Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-26149161-20170403012600/@comment-26172435-20170403122931

An alloy 'gilded iron' is a bit silly imo: it would be weaker than non-alloyed iron.

Gold coated scales of either bronze or iron would be much more realistic anyway.

Note that steel is a concept that is similarly silly in the 'early medieval' setting for the technological development of most human civilisations on Middle-earth. It wouldn't have been available to any other than Númenoreans, Mordor & close allies, Dwarves and Elves who had seen the light of Valinor. Iron was even mentioned to be a relative novelty in gear for Harad in the Third Age.