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How do I maintain steel and metal?
Most armor plates and steel weapons are made of carbon steel. Carbon steel is prone to rust and therefore requires regular maintenance.
Basic Maintenance
The maintenance of steel and metal is very important. When your steel armor or weapons has gotten wet, make sure to dry the steel as soon as possible with a cloth. Once the steel is dry, you should oil or spray the steel with anti-rustspray to prevent it from rusting.
Removing Rust
If there is only a very small amount of rust on your steel object, you can probably remove it simply by polishing (see page Polishing )
If polishing is not sufficient, you can sand away the rust with steel wool or a steel brush . This may cause some scratches on the steel, but that can also be remedied. Once the worst rust is gone, start using fine black sandpaper to further sand away the rust. When all rust is removed, you can polish the steel to remove any scratches left during this process. After polishing, it is advised to use sword oil or anti-rustspray to prevent the item from rusting again.
Maintenance Hack
If you don't want to clean, polish, and oil your steel armor or sword after each use, there is a way to make them last longer with a bit less maintenance.
A great way to make steel rust-free is by painting it with metal paint. For this, you can use a clear, varnish-like paint.
However, with plate armor, you can also choose to paint the steel with a colored paint, as was done in the Middle Ages.
