A
Anonymous
Guest
How does one refinnish a Haubes Shell ? I have to restitch the visor and rear peak so I thought know or never.
Mark
Mark
kaiserzeit
New member
Hi Mark,
The master re-finisher in our group is our esteemed host, Brian Loree. He restores 'haubes professionally.
I wade in because I know a bit and want to learn more.
If you do want to undertake a refinishing job yourself, do so with great care and much deliberation. If the helmet is a good piece it may be worth sending Brian's way.
If on the other hand, it is sort of an average piece and pretty rough around the edges, it can provided a useful learning situation. This assumes that the original finish is not worth saving so you are just as well to start from scratch.
Quality finishing is not for the faint of heart. It requires patience and considerable skill to get right. Whatever you do, go slow.
First off, take note of any paper tags or if the liner includes a silk skullcap (for officers). If so, you need to be careful with your cleaning and leather-conditioning, not to damage these parts.
Then, you need to remove all metalware. Be careful doing this as the wire tabs on many of the old mounting brads may be very brittle. Once you get them off, you can re-anneal them with a gas torch but, again, go slow, you will discolour the face of the piece if you overheat it.
Next comes cleaning the leather. A good, mild soap (Murphy's Oil Soap, a good saddle soap, even a glycerine-based facial soap are good alternatives) and a minimal amount of warm water. I would be inclined to us a not-too-stiff brush or a coarse towel to work loose any crud.
Let the cleaned helmet dry naturally. Using high heat will lead to shrinkage.
Next, it may be worthwhile to condition the leather. Lexol is an excellent product.
Now, you must decide whether you are going for a "Utility" finish or a super deluxe "Parade" finish.
Your basic utility finish can simply be a number of well-buffed coats of boot polish.
A high gloss, parade finish is more akin to French Polishing fine furniture. If there is a furniture finisher in your area, he may be able to help you out with the necessary supplies. As for technique, he might be willing to give you a few pointers. Otherwise, Google and your neighbourhood library can help you out.
If you and your helmet survive all of this, please post some before and after pictures for us.
Good luck,
Laurie
The master re-finisher in our group is our esteemed host, Brian Loree. He restores 'haubes professionally.
I wade in because I know a bit and want to learn more.
If you do want to undertake a refinishing job yourself, do so with great care and much deliberation. If the helmet is a good piece it may be worth sending Brian's way.
If on the other hand, it is sort of an average piece and pretty rough around the edges, it can provided a useful learning situation. This assumes that the original finish is not worth saving so you are just as well to start from scratch.
Quality finishing is not for the faint of heart. It requires patience and considerable skill to get right. Whatever you do, go slow.
First off, take note of any paper tags or if the liner includes a silk skullcap (for officers). If so, you need to be careful with your cleaning and leather-conditioning, not to damage these parts.
Then, you need to remove all metalware. Be careful doing this as the wire tabs on many of the old mounting brads may be very brittle. Once you get them off, you can re-anneal them with a gas torch but, again, go slow, you will discolour the face of the piece if you overheat it.
Next comes cleaning the leather. A good, mild soap (Murphy's Oil Soap, a good saddle soap, even a glycerine-based facial soap are good alternatives) and a minimal amount of warm water. I would be inclined to us a not-too-stiff brush or a coarse towel to work loose any crud.
Let the cleaned helmet dry naturally. Using high heat will lead to shrinkage.
Next, it may be worthwhile to condition the leather. Lexol is an excellent product.
Now, you must decide whether you are going for a "Utility" finish or a super deluxe "Parade" finish.
Your basic utility finish can simply be a number of well-buffed coats of boot polish.
A high gloss, parade finish is more akin to French Polishing fine furniture. If there is a furniture finisher in your area, he may be able to help you out with the necessary supplies. As for technique, he might be willing to give you a few pointers. Otherwise, Google and your neighbourhood library can help you out.
If you and your helmet survive all of this, please post some before and after pictures for us.
Good luck,
Laurie
A
Anonymous
Guest
Thanks ,this haube is not a top shelf piece .It is not a piece of crap either .I have already tried the boot polishing method after stripping .The coat of the haube is pebbled and the physical impression of the eagle is there .
It also has another set of pushed holes in it ( another learning project,)
I bought it for a not so bad price and found it an excelent learning project.
The unit is know what is causing me grief as i thought it was a silver Garde eagle and a regular chinstrap. now it mat have to have the plate with the special bandaue and chinscales .so i will just redo what I can do
while looking into that problem.
i will get photo's of it as it sits and will take photo's of it when i am done good or bad.
Mark
It also has another set of pushed holes in it ( another learning project,)
I bought it for a not so bad price and found it an excelent learning project.
