Blackening a maille coif

[Sir Ulrich]

Allright I managed to get a GDFB maille coif for Christmas. I am pretty satisfied with it due to it not having a gaping neck hole and it fits my head rather well, except one thing, it's metallic grey. I would like to know how to blacken it to match my already blackened hauberk and overall my whole kit. In case you're wondering I would like the degree of blackening to match the Icefalcon maille, which I'm unsure how they do it but it may be through a chemical. Any suggestions on how to blacken it?

[Sir Wolf]

soak  it in olive oil and put it in the oven on a cookie sheet on the lowest setting for a while. the oil should sink in.

[Sir Patrick]

Do you grease the cookie sheet?

[Sir Ulrich]

Ok first things first, this stuff is covered in machine oil. Now normally i'd keep it on but I am actually allergic to the substance it's covered in. Any suggestions on how to get it off and what to replace it with?

[Sir Wolf]

dont worry about putting stuff back on. i rubbed mine off and stuff. it's still on there. i've owned rivetted mail for 10 years? now? and it rusted bad once. and i sand cleaned it and its been fine ever since.

[merc3065]

I want to say Tom's Secret Formula natural bio degradable oil, but the name eludes me right now, bought it at Canadian Tire.  It's an aerosol spray oil that is non toxic and is food grade.  I use that stuff to keep my steel plate from gathering surface rust.
I just use the food grade oils since I don't want the toxic stuff rubbing off onto my clothes or me while I'm wearing any of my harness.

You could soak your chainmail in a degreaser but be prepared for it to flash rust until you can recoat it with something.  I think the easiest way to strip the oils off of it would be to use a dish detergent in the bath tub.  Wear gloves as it will dry out your hands pretty good.  Olive oil and baking is one way to season the metal, or any natural oil for that matter.  I do that with the cast iron fry pans all the time after washing.

Could also toss it into a bag with sand and throw it around, it'll polish the links and get rid of most if not all the rust.

[Sir Ulrich]

Well I washed it with soapy water and cleaned all the oil (which I was allergic to) off of it, Now I sprayed it with olive oil and am baking it in the oven for 2 hours. Now I hope this blackens it.

[Sir James A]

Cool, let us know how it turns out.

[Sir Ulrich]

Heres the result, as you can see it isnt as black as the rings from my hauberk, it's more of a dark grey and theres some minor staining on it, not sure if it's rust or just stains from the tiny bit of WD40 or dish soap that was stuck on it. Any suggestions on how to make it blacker? Should I stick it in longer or coat it again?

[Sir Matthew]

I'd try recoating and baking. I know someone who did something similiar with a helmet. His wasn't very dark, but I think he had done it two or three times.