Hi there all,
Any of you ever purchased anything from these guys?. I'm about to restore an M17 German helmet and they offer good quality liners and straps for these.
regards,
Ian
Hi there all,
Any of you ever purchased anything from these guys?. I'm about to restore an M17 German helmet and they offer good quality liners and straps for these.
regards,
Ian
Their liners are extremely good quality, but how do you know your helmet is an M17? Does it still have the liner band, or is it just an empty shell?
I ordered a couple of liners and straps for a M16, a M17, a M18 and a French Adrian M15.
Good quality and fast delivery.
I can recommend them.
Cheers,
Emile
Yes it has the liner band which turned out to be an M17 reissue band with chin strap bail holes added. Apparently not all liners had the refit completed beyond new leather and were installed back into M16 helmets as it. The owner of Prairie Flower, nice guy by the name of Steffan has been replying to all my annoying emails with enthusiasm and even kindly gifted me a set of his M17 liner pads just so I could complete a restore on it, how cool is that! I ended up ordering an M16 liner and strap from him (yet to arrive) but I think it would be better to restore this one with the original parts. The leather had all but completely rotted away so a real candidate for a rebuild.
Well here she is folks, replaced the rotted out leather and added new strap. The new leather was crimped into place while wet which allows it to form around the band more easily (thanks Steffan). I was able to include all the original parts along with the new additions. I prepped the band by gently easing the steel open again with a fine slotted screw driver covered with tape to protect the band. Very little rust was found to my relief. I gave it a scrub with an old tooth brush and then set to pushing the new pads into place crimping a little at a time with tape covered small needle pliers. Working the area back and forth until it looks uniform and tight. Ignore the string in the liner out pics, first picture shows the finished helmet with the correct twist string. Very happy with the result. This is a keeper helmet for me. Might age things a little more like darkening up the buckles a little etc but nothing that detracts from the helmet in terms of as is condition. Decided not to remove what could be either a mail home or auctioneers code at the rear rivet area. Thanks again to Steffan from Prairie Flower Leather Co for all your help!
Well done. Looks very well!
Cheers,
Emile
Cheers Emile, have to admit I was a bit intimidated by the idea of doing this at first but it's not too difficult as it turns out so it's worth considering if you have have a helmet like mine that had zero leather remaining. Wetting the leather is the trick I think , I have a new found fondness for the M17 pattern helmet liner strangely enough.
You have done an excellent job on the helmet, well done!
Very nice, it looks the part!...
I know this is an old post but hopefully you are still a member. I am hoping to do the same with my Austrian helmet, also using materials from Prairie Flower Leather. My biggest worry is breaking the original split pins. How did you manage to remove and replace the liner band without breaking yours? I have attached a couple of photos of mine as it is right now.
All advice appreciated.
Peter
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