I have now finally purchased a decent weapon and steel plate armour at empire however I am ignorant as to how to maintain these items. I am aware that larp weapons require a latex spray a few times a year and that metal armour must be cleaned and oiled to prevent rust.
Is there any tips and methods that anyone may have for these processes or any links to particular products that they can vouch for and have had positive results with?
Any help greatly appreciated.
For latex weapons you need silicon spray, not latex spray. However the exact type I cannot tell you.
For plate, you can clean and protect it with basic WD40 oil, but it’s much better to use mineral oil and a specific armour wax like this stuff.
I use Joker 440 synthetic spray to keep my plate oiled, the good thing about it is that it doesn’t degrade leather straps and the like.
If anyone has any recommended brands of silicon spray for weapons, I’m all ears as my swords definitely need some!
The Silicon Spray from Screwfix is fine.
Yep. You only need a light coating.
I just went to get some of this from Screwfix. It is, btw, buried in their catalogue in underground drainage…
Testing currently underway.
I also had this discussion:
“I want this to use on Live Action Role-Play weapons?”
Sales guy 1: “Is that like Larping?”
Sales guy 2: “I saw a documentary on that. It was awesome!”
Autosol metal polish is fantastic for cleaning armour up - My clank came back from E3 with a surprisingly large amount of rust on it and I got most of it off without much effort. It leaves a protective layer, too.
For any plate armour, before and after an event always double check all rivets and buckles to ensure nothing has moved or become loose. If it uses leather strapping to connect plates ensure any leather is allowed to fully dry so it doesn’t mold, and then are cared for with a leather wax (there’s lots of variants, I tend to use dubbin as it’s cheap and readily available), to ensure the leather doesn’t stiffen and crack.