Another project I am working on, when I retired, I thought I would be bored ?????? Problems here: A new M15 liner has to be cut out of veg tanned sheep skin and stitched in by hand. The shell has to be blocked and put back into proper shape, visors stitched back on. All stitch holes must be cleaned out before all of this process can begin. Last, the wappen and spike have been brass plated by some idiot. Patches of this plating have come off and the spike and wappen are rusted. If anyone knows how to remove plating, please contact me. Another oddity and a first for me, as can be seen it looks like someone put the helme on the end of his rifle and blew the top off of the M15 fitting! The piece is not marked to JR73 but it is Korps stamped BAX on the rear visor. This is correct for the regiment.
Visor trim and spine have been painted black
Tools of the trade. The blade screw driver bit is primary for prying prongs up from the shell. The curved pliers are used to remove rusted nuts and also to further straighten prongs so that fittings can be removed. The knife blade is sometimes used when prongs are embedded in the leather or are very close to the shell. There is a definite method to dealing with prongs.
Blocking the shell: The shell was re hydrated using the plastic bag method then an antique hat stretcher and elastic band were used to put things right.
Visor trim and spine have been painted black
Tools of the trade. The blade screw driver bit is primary for prying prongs up from the shell. The curved pliers are used to remove rusted nuts and also to further straighten prongs so that fittings can be removed. The knife blade is sometimes used when prongs are embedded in the leather or are very close to the shell. There is a definite method to dealing with prongs.
Blocking the shell: The shell was re hydrated using the plastic bag method then an antique hat stretcher and elastic band were used to put things right.