Completed restitch of the front visor yesterday. I may have mentioned this before, but I will again, as I know there is a time limit here as to how long I am going to be able to do this sort of thing. No, I do not have any health problems but I do wear bifocals and there is a natural deterioration of the body due to age, you can fight against it through diet and exercise, but we all are going to die in the end. Once you reach 50 (if you are lucky) shit starts to happen and you older collectors already know of what I speak. Life is meant to be lived and if that means enjoyment through collecting and restoring spikey hats, then game Fking on!
The best conditions for stitching are on a bright sunny day where you can turn the haube to focus the light on the inside stitch line. I have one of those lighted magnifier lamps on an adjustable arm that you see in jewellery repair shops but there is no comparison to pure sunlight coming through a window or outside. The outside stitch line is not a problem...it's outside but the inside is shaded on the officer because of the damn silk skull cap. It continually gets in the way unlike the OR liner which simply pulls straight up and out. Great care had to be taken with this restitch because at best the holes were 2mm apart and at worst, 1mm. You have to realize, that yes, they used a machine to stitch but it was controlled, by a human operator who guided it under the needle, could stop it at any time and controlled the speed. Thus, you get differences in the spacing of the holes as the visor was fed through the machine. Everything stitched, even today unless it is computer directed has this human element to it which causes slight variations and that's ok but we have to recognize it at least when restoring things. I have digressed here but obviously, had a few comments to make in order to clarify things.
Any white specs on the thread are bee's wax which is put on the thread to aid in stitching. This stitch line, was complicated by melted finish as we saw in the original pics, I had to drill in from the back side to free up original holes in the front. In restoring certain original problems, we create other problems due to the physical action of trying to restore things. So, here we have a case in point....the tack stitching on officer silk liners to the sweat band is always a weak point especially at the end points where the bamboo/cane strips meet the shell. Most times, the strips are broken, in this example, one side is good, the other broken and the front tack stitching has separated from the sweat band. This was increased by my having to insert my hand 200+ times to restitch both visors....it can't be helped and I do take great care obviously. The tack stitching will be repaired correctly by my lovely partner Caron who is an experienced seamstress and kindly relives me of the stress of stitching this area after I have done the visors.
However, it is quite common to get scratched or stabbed by the pins holding the visor in place and some times the stitch needle itself. Leone, it is possible and I have done that but it takes more time. I have only done it on OR's helmets, I don't think it could be done on an officer helme......too many holes in the shell to begin with. Some holes in visor and shell will match up, others will not and you will have to drill new holes in the shell with a pin vice and drill bit. You must use the original holes in the visor but you can drill new ones in the shell to match them. The new ones in the shell will not be seen from the outside. I have seen original replacement/restitch jobs on several OR helmets over the years so the Germans had no problem replacing visors.
