Restoration of a Bavarian pickelhaube

[gardehusar]

A spontaneous flea market purchase. First I was unsure whether to keep or not. My wife said keep also from the point of view I live in Bavaria and have no militaria from Bavaria. Part of the scale chain, the front rail, the cockades were missing. Condition many missing parts in the paint heavily sunken.

 

[gardehusar]

The decision: To restore the hood. The beginning was to remove all metal parts from the body. Always warm the cotter pins well, very important. Very helpful at the beginning was the following article: Restoration Pickelhaube.

The first steps: Then I treat the pickelhaube with saddle soap. This opens the pores of the leather and at the same time has a cleaning effect.

To do this, the sponge, after dipping in lukewarm water, must be squeezed firmly. No more water should come out. If the sponge is too wet, then the leather dries out too much after treatment and it can crack.

I then use the sponge to pick up some saddle soap and squeeze the sponge until the saddle soap comes out foamy. With this foam, I work the leather inside and out in circular motions.



I have built a device from a Tupperware can since here also the sunken part should be lifted a little.

The next day, the leather balm is used. Here I have made with Maroquin leather balm the best experiences, because it is in liquid form and penetrates everywhere. Shake the container well beforehand.

To do this, I place the pickle hood in a bowl with the underside facing up. Between the hood and the bowl I place a kitchen towel or similar. This soaks up the excess leather balm.

Now I coat the inside of the hood with the leather balm using a brush. Pickelhauben are sewn in several parts and these seams become very brittle over the years. Therefore, all the gaps should be soaked especially carefully, several times if necessary. Also the two canopies. Here I soak as often as necessary until the leather balm runs through on its own. Note: With the neck umbrella rather nothing runs through.

Then I paint the hood inside and in, including the inner lining. This process can be repeated several times depending on the condition of the leather.







Pickel hoods are usually sunken at the top. If the pickle hood can be pressed at the point where the large ventilation hole is in the leather without it crunching, then it is optimally soaked. Please do not press too hard or the shellac will be lost.



As you can see, this is exactly what happened to mine. A lot of the varnish chipped off and was no longer firmly attached to the leather due to the deformation.

 

[gardehusar]

First of all, make the varnish:

Recipe black military varnish consists of

30 parts shellac

2 mastic

1 sandarac

1 Venetian turpentine

1 castor oil

145 spirit of wine (25%)

dyed with aniline black (nigrosine)



My parts were 10gr. each. I took black shellac directly therefore no extra shellac and instead of nigrosine black pigment. Therefore 30gr. black shellac

All parts either ordered on the internet or bought in an artist supply store. Good address: https://www.boesner.com/

Very finely grind in a mortar and dissolved in shellac this takes a two days. I added 5 grams of gum arabic to the first mixture. Important: Filter the varnish through a hair sieve. Very important always wear latex gloves, otherwise the black goes into every skin crack.

First with this solution the holes between the existing varnish filled. This takes days because the drying process is very slow. Hardens better in the refrigerator.



Very important to buy good brushes hair brush flat brush from the artist supplies. The cost easily over 15 euros per piece but worth it.

 

[gardehusar]

Now comes the part that requires a lot of patience. Fill holes, dry, sand with 600 wet sandpaper with olive oil. Remove oil quickly again because it softens the paint again. After each of these steps rub with talcum powder or baby powder bell and dust very well. Since residues of talcum powder in varnish are otherwise very good to see in the varnish.

Repeat these steps very very often.

Picture two shows a chocolate that my wife gave me, because I thought the process goes much faster. So to speak as a consolation between.

Last steps when a homogeneous surface is created. Make a new varnish without gum arabic and dilute it with black shellac. Example 100gr. Varnish with approx. 35-45 gr. black shellac dilute.

Now paint one coat at a time. Let dry and sand with 1200 grit wet sandpaper and olive oil without PRESSURE. Immediately de-oil with kitchen paper and rub directly with talc. Remove dust and leave to dry for at least one day. Then apply a new coat of varnish and repeat the process. At least 5 times the whole.



Last part: Mix talc with olive oil and polish bell with it. Again remove oil with paper towel and then rub thickly with talcum without oil. Leave for a day, then dust with a brush.

 

[gardehusar]

With good luck a silver scale chain original on ebay for narrow money auctioned. Unfortunately not for button 91.

But Dirk Meyer from feuervergoldung.eu was so kind to adapt the scale chain for me.

At the same time the emblem was fire silver plated by him. Unfortunately it was not possible to soot the emblem i.e. to make it white too thin so called frosty silvering. Keyword white boiling.

Weißsieden – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

 

[gardehusar]

The final result, I think if you do not know that it has been restored you do not see it.

I have not over restored them and many imperfections not 100% repaired. With very good luck and a lot of money Uffz. cockades obtained. Both 50mm diameter Bavarian white metal.

Bavarian cockades are a small science in themselves. Until the introduction of the small emblem, the silver hoop was ribbed, then bent inward and smooth.

Clasp buckle of the scale chain is still missing.



But the hood remains in my possession therefore no worry. Easter Monday still quickly at Chiemsee picked up the matching reservist mug. Ready is my small Bavaria corner.

Cost: 300 Euro the hood, restoration costs with missing parts 750 Euro.

To be fair, I must also say the paint is only superficially hard, to harden completely it will probably take a few months. An old experienced restorer who makes only shellac polishes told me even there it takes 6-8 months until the varnish is completely hardened.

 

[Lars13]

Congratulations on a successful restoration, and with the corresponding Reservistenkrug to boot

 

[b.loree]

Great job with excellent results! Thanks for the detailed description which confirms my own experience with replacing shellac on helmets. This is a long laborious process and takes months.

 

[911car]

Really nice! Congratulations. Where did you get the visor metal rim?

 

[Jeff R]

What a beautiful job and fantastic end result! Thanks for sharing, and for the detailed restoration information.

~Jeff

 

[coert65]

Excellent restoration, this helmet is now again how it should be. Nice work, laborious, but worth every hour..
Takes a lot of time, but it is worth it.
Very nice!

Regards, Coert.

 

[chinstrap]

Superb result!

 

[Sandmann]

Congratulations to the good looking Helmet and thank you very much for the step by step description. Very informative

 

[Naprawiacz]

Well done,congratulations!