Before and the story

J.LeBrasseur

J.LeBrasseur

Administrator
Staff member
This helmet has a small story and took awhile for everything to work out.

A few years ago a nice lady contacted me from Washington state and said she had a family helmet that she wanted to find out more about and what it would take to fix it etc.

So after many emails telling her what it was and what would be needed to get fixed, she decided to sell it, so we worked out a price, then her daughter stepped in and said they did not want to sell it and wanted to fix it up. 2 1/2 years later the lady contacts me again and says she needs the money and the daughter now wants to sell, in the mean time, more damage had been done, they broke the scales on one side etc. So I purchased the helmet and and with the help of another forum member found a original silk liner to complete the helmet. I then sent it to my restorer Brian Loree, the main man. And after months of work, I just got it back, and I am so happy. Brian did it again and provided great work and success.

Main problems when I got it. Sunken dome, broken chinscales, detached front visor, and the finish was ageing.

Here are the before shots, and in a few minutes, I will provide the after shots.

Helmet is a Hessian Officer to the Reserve.

Thanks

James

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Here are the after shots, sorry for the bad pics.

Brian is the man if you need any helmet work done!

James

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Wow! Well done! I'd like to know how to unsink domes and re-laquer (if that was done). What a night and day turn around on that helmet! Another on my 'hit list'. :)

:D Ron
 
How exactly, does one 'unsink' a sunken dome. Just curious about the basic task, don't need a course in doing it.
Cheers!
 
Great work Brian! Congratulations!
One minor point: why did the strip of liner below each cockade turned tan colour? These were usually blackened...
Bruno
 
Bruno- nice catch, was wondering if anyone would notice the leather sweatband. This part of the helmet had to be replaced during the restoration.

James
 
In order to fix collapsed leather shells you have to rehydrate the leather ie put moisture back into the leather to soften it. Once this is done, one has to block the shell top back into its original place then let it dry. There are 2 ways to hydrate. First method: Wet a cloth with water, turn your haube upside down and pull the liner up out of the shell so you do not get it wet. Place the wet cloth into the top of the shell and allow it to sit for an hour. It may take more than an hour to soften up the leather on some helmets. Check frequently as you do not want to add too much moisture. Too "wet" can lead to finish flaking off. The leather is ready when you can push it back into place easily with your fingers. The second method of hydration is more suited to putting moisture into an entire helmet. For example an OR's helme that has sides collapsed so that it looks like a deflated football. Place a plastic grocery bag into the shell to protect the liner and fold the sides of the bag out over the sides of the shell. Put a ball of wet newspaper into the bag. Place helmet into a larger plastic bag and seal it up so moisture can not escape. The water in the news paper evapourates into the air within the larger bag. The helmet is then hydrated and soft enough to block back into proper original shape. After one day of hydration check the helme for softness. You MUST keep checking daily because if the shell gets too wet the finish will flake off. You can also ruin the liner. This method demands CARE and CAUTION!
BLOCKING: Place a plastic grocery bag over a strofoam headform. This is done so the styrofoam will not stick to the liner. Pull the helme down until the collapsed top is pushed back into position. I use quilters "T" shaped pins to pin an officer shell to the head. Scales are off so I can access the 2 side holes in the officer shell. For an OR helme you can tie elastic around the M91 side posts placing it around the base of the head form. This exerts enough pressure to keep the top in position. Allow to dry for 2 days at least and it will be blocked into proper shape.
You can use this head form method to block a helme whose sides have collapsed as well.
Most leather helme parts can be put back into shape by hydrating and then blocking. For example, repro OR's chin straps. We all know how crappy they look where the strap bulges out around the M91 post fittings. Solution: Wet the strap with water pull it tight around the back of the skull on your plastic covered head form. Pin it to the form using the holes in the end fittings. Allow to dry for a couple of days. The strap will now be tight to the end fittings and have a nice curved shape that fits well against the shell of your helmet.
 
Arran said:
Why did the sweat band have to be replaced? It looks intact in the "before" pics...
Click to expand...


Arran- we had a small setback during the restoration on the leather liner, and to make a long story short, had to put a differant one in.

James
 
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