Leather Feed

[M18922]

I was at a military show and there was an amazing ww1 British medics helmet. It is all complete with liner and a sack type fabric as a cover with the redcross stitched on it. But the problem is the seller said he put a leather feed on the liner because it was brittle. The liner is all complete but you can tell there was leather feed on it.

Is it bad the liner has leather feed? Will it be bad in the long run?
I'm going to see about getting it, pics should be emailed to me soon

Pat

[Gunny Hartmann]

I feel if the leather treatment has helped to preserve it then it's a good thing, but a lot of other folks will disagree!...

[HARRY THE MOLE]

I would be interested in seeing just what this liner looks like. Do you mean the liner is leather and has been treated?

[M18922]

I am still waiting for pictures of the helmet. As soon as I get them I will post them here.

Cheers, Pat

[Mikel]

Some people don't like that stuff.
I collected in the 50s when leather was supple and useable.
It is shocking to me to see how all that has changed with age.
Pesonally I think the leather food helped preserve its existence.
We used neatsfoot, saddle soap, and other stuff that actually hastened the demise in my day.

[Spitace41]

I use leather feed on items and in my experience it has helped to make them more supple and I hope means they will last longer. It has worked well on bayonet frogs, boots, helmet liners and pouches. The only thing you have to consider is that it can make the leather look darker in some cases. This happened to me with a Sam Browne belt, but it was either that or let the belt stay desiccated. Personally, if the rest of the helmet is good, it would not put me off.