The unit is know what is causing me grief as i thought it was a silver Garde eagle and a regular chinstrap. now it mat have to have the plate with the special bandaue and chinscales .so i will just redo what I can do
while looking into that problem.
i will get photo's of it as it sits and will take photo's of it when i am done good or bad.
Mark
kaiserzeit
New member
Hi Mark,
I meant to add, if your wappen matches the "ghost" you see on the front of your helmet, you want to stay with that wappen.
Were it me, I would do my very best to work around the "ghost" as it is an important part of the helmet's patina and worth preserving in its own right.
Cheers,
Laurie
I meant to add, if your wappen matches the "ghost" you see on the front of your helmet, you want to stay with that wappen.
Were it me, I would do my very best to work around the "ghost" as it is an important part of the helmet's patina and worth preserving in its own right.
Cheers,
Laurie
A
Anonymous
Guest
I am going to stay with th getting a regular silver Garde wappen ,I havw a Brass with silver garde star there know . I still need to redo the rear stitching and the front is loose ,so it will get done as well .
i am going to try the boot polishing method again only a heavier application.
How do I plug exta holes ?
I was at a friends who has an m15 Kugel the shell is vert dry and brittle at the edges the rear peak is salvagable and the front peak is to far gone. The previous owner took all te hardware off and put them onto a homemade fiberglass shell ,reall nice looking job really. but that has saved all his parts . The main question I have is can the edge os the shell be saved by applied preservative of some type? The bowl is still pretty sopple but the edge is dried up . the outside of the bowl needs to be stripped and refinnished .He wants to try to refinnish it I am looking at as a much better tool for learning .
I told him might be easier finding a new bowl or shell to finnish the kugel.
Mark
i am going to try the boot polishing method again only a heavier application.
How do I plug exta holes ?
I was at a friends who has an m15 Kugel the shell is vert dry and brittle at the edges the rear peak is salvagable and the front peak is to far gone. The previous owner took all te hardware off and put them onto a homemade fiberglass shell ,reall nice looking job really. but that has saved all his parts . The main question I have is can the edge os the shell be saved by applied preservative of some type? The bowl is still pretty sopple but the edge is dried up . the outside of the bowl needs to be stripped and refinnished .He wants to try to refinnish it I am looking at as a much better tool for learning .
I told him might be easier finding a new bowl or shell to finnish the kugel.
Mark
kaiserzeit
New member
Hi Mark,
All sorts of good questions!
I'll venture some opinions but hold off doing anything drastic until our community has had a chance to speak up if I get it wrong.
1) Build the boot polish up in layers. If you put it on too heavily it takes on sort of a greasey look and can flake off, which sort of defeats your hard work.
2) I posted a note on plugging holes a few days ago, here it is:
http://pickelhaubes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1194
I think it is a pretty sound approach - very close to the traditional - and no one has blown any gaping holes in it yet, anyway.
3) On the crumbling neck guard, if the crumbling is right at the rim and you are able to neatly trim it and still be left with a credible neck guard, that might work. Otherwise, I think it has had it. Once leather dries out or rots, I don't think it can be saved.
If the leather is still whole, it can be treated with a conditioner like Lexol or Pecard's.
For more on this vein, have a look at one of my earlier ramblings (be sure to read the whole thread because some good points came out in discussion):
http://www.pickelhaubes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=513
Mark if you or your buddy need help with shells, I have some repros you could work with.
Cheers,
Laurie
All sorts of good questions!
I'll venture some opinions but hold off doing anything drastic until our community has had a chance to speak up if I get it wrong.
1) Build the boot polish up in layers. If you put it on too heavily it takes on sort of a greasey look and can flake off, which sort of defeats your hard work.
2) I posted a note on plugging holes a few days ago, here it is:
http://pickelhaubes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1194
I think it is a pretty sound approach - very close to the traditional - and no one has blown any gaping holes in it yet, anyway.
3) On the crumbling neck guard, if the crumbling is right at the rim and you are able to neatly trim it and still be left with a credible neck guard, that might work. Otherwise, I think it has had it. Once leather dries out or rots, I don't think it can be saved.
If the leather is still whole, it can be treated with a conditioner like Lexol or Pecard's.
For more on this vein, have a look at one of my earlier ramblings (be sure to read the whole thread because some good points came out in discussion):
http://www.pickelhaubes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=513
Mark if you or your buddy need help with shells, I have some repros you could work with.
Cheers,
Laurie
A
Anonymous
Guest
I asked about the shell for my friend as he is intereste in redoing the shell .He has a couple other shells that are the same shape or worse . these would be good for him to do this refinnishing lesson .they are bot much use for anything else .
H is on the forum and can look this up and ask further questions he has.
Mark Giroux
H is on the forum and can look this up and ask further questions he has.
Mark Giroux