what do you think of this now.

[Wagriff]

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with the "somewhat"....personally, I think you've taken a fairly scarce German Naval helmet and basically destroyed it. It's a shame that you didn't ask here first for advise. But, there's no sense in crying over spilled milk now, as there's no way to reverse the damage at this point. A pity, as KM helmets are much more scarcely seen than even the SS lids. William

[Adrian Stevenson]

I would like to see some decent photos and know how the removal was done.

But for the purist the helmet was already ruined by the layer of varnish. I seriously doubt this was wartime applied. So the damage was already done before any stripping took place. Varnishing stuff was common place back in the 1970's people misguidedly thought they were preserving items.

I think I prefer it minus the varnish. But what is done is done.

Cheers, Ade.

[Wagriff]

Alot of the vets themselves slopped on varnish-thinking they were stopping rust. William

[griffinz]

I will post pictures first thing tomorrow to show it in good natural light,I hope I've not ruined it ,but I only paid 300 for it as they thought it was a here helmet'

[davejb]

First off , what did you use to remove the varnish, secondly you might have removed only one layer by the look of the finish, thirdly whatever was done prior to you acquiring it , ruined the helmet, but im afraid that by removing the varnish ,more damage has been done and i doubt if you will ever recoup the money paid for it, it was a reasonably rare helmet but not so now

[griffinz]

Why I've only taken the varnish off,I never touched the decal,so it's how it should be,,,,,,

[davejb]

What did you use to take the varnish off with?

[griffinz]

I used thinned down paint remover,put it on with a brush waited 40seconds then washed with soapy water,

[davejb]

Even thinned down , paint remover can have an adverse effect on varnish and can damage original paint beneath, proper varnish remover should have been used, if at all

[griffinz]

Ok but I'm happy the result is a shed load better.checked what I used and it's paint and varnish remover...