it in there. Using a plastic bucket or basin is a bit nicer than washing it in a stainless steel or porcelain sink, because of the noise. A plastic container will be much quieter as you scrub the chainmail around inside it. Also, the mail might leave marks in a porcelain sink if you try to wash it in there.
I don’t really recommend that you wash your armor in your kitchen sink, because sometimes it can have a lot of bacteria from food preparation and dirty dishes. You could sanitize your sink first, but that’s just extra work.
Just fill up your bucket or basin with enough warm water to submerge your chainmail fully. Make sure not to fill it so much that it will overflow after you put the chainmail in. Then add a bit of liquid soap to the water, mix it up a bit, and put the armor in. Any dirt or debris should come off just by sloshing the mail around in the soapy water.
After you’ve sloshed and scrubbed it in the soapy water, you can take it out and place it somewhere that’s safe to get wet, like a clean counter top. Then you just dump out the soapy water, fill the bucket back up with clean water, and put the chainmail back in to rinse off any remaining soap. If you have a basin with running water, you can just put it in and rinse it off with the faucet.
Once your armor is all clean, it’s time to dry it off.
Drying
If you don’t want to leave your chainmail outside to dry, then you can still dry it out just fine indoors. After you’re done washing and rinsing your aluminum mail, lay it out on a towel. Paper towels also work fine, as you can see in the picture above. Then lay another towel over the top of it, or fold the same towel over so that you can dry off the excess water from both sides. From there you can either lay it out to fully dry on another towel, or on a counter top, or even hang it up somewhere.
If you want it to dry extra fast, then you can place a fan nearby so that it blows air over the armor. I haven’t tried using a hair dryer to dry it out faster, but that might also work.
Hose Method
If you have access to an outdoor area with a hose, then you might want to just clean your aluminum chainmail outside. It’s best also if you have a clean patio, deck, or table to lay your chainmail out on as you wash it. Anything that is safe to get wet. You could also potentially hang your armor up on a clothesline or something like that. Just make sure that you hang it up securely so that it doesn’t fall in the dirt, or you might have to clean it again.
The pressure from the water might be enough to wash off any dirt or debris, but if you want to you can also add some soap. Just make sure that whatever soap you use is safe to use outdoors.
One good thing about washing your armor outside is that you can just leave it out there to dry. If it’s a sunny day then it will dry fairly quickly. It will still dry out on an overcast day, but it will just take longer. You could still use towels to dry off the excess water first, before you leave it out to dry fully, which would speed up the process.
Scrubbing
If your armor is really dirty, say with caked on dirt or something else, then you might need to scrub it. The best way to do this is probably with a bristle brush. Something with plastic bristles of a medium to high stiffness would be ideal. Metal bristle brushes usually have steel bristles, which would easily scratch up your armor, especially if your aluminum chainmail is highly polished.
You could use a sponge also, but the sponge itself might get a bit damaged from the armor. However, if you have a sponge with one side specifically designed for scrubbing, then that could work well.
Lastly, if you don’t have a sponge or a brush, then you could always just use a rag or washcloth. It might not work quite as well as the other options, but it should get the job done.
Storage
If the reason you wanted to clean your aluminum chainmail was because you were getting ready to put it in storage, then you might be wondering how to safely store it away. Firstly, make sure that the armor is completely dry after your cleaning. The risk of mold developing is pretty low, but it’s better to be safe.
There are basically two ways you can store your armor. You can hang it up on display, or put it in a container. Putting it on display is a good way to make sure that it stays ventilated, because it’s exposed to airflow. However, it can also collect dust if you leave it on display for too long.
Storing it in a container is my preferred method, because it keeps it cleaner. If you’re worried about moisture, then you can just put a dehumidifying device inside the same container, but I’ve never had a problem with that.
Conclusion
So that’s pretty much everything you need to know about how to clean and store aluminum chainmail. It’s a pretty simple process, but I hope that this article made it as simple as possible for you.