Coif

cool!  I made one a couple years ago, same materials.

peeps tell me i should have used zinc plated

zinc doesn rust true but it does leave a grey stain  on your clothes. As long as your not campaiging in England ( or NW US) I dont see that it will make much difference.

An old blacksmithing trick is to get the metal quite warm, and rub oil on the metal, it will leave a blackened rust resistant finish.

thanks for the tip, ill try it on a sample

tried that once before made my head hurt too much