Jäger zu Pferde and Kurassier helmet restorations.

[Pontrest]

Hello all. I'm new to this forum, and I'm interested in getting connections for parts, and restoration tips for the pickelhaubes. Back in 1998 I purchased a Jäger zu Pferde metal helm at an antique shop in Kearney, Nebraska. The helmet had no cockades, wappen, chinscales, or spike, and was heavily oxidized. I was intrigued by it, and paid the $70 the shop owner was asking for it at the time. I started cleaning the helmet, and found "8 J. P." Stamped in the brass rim on the back or "tail" of the helmet. This is the helmet today. I see many on this forum who criticize repro parts for these helmets, and I can appreciate this sentiment, if there are original options available. I have yet to encounter original parts for this helmet, and have resorted to reproduction fittings. Recently, I purchased two other metal helms which have what appear to be original spikes and other fittings. My biggest problem currently seems to be acquiring liners for these helmets. Does anyone here have any recommended sources for good replacement liners for these helmets? One of the helmets I recently purchased is a Kurassier helmet with an 8 K stamped on the edge of the tail.
Thank you for your assistance, and I'm glad to be a part of this forum.

 

[Pontiac9999]

An original spike and eagle wappen are quite hard to come by.....

 

[Pontrest]

My sentiments exactly. I have been looking for 25 years, and haven't come across anything. I recently found a repro spike and base, and I plan to bronze plate it, since the original tombak was a mixture of copper and zink.

 

[Pontiac9999]

You will probably find the eagle plate before the spike

 

[USMC-EOD]

I completely feel your pain on this, Pontrest.

I too, have bought a JzP shell quite some time back, thinking that i would locate parts and rebuild it. Unfortunately, it has been sitting for several years gathering dust as my attempts to locate parts have been fruitless.

I did finally pick up what I think is a repro spike that appears to be made out of neusilber (German silver) and I actually came to the same conclusion as you to plate it in copper, amusingly enough...

Finding an original plate on the loose has been impossible, and those crappy galvano copies look absolutely terrible.

So, like you, my helmet sits, on a lower shelf, gathering dust.

I will be interested in seeing how you figure this one out and get it together.

Bryan.

 

[Pontrest]

Update: I bought an electroplating kit and did some brush-on bronze electroplating that looks like it will suffice for now. Does it look like an original; no, but it looks better than silver, and better than with no spike, or with a silver spike. I would love to get ahold of an original Tombak spike, but at this point, I'll go with what I can find. Years ago, I found a repro plate that doesn't look too bad, so it's on my helmet now. I'm using the repro older, larger cockades than the smaller 1914 or 1915 versions, and I'm only missing the Tombak chinscales now. Overall, it has cleaned up pretty nicely, and I finished it off with a nice, buffed out coat of Renaissance Wax. I'll see if I can add some pictures to this thread, so everyone can see what it looks like now. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from when I purchased it 25 years ago, and the sad state it was in then....

Tim

 

[Pontrest]

Here are photos of the 8 JzP metalhelm with the repro front plate, repro early cockades, and repro silver spike that I bronze electroplated. This helmet has what I believe is an original liner that is falling apart.

 

[Pontrest]

Next is the JzP helmet that appears to be a 1-7 JzP regiment. Otto Nachtigal of Berlin is the manufacturer, with a date of 1916. When I got this helmet, it was severely rusted, inside and out. I removed the liner in order to completely clean the inside of the helmet. I knocked out several dents, stripped it, and used 44/40 bluing solution on the exterior of the helmet. The interior still has what appears to be the original green paint on the front visor, and black paint on the body and back. One of the M91 side lugs needed replacing, so I'm working on that. I have some decent looking brown chinstraps coming from Ukraine at some point.

 

[Pontrest]

Original WWI Prussian German Dispatch Rider Pickelhaube Helmet 1915 O Nachtigall | eBay

<p>Authentic WWI German Prussian Dispatch Rider Spiked Fishtail Pickelhaube Helmet. </p><p>Dated 1915 with the Otto Nachtigall Berlin maker mark on the inner center area (see photo 12). Made of either steel or aluminum. Has a few small dings with oxidation. Has not been cleaned or polished in...

www.ebay.com

Here's a link that shows what the helmet looked like before I started my restoration.

