M1857 Garde pickelhaube - Restoration of chinscales

F

flasheart

Member
Gents,

I just acquired this nice M1857. The first i have ever seen, and there are very few photos of M1857s available on the internet. It has some M1842 characteristics like the bolt and nut configuration on the chinstrap mounts, no hook and eye on the tip scales, and 36mm wide scales.

Unfortunately the chinscales have deteriorated and some scales are missing. I am going to do a restoration to conserve the remnants of the chinscales, but dont have any references for these early schuppenkette. I have four M1860s, and they all have the the scales sewn or stapled to a thick leAther tube with the strap running through the tube, and hook/eye on the tip scales to allow them to be linked together.

The scales on this M1857 just seem to ge sewn to a thick leather strap; ie, no separate leather wrap around tube. Does anyone have photos of M57 or M42 scales? Or a complete set for sale!!!

Mike


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Gents,

No responses so far, but I have gone ahead and fabricated new scales to replace the missing scales. I had to make two new scales for the right strap and 11 for the left strap. The new scales are the shiny ones in the attached photo.

Fortunately there were enough remaining that i only had to make two pairs of scales completely from scratch (ie, without an original to copy from). I used brass sheet to match the thickness of the originals.

To make a copy,I taped an original scale to the sheet brass, drilled out the holes to the correct size, and then pinned the two sheets together, so they wouldn't move, with toothpicks. Then using a sharp hobby knife I scribed the outline onto the sheet brass. The brass was thin enough to cut very accurately with scissors, with only minor needle file work required to make very accurate copies. I then used then end of the knife handle to rub the back of the scales until they became very slightly concave liike the originals. I used brasso to polish away any scratches and machine marks. Right now i am attempting to artificially age to brass to approximate the original scales.

Next step will be to reconstruct the chinstraps. Just waiting on some feedback from this erudite group so I can accurately reconstruct.

By 'filling in the blanks' I think I have managed to preserve the helmet's original scales as far as possible. Better than acquiring another set of scales


Mike

 
Fine helmet:
Good start regarding the missing scales ! :thumb up:
I'm sure the link below wil give you an idea how to proceed.
We would love to witness the restoration of your chinscales !!

June 29th 2013
http://pickelhaubes.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8124&hilit=restoration+project" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards,
Francis
 
Thanks Francis , great educational post. The only problem is that the remnant of the schuppenkette on my M1857 appears to be just a thick leather strap with the scales sewn on to it. It doesn't have the wrap around leather sleeve. I am wondering if anyone has seen this type before ?

Mike
 
Great photo Joe!

I have answered my own question with this helmet. It looks like the chinscales had previously been restored by sewing to a thick leather strap. But as you can see in the photos, one one side the first scale was turned around the wrong way with the two humps facing rearward. Also, each individual scale shows an indentation from the original staples. A very old restoration, maybe turn of the century, as the leather has rotted away and looks as old as the helmet.

I can now go ahead and restore in accordance with the standard pattern, like my M1860s.

Mike
 
Gents,

Here are some photos of the chinscale restoration and the finished product. I think they turned out really nice and they look great on the helmet.

The chinscales are the M1842 pattern- 36mm wide first scale and without hook and eye link on the tip scales, so I restored the strapping in that configuration. The replacement scales (I needed to make 10 of them) were aged with ammonia. I tried salt, vinegar, cooking in the oven, none of that worked. Ammonia fumes worked instantly, adding 150 years of aging in a few minutes!



Stapling scales to leather
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Staples on cardboard side
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Finished product
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Great job Flashheart, thanks for the step-by-step process too, gives hope for a guy like me with five thumbs on each hand..cool helmet too :thumb up:

Larmo
 
Great job Flash! Excellent results. Those visors on that model helme are so massive. I can not imagine having to run with that on my head! May I ask as to where you got your brass staples?
 
b.loree said:
Great job Flash! Excellent results. Those visors on that model helme are so massive. I can not imagine having to run with that on my head! May I ask as to where you got your brass staples?
Click to expand...

Brian,

I made the brass staples from brass strip purchased from the local hobby shop - same place I bought the brass sheet for the chinscales. Hobby shops and fabric/sewing stores are great resources for any restorations!

Mike
 
Thanks Mike, those stores can be quite useful for materials. Again, great job on those scales.
 
From what I read years ago, they stashed their spare socks up there! Really, if one steps back, not that the Prussian king at the time gave a damn...expecting soldiers to run and fight in that headdress is ridiculous. That silly hat would be slipping and sliding on your sweat and the front visor would blind you. You would be running with one hand on your helmet and the other holding your needle gun. You could buckle that chin strap up....cinch it tight but that sucker would fall off, I bet most of the soldaten actually fought bare headed in those early battles and picked their hauben up afterward providing they won the fight. You veterans of modern wars and modern helmets can speak to this issue.
 
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