Prussian M95 Pioneer

b.loree

b.loree

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The third and last of my recent purchases an M95 Pioneer with some problems:
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No visor trim or spike base brads but an original chin strap and two Reich kokarden.
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I have seen these paper fasteners used for spike pins a number of times....you have to wonder, why take these pins and leave the spike?? The spike top does not unscrew. A rare chin strap with neusilber fittings remains.
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because the trim is gone the shell collapsed inward. Unfortunately, some sort of oil product/leather treatment/Neats Foot Oil has been applied and this saturates the entire helmet plus the rare chin strap! 😐 This helmet could have been saved if this had not been done! :mad: NEVER DO THIS!
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The packing paper stuffed into the shell for shipment.....SATURATED with some sort of oily preservative !! UGH!! This helmet could have been blocked back into shape and I have tracked down silver trim from fellow collectors in the past...the visors are tight. with a decent liner Now this thing is going to rot and the finish is already soft and flaking off. :( As I said, the chin strap is saturated with this crap as well and I would be nervous to put it on any helmet. I may just clean the fittings and make up a strap with new leather.
 
happened way too often, one of the earliest reference books sadly told readers to treat the leather shells etc. Cannot imagine how many helmets got ruined. sad.....

James
 
Absolutely yes to your comments above. My thoughts are to harvest the wappen/fittings from this piece and get rid of the rest. Even handling this helmet, I need to wash my hands afterwards and my fear is that I might transfer this oil to another helmet that I am working on. Unfortunately, I do not think that there is anyway to save the chin strap....I can't put that on another helmet. :(
 
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b.loree said:
Absolutely yes to your comments above. My thoughts are to harvest the wappen/fittings from this piece and get rid of the rest. Even handling this helmet, I need to wash my hands afterwards and my fear is that I might transfer this oil to another helmet that I am working on. Unfortunately, I do not think that there is anyway to save the chin strap....I can't put that on another helmet. :(
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Nope once leather is saturated like that it’s a total write off. Salvage the metal pieces and give them a good bath in a non acidic liquid - liquid Dawn soap and warm water comes to mind - and toss the rest. As you said that crap will leech into the leather of other helmets. Plus it looks like the helmet was dug up from a beach, is that sand on the inside?

Edit - I think Tony was looking for a Pioneer wappen like that?
 
Back in the 70's and early 80's Neats Foot oil was widely recommended as a leather preservative and sadly ruined god knows how many helmets etc as a result.

I too followed some pretty stupid advice from a supposed "Expert" after Eric Johannson published his "Pickelhauben" book wherein he recommended the use of "STP leather preservative" for helmet liners. I ruined the liner of a very nice Prussian ersatz tin helmet as a result. Lesson learned.
 
Steve, I started collecting in the 80's but by that time NFO had been condemned. I once visited a collector in Toronto to look at his collection....he was putting Vaseline on the exterior finish of his helmets!! :oops: I did use Lexol cleaner and preservative for a bit but really did not see any improvement so I have stopped using any product for approx. 20 years. I harvested and cleaned the fittings to day, cut up the helmet and disposed of it. I have never destroyed a Haube before and it was not a pleasant experience. 😐
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All fittings were cleaned using my sonic cleaner to absolutely make sure that whatever "oil" product was used is gone. I have not shown the spike here just to reduce photo size. I have bought a leather strap cutter and I have the leather to make up some straps. Years ago, I bought 12 straps (leather pieces) and some buckle fittings from George Birringer but I am down to my last strap and that is going to be my "template". The screw post on this spine needs resoldering and typically the middle split brad is missing but I can fix that.
 
Brian:

That must have been hard.

I have a couple of "scrapper" M15 shells sitting in the top of a closet where they have been languishing for decades now. I can't bring myself to trash them.

At least of you some Neusilber parts and they seem to always be in demand.
 
Brian:
We started collecting in the same time period. George Birringer would make black or aged brown straps for me in various lengths to fit my desired helmet size. He was such a nice and professional guy to work with. He made a HUGE m15 haube using original hardware that he showed me at the Max show many years ago. Must have been a size 80!!!

That’s a great set of parts to have when needed. A trick I use for straightening those side post tubes is to force a round steel rod inside the tube and then use a pair of non-serrated needle nose pliers to re-shape the outside diameter using the rod as a mandrel. It makes installing them much easier and produces a neat final installed appearance.

Steve:

I have a large plastic tub full of shells that I cannot seem to throw away. They are unworthy of restoration, but I save them for some reason. I have successfully harvested leather from these to make new front and rear visors. They are pre- finished and by wetting and re-shaping them, they provide that correct aged appearance. I drill stitch holes prior to sewing to match the helmet body hole pattern.

Ron
 
Rkinkade said:
Brian:
We started collecting in the same time period. George Birringer would make black or aged brown straps for me in various lengths to fit my desired helmet size. He was such a nice and professional guy to work with. He made a HUGE m15 haube using original hardware that he showed me at the Max show many years ago. Must have been a size 80!!!

That’s a great set of parts to have when needed. A trick I use for straightening those side post tubes is to force a round steel rod inside the tube and then use a pair of non-serrated needle nose pliers to re-shape the outside diameter using the rod as a mandrel. It makes installing them much easier and produces a neat final installed appearance.

Steve:

I have a large plastic tub full of shells that I cannot seem to throw away. They are unworthy of restoration, but I save them for some reason. I have successfully harvested leather from these to make new front and rear visors. They are pre- finished and by wetting and re-shaping them, they provide that correct aged appearance. I drill stitch holes prior to sewing to match the helmet body hole pattern.

Ron
Click to expand...
That may be one of the shells I made for George !!!
Those things were a lot of work to make !!!
Life before the internet .
 
A last post on this....I took a look at the 2 Reich kokarden that came with this helmet today. They both had traces of this "oil" on them so I soaked them in warm water and dish soap. I also cleaned all tools used to remove the fittings. Hopefully, that ends this sad tale.
 
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