 

[Louis]

WOW! all I can say

 

[Pontrest]

My third and final metalhelm is this Kurassier marked 8K on the rim. Someone had painted this one black, it had tan speckles on it, a lot of dents, and the spike has had been damaged and repaired.

 

[Pontrest]

This is what the Kurassier helmet marked 8 K looked like prior to restoration.

 

[Pontrest]

And these were during restoration.

 

[Pontrest]

Sorry for the confusion... these are of the JzP helmet.. the previous pictures are of the Kurassier helm.

 

[Pontrest]

And this is what the JzP looked like when I got it....

Original WWI Prussian German Dispatch Rider Pickelhaube Helmet 1915 O Nachtigall | eBay

<p>Authentic WWI German Prussian Dispatch Rider Spiked Fishtail Pickelhaube Helmet. </p><p>Dated 1915 with the Otto Nachtigall Berlin maker mark on the inner center area (see photo 12). Made of either steel or aluminum. Has a few small dings with oxidation. Has not been cleaned or polished in...

www.ebay.com

 

[USMC-EOD]

Hey Pontrest,

They can be a lot of fun to restore.

Oddly enough, I have stripped old black paint off of a couple of M1915 cuirassier helmets in doing minor restoration over the years.

I have seen it on other helmets as well.

It made me wonder if black paint might have been period applied to some of these helmets for combat use in order to knock the shine off of them in the field during combat.

I really like your repro officer wappen on the first JzP helmet you are restoring. Where did you get it? It looks a lot better than the repro I bought awhile back.

And your work looks good! At least you will have something that presents well on a shelf in your "man cave" until you can acquire the correct original parts. Way better than a half finished project helmet sitting on a shelf! I like it!

Bryan.

 

[ww1czechlegion]

................ My biggest problem currently seems to be acquiring liners for these helmets. Does anyone here have any recommended sources for good replacement liners for these helmets? ................

"Prairie Flower Leather Company." Give this guy a call or send him an email. It's my understanding from reading his web site, that he makes replacement leather liners for pickelhaubes, and sews them into the helmet using an original German WW1 era sewing machine. So I would presume he could make a leather liner for a JzP or a Kurassier enlisted helmet. He's located at Ord, Nebraska.

Click on this link below to access his web site:

German

All of our products in this category are manufactured on the machines that were originally used to make them. For example, if you have a Pickelhaube and need a liner for it, rest assured your liner will be sewn on a 1913 German Dorkopp treadle sewing machine. The newest machine in our shop is a...

www.pflco.com

He makes M16, M17, & M18 replacement pads for Stahlhelme. He also makes repro chinstraps for Pickelhaubes, and for M16/M17 & M18 Stahlhelme. I haven't purchased anything from him. His products seem to look very good from the photos I have seen on his web site.

Best Wishes,

Alan

 

[USMC-EOD]

Hey Alan,

Have I seen you over on the WAF forum?

Bryan.

 

[ww1czechlegion]

Hey Alan,

Have I seen you over on the WAF forum?

Bryan.

Hi Bryan,

Yes, you've seen me there. Unfortunately I'm not very active on either of these forums as of late.

Best Wishes,

Alan

 

[Pontrest]

Hey Pontrest,

They can be a lot of fun to restore.

Oddly enough, I have stripped old black paint off of a couple of M1915 cuirassier helmets in doing minor restoration over the years.

I have seen it on other helmets as well.

It made me wonder if black paint might have been period applied to some of these helmets for combat use in order to knock the shine off of them in the field during combat.

I really like your repro officer wappen on the first JzP helmet you are restoring. Where did you get it? It looks a lot better than the repro I bought awhile back.

And your work looks good! At least you will have something that presents well on a shelf in your "man cave" until you can acquire the correct original parts. Way better than a half finished project helmet sitting on a shelf! I like it!

Bryan.

Bryan, it is interesting that you have removed black paint from similar helmets as well. I've also removed it from ww1 and ww2 German stahlhelms, but I've also removed other weird colors such as bright green, red, and even chrome.

Thank you for the kind words regarding the restoration work. As for the repro officer wappen, I believe I got it off ebay 20-25 years ago. It is a different size than the other helmet wappens, so I got lucky.

One website I've used that has a broad selection of good repro parts is spikehelmets at https://spikehelmets.pl/.

I'll continue to post pictures as I complete more work.

Regards,
Tim