This is going to be a post focusing on the exterior finish of the pickelhaube and is based on my experiences as a collector and restorer of these helmets for over 30 years. I suspect that there will be a series of posts to this. First, the finish was applied as a waterproofing for these leather helmets and the practice goes back even to pre Napoleonic times where troops were issued with the "tar bucket" shako. The rigging of sailing ships, was "tarred" in order to preserve it. The famous British "Tars" on board Nelson's ships grew their hair long, braided and tarred it and thus the nickname. So, the use of tar or bitumen in war by warriors goes back centuries, even to the times of the ancients for example, "Greek Fire". However, we are looking at a different water proofing and it's 19th and 20th century use by German industry to "finish" the famous pickelhaube and also, to make it look good. "Looking good" in the uniform and equipment has always been a part of "military fashion" and an attraction to the "ladies". Original photos of hauben being worn show that the finish shone like patent leather, a mirror finish that you could see your face in.
On line sources state that patent leather finish was invented by a Belgian (Mon Dieu!
) in the 1700's and there are various Brit patents issued during the period to 1800. Patent leather came to the US in 1818 when a local inventor in Newark NJ was given a piece of German military visor from which he designed his own improved formula.
I have also consulted two reprints published in the 1990's........ Lee's Priceless Recipes (Chicago 1895) and Book of Trades (London 1866) for information on the formula/ingredients used in this leather finish. The patent leather finish has several names....Japanned leather, enamelled leather. Here is an extract from B of T's pg 248. "Patent leather is covered with a coat of elastic japan which gives a surface like polished glass, impermeable to water.....hides prepared in a more perfectly elastic mode of japanning will permit folding without cracking the surface and are called enamelled leather. Such leather has the japan annealed something like glass; the hides are laid between blankets and subjected to the heat of an oven for several hours." Now Joe has already posted pics of helmet shells being baked in ovens, so that fits.
Here is Lee's recipe for "Patent Blacking" pg 209: "One gallon alcohol, 1 ounce of sulphuric acid, 1 1/2 pounds of gum shellac; let stand for 48 hrs, then add 1/4 pound ivory black (a colouring agent). Let stand for 24 hrs...ready for use and is waterproof." Lee also provides a varnish recipe for repairing chips to the enamel coating on patent leather items. Other colouring agents contained in Lee's "Leather Department" recipes include "fine lampblack and fine powdered Prussian Blue." Pre 1910 "Dunkelblau" uniform collectors should be familiar with this dye as Prussian Blue was the term given to the colour of this blue/black military clothing. A 1906 source also found on the net describes "a foundation coat of lampblack and linseed oil has been laid on the flesh side, successive coats and drying follow taking up to a month, hide is stretched and a final coat of varnish is applied....3 days of moderate heat in ovens...and a final 10 hrs exposure to sunlight"
Period foto of a Garde Artillery man showing the mirror finish on an M15 helme.
Unfortunately, few examples of this "perfect" finish have survived in today's hauben. This is the result of 2 environmental conditions in my experience, heat and humidity. Both of these things and they can present in a combination, show a distinct set of 'finish" characteristics.
In my experience, as I have stated the two main causes of finish damage are heat and humidity. A fall or increase in humidity causes the leather to either contract (less humidity) or expand (more humidity). According to my friend T Schnurr the "stable" range for humidity ie no flexing or contraction lays in the 40-50 % range. So, as he advises on "The Bunker" keep your leather helmets in this range and you should avoid further damage.
What are the characteristics of humidity damage? To my mind, they are cracks and crazing in the finish. In the worst case scenario we see sections of missing finish where it has simply flaked off the shell. As an aside, the condition known as "red rot" which you can find in OR liners is caused by excessive drying where the natural oils in the liner dry out, the fibres and cells separate, flaking occurs, liner turns rusty red and ultimately turns into dust.
Here are a couple of photos to illustrate "humidity cracking". This is a Ulan 14 officer helmet which had a beautiful original mirror finish that was shattered by fluctuations in humidity.
THE BIG MELT : So that leaves us with the second cause of "finish damage" Heat. Humidity probably factors in here as well but heat was "number one" in the causation process.
A picture to get us started.
Some obvious examples of the "Big Melt" can be seen here.....pebbling and a run where the finish got so hot that it "ran" down the shell. These helmets get very hot in sunshine. In his book Fritz, WWI OYV survivor Fritz Negel describes how "hot and heavy" his arty helmet was in the August heat of 1914. I have refinished areas of a helmet and left it sitting in sunshine inside on a chair for 15 minutes. I come back....there are slight sag marks and I am leaving fingerprints in the areas which had been drying for 2 weeks already. I have worked on many helmets including the present Prussian General helme where I find the imprint of the uberzug cloth in the finish. We see extreme examples in the reference books where the uberzug is stuck completely to the helme and can not be removed.
