Recent content by Steve Nick

Matthew: Thanks for the interest and your comments. I do have soldering skills and wood working skills. I have lots of appropriate sized hard wood around that I can use to make a form as a pattern for the re-bending. This I think would be the reverse of your method as I would be forming the...

Louis: You're certainly right about the cost of a replacement original strap. I have a bit of experience with leather working as I've repaired my hockey goalie equipment over the years. It's possible to dye the leather but the leather grain at this point is not as dense as it was so it may...

I've managed to acquire all the ingredients for the 1876 Lacquer recipe with the exception of the Mastic and the Sanadarac which I've ordered from ebay. While these two items are in transit I repaired the chin strap which was in two pieces using Tony's stacking and bevel cutting technique...

That really is amazingly well done and ambitious. Whoever did this was no beginner, First time I've seen one. Fascinating piece. I can appreciate this as my father was a world class song bird carver. Sadly none of that talent accrued to me. Thanks for posting Alan.

Whoever did it did it many years ago. They just pushed the loops through and used the end of the liner drawstring to tie the Wappen into the shell. Took me about 20 minutes to untie the knot and ended up losing about 4 inches of the drawstring. I think annealing will be the last avenue if...

So, at this point I have re-stitched and re-formed the rear visor and removed the two serious dents in the shell. I used a sewing needle with a larger than normal eye which I use to repair my goalie equipment. and used a pair of small pliers to grab the needle and pull it through. The old...

John: Love the research! This is what makes collecting so interesting in my view. Taking the time to investigate "the story" makes these items much more than inanimate objects.

PM me. I may have what you're looking for.

Charles: Great post! Thanks for posting those detailed photos and the accompanying text. I've always thought I'd like to have a PLM in my collection. Now that I'm collecting in a more eclectic fashion, I'll be paying more attention to the details in the hope of finding one in future...

Now, that's an interesting story.

Lars: As Louis stated, the square cut tongues of the liner with the cross hatched finish on the leather were not used for Government issued helmets and indicates an NCO helmet coupled with the fact that there are no Depot markings indicating that it was a private purchase.

I recently bought this helmet from ebay as a trial piece. I figured it was going to be a chance to try my hand at re-stitching a visor, re-forming the rear visor, re-forming the shell to remove dents, repairing Wappen holes in the shell that shouldn’t be there, re-forming the rear spine and...

James: That's a beaut! I really like these Baden silver fitted helmets. Probably the best look in the Imperial Army in my view.

Tony: Congratulations on the completion of this quest. I'm with you regarding the "normal" collecting method. In my view, the research and the hunt are most of the fun.

Willi: Thanks for posting this. To this point, I've only seen C.E. Juncker marked Prizes. There were obviously several manufacturers based on varying die differences.. Nice to be able to add another name to the "known" makers list. Steve