When looking at the fittings on our pickelhauben, the two weak points are the front visor trim and the rear spine. The worst is the visor trim, a thin strip of metal which wraps around the front visor to protect it. Most of our helmets of course, are made of leather and as such they react to humidity or the lack thereof. They shrink when conditions are dry and expand slightly with an increase in humidity. Leather visors and really the whole helmet have shrunk over 100 years. Consequently, we see...bent, split, missing or broken visor trim. Hundreds of helmets have this problem. Regarding the rear spines, often the solder on the prongs will break or the spine itself will flatten. In restorations I have resoldered (Thanks Tony) many original prongs or made new ones. Looking at a flattened spine or one that has somehow changed its shape due to shrinkage...you want to fix it. 
However....not so fast, that piece of metal has changed shape in reaction to the helmet shrinking, if you straighten it, the fitting will no longer fit the shell as it is now after 100 years :-? .
Ok , enough preamble here, you all know I bought a large Baden M15 helmet, restitched both visors and now I am putting the fittings back on. The visor trim is in perfect condition, not a bend or ripple in the metal BUT!! the trim is now too long at one end because the leather visor has shrunk!! :ANGRY: The photos:
Very sunny today when these were taken.
Here we see the problem, the hole in the shell no longer matches with the metal trim. We could just punch a new hole in the shell but we don't want to do that as it screams ...this has been F'd with :-? and will look stupid!! So we must cut the trim and drill a new hole. As my good friend T Schnurr who is to blame for getting me into this crazed restoration thing says....."You only get one chance, so don't F it up !" :???: Yeah...thanks T! :thumb up:
This pic really shows the problem.
The opposite side lines up well, no problem.
Step one, mark where the original hole is in the shell. I mark it on both sides of the trim and I drill from the inside surface which faces the shell. I use a dremel tool and bit for this, the dremel is mounted in a "drill press" made for these tools.
Ready to put on....the hole is drilled, widened using a needle file and the the excess is cut off using tin snips, angled like the originals.
The results:
Not quite like new but not bad after 100+ years of abuse!
Next, I have to resolder the prong back on to the spine using my guide "Soldering For Dummies" sent to me decades ago by one T Schnurr. As I said, he is totally to blame for all of this madness!! :thumb up:
However....not so fast, that piece of metal has changed shape in reaction to the helmet shrinking, if you straighten it, the fitting will no longer fit the shell as it is now after 100 years :-? .Ok , enough preamble here,
you all know I bought a large Baden M15 helmet, restitched both visors and now I am putting the fittings back on. The visor trim is in perfect condition, not a bend or ripple in the metal BUT!! the trim is now too long at one end because the leather visor has shrunk!! :ANGRY: The photos:
Very sunny today when these were taken.
Here we see the problem, the hole in the shell no longer matches with the metal trim. We could just punch a new hole in the shell but we don't want to do that as it screams ...this has been F'd with :-? and will look stupid!! So we must cut the trim and drill a new hole. As my good friend T Schnurr who is to blame for getting me into this crazed restoration thing says....."You only get one chance, so don't F it up !" :???: Yeah...thanks T! :thumb up:
This pic really shows the problem.
The opposite side lines up well, no problem.
Step one, mark where the original hole is in the shell. I mark it on both sides of the trim and I drill from the inside surface which faces the shell. I use a dremel tool and bit for this, the dremel is mounted in a "drill press" made for these tools.
Ready to put on....the hole is drilled, widened using a needle file and the the excess is cut off using tin snips, angled like the originals.
The results:
Not quite like new but not bad after 100+ years of abuse!
Next, I have to resolder the prong back on to the spine using my guide "Soldering For Dummies" sent to me decades ago by one T Schnurr. As I said, he is totally to blame for all of this madness!! :thumb up:
