Well I decided it's time to clean my maille chausses I ordered from Battlemerchant, so I do the simple green method and I soak them in boiling water for a bit with simple green, I wash and rinse them about 4 times after getting all the gunk off of them, then I throw a towel on them dry them then throw them in the oven to dry them further. What a disaster that was, they got covered in rust orange flash rust. I ended up very angry and so I tried cleaning them, I used a wire brush initially which was tiering and not that effective.
I then look on my armoury and see a post saying you can throw it in the dryer to clean it. Needless to say I weigh the chausses, they weigh 4 pounds a piece so I figured with that small amount of weight it won't wear out the dryer, I toss them in one at a time with a bunch of towels to soak up the shavings from them rubbing needless to say 20 minutes in the dryer worked, most of the rust was GONE, they were shiny and no longer orange, still a few bits are on there and on the center of the rings as well as around the rivet holes. I refuse however to use any chemical methods to clean the rust off as then I will have to get it wet again which wont be good cause they might rust again. They do have a bit of a patina on them now thanks to the rust but overall they're nowhere near as bad as they were.
Does anyone know if the tiny bits of rust on them should be removed as well? None of it's pitting rust or anything it's just surface stuff. I actually quite prefer them with the patina to be honest, it looks more... genuine rather than a modern make.
I have tried them on, sure they overlap on my very thin ankles but I WONT be needing to remove any bit for the feet as they fit fine against my shoes, I also tested them by slamming my shin with the sword, they actually do work rather well as armor, I barely felt anything surprisingly. My knee cops fit perfectly over them and arent too big for them. Now I need to know an effective way to put them on without assistance from other people.
