should I attempt to clean this helmet?

[brataccas]

got this cheap off ebay, looked quirky and seemed like the pebbles and hardened mud or whatevers on it can be chipped away revealing the whole helmet, should I do this or is there risk of ruining/damaging this helmet? just curious if theres any chance of a decal still on it if I was to pick away at it carefully, opinions?

[CBH]

It would turn to Dust ,IMO . Looks like the seller tried to clean it and got some metal exposed and that crumbled .

[Wagriff]

Rust and corrosion are all that is holding it together. I think, as Chris said, that is removed, you would have a sack full of dust and crumbs.

[inka]

give it a coating of renaissance wax and leave it,,as said above you wont have much left of it if you try remove that stuff.

[LeonardoL]

Looks like a weird farmers hat. Its a lost case.

[Duff]

I would try and remove that crud... My logic is this - the helmet currently, is nasty to say the least. Unless you want to have an entire display devoted to items found in their natural state? What's the loss if this thing does crumble (which I don't think it will)? Honestly - you stand more to gain cleaning it than looking at it in it's present condition...

[CampX]

I think it looks cool as it is.

Dean O
Canada

[battle gear]

it looks like it's turned into a fossil, cleaning it would destroy it now, the damage is a lot more than cosmetic, it's gone all the way through, nothing left to restore , it should be left alone.

[CBH]

It looks like it was in the ocean since WWII , once you get the crust off the inter metal will rust to nothing when exposed to the air . It would need to be persevered quickly , or flushed with freshwater for a long period of time , I've heard of people putting cannonball found under water into the toilet tank , so the freshwater gets changed often and has a flushing effect lol . IMO