Fried Prussian M95 Haube

[b.loree]

I recently purchased this helmet from one of our members. I bought it for the metal fittings essentially but upon further thought, it may also provide a "teaching moment" for new collectors. I spent 37 years as a HS History teacher so bear with me....it in the blood! This helmet has taken a huge amount of environmental abuse:

Heavy oxidization on the brass fittings! Once these were a bright brass colour but now.....chocolate brown! Bent tilted spike, blistered finish on the front visors, cracked finish all over the helmet. For new collectors, we are going to explain what has happened to this poor abused piece of History. The blistering and all the finish crazing has been caused by excessive heat. More photos:

The stitching on both visors... rotted out. The rear spine bent and twisted as the leather shell shrank in the heat. The split pin soldered to the spine naturally broke off as they could not withstand the pressure.

Spike top pushed down into the shell...something heavy put on it (fixable).

The liner is not too bad....Ratty and Mickey have not chewed on this. However, as usual the brass trim has split in 2 places again, due to shrinkage! We also see the common wear that occurs to the rim of the liner in the areas between the visors. In have seen this countless times and have not explanation....why?
Some comments about shellac finish. A few years ago, Sandy one of our German members tracked down and posted the 1890's "formula" for this finish. Naturally, I thought I could use this in restoration. Consequently, I sourced all of the ingredients on eBay. What amazed me was that all of these were natural, there was nothing from the petro chemical industry, nothing synthetic. Any waterproofing today would have a long list of additives and strange chemicals/preservatives which only a trained chemist could understand...much like our food labels have! Anyway, this helps to explain in my opinion, what we see in this post. Could this piece be restored? Yes, all outside surfaces would have to sanded/smoothed out and the shellac dust from this melted back into the surface using shellac thinner and cotton balls. Visors restitched, shell top wetted and re blocked. It all could be fixed with a great deal of time and effort. We shall see.

 

[Rkinkade]

Brian, it looks like a project for a time when you have all other projects caught up. Have you ever had one of those times? As you say, it has a decent liner, so it is worthy of restoration rather than parting out. I continue to buy ratty haubes intending to part them out, and end up spending 8 or 10 hours or more bringing them back to life. I hope you make a restoration post on this one. I am still working on the shellac restoration methodology and would love to see great detail on this.

Ron

 

[CLOVIS 57]

Hi Brian,
Yes, this helmet can be restored, but be careful not to overdo it.
The brass ring along the chin strap wasn’t broken by the leather shrinking, but by the helmet being crushed from the side. That’s also what broke the stitching on the visor and neck strap.
My advice: under no circumstances should you touch the rubber coating (the black exterior varnish). It’s in perfect condition, and the presence of bubbles is a sign of authenticity. In France, a repainted helmet is worthless.

First, you need to reshape the helmet by moistening it with lukewarm water (30°C) and letting it dry for 48 hours in a temperate environment at 20°C.
Simply massage the helmet with a sponge or a brush dipped in soapy water. Then apply a 50/50 mixture of glycerin and lukewarm water to the liner. The glycerin rehydrates the leather without greasing it.
Finally, re-sew the neck roll and the visor.


Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

[Zebedeus]

I recently purchased this helmet from one of our members. I bought it for the metal fittings essentially but upon further thought, it may also provide a "teaching moment" for new collectors. I spent 37 years as a HS History teacher so bear with me....it in the blood! This helmet has taken a huge amount of environmental abuse:
View attachment 77352
Heavy oxidization on the brass fittings! Once these were a bright brass colour but now.....chocolate brown! Bent tilted spike, blistered finish on the front visors, cracked finish all over the helmet. For new collectors, we are going to explain what has happened to this poor abused piece of History. The blistering and all the finish crazing has been caused by excessive heat. More photos:
View attachment 77353
The stitching on both visors... rotted out. The rear spine bent and twisted as the leather shell shrank in the heat. The split pin soldered to the spine naturally broke off as they could not withstand the pressure.
View attachment 77354
Spike top pushed down into the shell...something heavy put on it (fixable).
View attachment 77355
The liner is not too bad....Ratty and Mickey have not chewed on this. However, as usual the brass trim has split in 2 places again, due to shrinkage! We also see the common wear that occurs to the rim of the liner in the areas between the visors. In have seen this countless times and have not explanation....why?
Some comments about shellac finish. A few years ago, Sandy one of our German members tracked down and posted the 1890's "formula" for this finish. Naturally, I thought I could use this in restoration. Consequently, I sourced all of the ingredients on eBay. What amazed me was that all of these were natural, there was nothing from the petro chemical industry, nothing synthetic. Any waterproofing today would have a long list of additives and strange chemicals/preservatives which only a trained chemist could understand...much like our food labels have! Anyway, this helps to explain in my opinion, what we see in this post. Could this piece be restored? Yes, all outside surfaces would have to sanded/smoothed out and the shellac dust from this melted back into the surface using shellac thinner and cotton balls. Visors restitched, shell top wetted and re blocked. It all could be fixed with a great deal of time and effort. We shall see.

Dear Brian, my friend, I have to tell you: yours is a insane project.
But only you can pull it off.
Zeb