Thanks your comments on my new artillery helmet.
The haube was in decent shape when I acquired it. A little dirty, mis-shaped and with tarnished brass when it arrive from Germany. First I reshaped the body using Brian Loree's recommendation and process noted in other posts. Removed most of the brass and Wappen and polished them by hand and cleaned the plate with Hagerty's bringing back the nice fire gilt under years of first and tarnish. Brushed the helmet body off with a horse hair brush and wiped it down with warm soapy water to remove surface dirt. No restitching needed. Where ever this helmet was stored for the last 100 plus years, it hadn't taken a beating from heat or cold or been dried out. After drying a couple of days I gave it a good polishing with black shineola and brushing.
An easy job since there were no cracks or tears in the leather body. As to the Broomhandle, just a late war Mauser Red 9 to dress up the photo.
