Some questions about delicate cleaning...

A

Adler54

New member
Hello all
i've just bought a offizier Prussian guard pickelhaube, not in the best condition, but not so bad, and with the helmet cover.
And i'm asking me how to clean it , without removing the gilt , which is a little tarnished, especially on the spike and the chinscales..
The Wappen, however ,dont need any cleaning and has 100 % of his original gilting :D
Another question : how to restore the shell , where the lack has some spidering ?
thanks for your comments
Philippe


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Bonjour Philippe:

There are safe ways to clean a helmet, and I thoroughly recommend Tony's tutorial:

http://kaisersbunker.com/preservation/index.htm

However, if I owned your beautiful helmet, I would do nothing. It would be a shame to remove wonderful patina like that.

Congratulations on a wonderful acquisition.

Chas.
 
I agree with Chas and Joe: do not touch it! Especially, do not try to reduce "spidering", that makes the charm of old helmets...
Bruno
 
Ok , first, thanks for your kind comments, i've seen the great tutorial of Kaiserbunker.com for cleaning, and i've understand that, for cleaning tarnished gold fittings, only mild soap +hot water is recommended ?
However for the shell, i think i'll not touch it , like all said. perhaps just a little cleaning.
(Tell me if i'm wrong because English is not for me the language best known, and i've maybe misundertood some stages of the process )

More photos to come
Regards
Philippe
 
Philippe une excellente recette pour nettoyer les parties metalliques, notamment les plaques, sans le moindre risque de degradation de la surface est le jus de citron dilue applique avec une brosse douce. On rince ensuite abondammnet a l'eau froide. Cela respecte la patine.
Bonne chance,
Bruno
 
Hi Philippe:

Tony recommends mild soap and water to clean the brass parts that have been fire gilt. In the case of your helmet, this would be the Garde eagle. As you can see, gilt surfaces do not tarnish, but they can acquire grime over the decades.

As for the remaining brass, if it had once been gilt, the finish has long since worn away. I have used both Nevr-Dull and Simichrome (never Brasso) on regular brass.

However, I have only polished chinscales to remove blemishes left by fingerprints and verdigris. Before cleaning/polishing chinscales, first test them to determine if they are magnetic. If so, they are steel or zinc, and appear "gold" due to a gilt wash. Never clean or polish gilt wash as it practically dissolves on contact.

I can appreciate your wanting your helmet to look its best. However, I have nearly always regretted my decision to polish. Gentle cleaning is the best approach.

My best advice is to undertake the absolute minimum. Vacuum the helmet shell interior, carefully clean the leather exterior using a very diluted solution of mild soap and very little water, and cleanse the Garde eagle with dish soap and water (removing it from the helmet first). Use a wooden toothpick to gently remove verdigris from non gilt brass. Using cotton swabs and a small amount of alcohol, lightly wipe down the remaining brass to remove any residual contaminants.

I would do nothing more.

Chas.
 
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