My own helmet purchased SOS 2014....the worst case of "Heat Melt" that I have ever seen.
The cardboard backing on both kokarden was fused to the sides of this helmet due to the heat that it was subjected to.
A work in progress...
On line sources state that patent leather finish was invented by a Belgian (Mon Dieu!
) in the 1700's and there are various Brit patents issued during the period to 1800. Patent leather came to the US in 1818 when a local inventor in Newark NJ was given a piece of German military visor from which he designed his own improved formula. I have also consulted two reprints published in the 1990's........ Lee's Priceless Recipes (Chicago 1895) and Book of Trades (London 1866) for information on the formula/ingredients used in this leather finish. The patent leather finish has several names....Japanned leather, enamelled leather. Here is an extract from B of T's pg 248. "Patent leather is covered with a coat of elastic japan which gives a surface like polished glass, impermeable to water.....hides prepared in a more perfectly elastic mode of japanning will permit folding without cracking the surface and are called enamelled leather. Such leather has the japan annealed something like glass; the hides are laid between blankets and subjected to the heat of an oven for several hours." Now Joe has already posted pics of helmet shells being baked in ovens, so that fits.
Here is Lee's recipe for "Patent Blacking" pg 209: "One gallon alcohol, 1 ounce of sulphuric acid, 1 1/2 pounds of gum shellac; let stand for 48 hrs, then add 1/4 pound ivory black (a colouring agent). Let stand for 24 hrs...ready for use and is waterproof." Lee also provides a varnish recipe for repairing chips to the enamel coating on patent leather items. Other colouring agents contained in Lee's "Leather Department" recipes include "fine lampblack and fine powdered Prussian Blue." Pre 1910 "Dunkelblau" uniform collectors should be familiar with this dye as Prussian Blue was the term given to the colour of this blue/black military clothing. A 1906 source also found on the net describes "a foundation coat of lampblack and linseed oil has been laid on the flesh side, successive coats and drying follow taking up to a month, hide is stretched and a final coat of varnish is applied....3 days of moderate heat in ovens...and a final 10 hrs exposure to sunlight"
Period foto of a Garde Artillery man showing the mirror finish on an M15 helme.
Unfortunately, few examples of this "perfect" finish have survived in today's hauben. This is the result of 2 environmental conditions in my experience, heat and humidity. Both of these things and they can present in a combination, show a distinct set of 'finish" characteristics.
In my experience, as I have stated the two main causes of finish damage are heat and humidity. A fall or increase in humidity causes the leather to either contract (less humidity) or expand (more humidity). According to my friend T Schnurr the "stable" range for humidity ie no flexing or contraction lays in the 40-50 % range. So, as he advises on "The Bunker" keep your leather helmets in this range and you should avoid further damage.
What are the characteristics of humidity damage? To my mind, they are cracks and crazing in the finish. In the worst case scenario we see sections of missing finish where it has simply flaked off the shell. As an aside, the condition known as "red rot" which you can find in OR liners is caused by excessive drying where the natural oils in the liner dry out, the fibres and cells separate, flaking occurs, liner turns rusty red and ultimately turns into dust.
Here are a couple of photos to illustrate "humidity cracking". This is a Ulan 14 officer helmet which had a beautiful original mirror finish that was shattered by fluctuations in humidity.
THE BIG MELT : So that leaves us with the second cause of "finish damage" Heat. Humidity probably factors in here as well but heat was "number one" in the causation process.
A picture to get us started.
Some obvious examples of the "Big Melt" can be seen here.....pebbling and a run where the finish got so hot that it "ran" down the shell. These helmets get very hot in sunshine. In his book Fritz, WWI OYV survivor Fritz Negel describes how "hot and heavy" his arty helmet was in the August heat of 1914. I have refinished areas of a helmet and left it sitting in sunshine inside on a chair for 15 minutes. I come back....there are slight sag marks and I am leaving fingerprints in the areas which had been drying for 2 weeks already. I have worked on many helmets including the present Prussian General helme where I find the imprint of the uberzug cloth in the finish. We see extreme examples in the reference books where the uberzug is stuck completely to the helme and can not be removed.
My own helmet purchased SOS 2014....the worst case of "Heat Melt" that I have ever seen.
The cardboard backing on both kokarden was fused to the sides of this helmet due to the heat that it was subjected to.
A work in progress...
