1918 German Lederschutzmaske safety

S

siquisiri

New member
Companeros,
I just purchased a 1918 German Lederschutzmaske and it is in excellent condition. I really dont want to keep it in the cansiter and want to display it with my 1918 Stalhelm . I have kids in the house and I was wondering if there are any dangers to having such an item ion the home?

thanks
siquisiri
 
Hey Siquisiri,
I do not believe that there would be any risk to the kids, there could be traces of the poison in the filter, but in order to have any ill effects from the poison, they would hve to ingest the filter contents, and I am willing to bet that the filter contents would have more ill effects than the potential trace amounts of gas. Most filters that were exposed to gas have a great deal of corosion in the mesh area in the front of the mask, and most filters were not exposed to the gasses anyway, as the filters were replaced after exposure so they would be ready for the next gassing. I would caution you about placing a Lederschutzmaske on a foam display head, the leather will react with the foam in a very short time, and it will bond with the leather, this is difficult to remove, but it is possible to use a foam head if you wrap it with polyvinyl film first.
Best wihses
Gus
 
Would be nice to see pics. As Gus said the contents are more dangerous to the kids if ingested. This applies to all older gas mask's SBR's are as bad with this and both types are carcnegenic if exposed for long periods ( if you wear it) .
Mark
 
I have one that is the rubberized fabric which still has the remnants of mustard agent on it. However, when it was out of the can on display, it wasn't a problem.
Just be sure the mask is not put on. Mine was fine that way... no touch, no problem! Now it's in the display case away from hands and such.
The plus side was, I knew it was probably worn in combat and a battlefield pick up.

Ron
 
unlike Brittish and american SBR's German's did not mark thier mask's to Chemical's they were exposed to. Just curiuos to know how you know that it is mustard , there were Many Gases that did funny thing to equipment and left traces of themselves behind.
MOST WW1 chemicals , with the main exception of mustard were dominated by chlorine.
The original post asked if it was safe to have iin the house for his kids.
Your mask sounds like a Gummi Maske .
The filter should be the first indicator as to the mask's health ,If it was a Used mask , the filter bottom's should be fairley rotted , not just from the gas ,but from the amount of moisture that built up in them .They were known to keep these things on for long periods ( as long as 12 hr's ) .The sweat built up in them if the soldier had to do ant form of labour.
Mark
 
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