M1917A1 liner restoration help

[2ndRangersWW2]

Hello everyone! I have a 1917A1 Kelly that has been in my collection for sometime. And I've noticed the leather liner inside has deteriorated quite a bit in the 5 years of jt being in my collection. It is stored in a dry and room temperature condition, however Father Time still has his way either leather. I know applying certain oils and such can rehydrate the leather, but is there anyway I can fix the rip going halfway across the liner, and help and tips will be much appreciated. Thank you!

[BrodieBartfast]

Once leather's damaged, there's virtually nothing you can do to restore it. It looks like it's suffering from a case of dry rot, which is typical of leather products stored in a low humidity environment. The only thing to be done is to preserve it as best you can and try to avoid any further deterioration.

B.B.

[Airbornehunter]

This helmet has most likely been improperly stored on a display head. The weight of the helmet tore the leather. The leather looks a little dry, but I think the majority of the damage comes from the improper display. Helmets should never have any weight, stress, or otherwise on the leather.

There is nothing you can do to restore this leather.

Humidity is very important for leather. Some places vary in their humidity recommendations. I'd keep it above 40%, but less than 60%. More than 60% mold can grow. Some people say rust can form in humidity over 50%. I don't know that I believe this explicitly. I subscribe that temperature differentials lead to condensation and therefore rust. Therefore constant temperature, constant humidity. Drafts, air movement, can cause condensation to form.

For the restoration of dry leather there isn't much you can do. Oils are bad. Do not oil. For very brittle leather chinstraps, I have had SOME limited positive benefit with long term storage at higher humidifies. Mostly, I left some US M1 WW2 chinstraps in a finished basement with constant humidity of 60% and temperature of 56-62F. After ten years, there has been improvement, but again, it is marginal for the effort. The same process has done nothing for two German helmet Chinstraps in 8 years.

[Daniel]

Hello,
As stated by B.B. there isn't much you could do about the damaged areas. In this case a restoration of the leather liner would only ruin the originality of the helmet.
Dry rot can be caused when all of the naturally occurring oils in the leather evaporate or dry out. This causes the leather to become hard and brittle, wich leads to damage. Using water to try to re-hydrate the leather would only make it worse and dry it out more.
However, I respectfully disagree, when it comes to using oils. I belive that the leather parts that remain unaffected by the dry rot could still be salvaged. I have used leather conditioner to try to help prevent further damage with great success in the past. (NOW Before Anyone Gets Worried, I have NEVER used this on helmet liners or anything collectible, just some random dried out leather bits of no significance) With that said, it has worked great in softening dry brittle leather to become supple again thus helping it not dry out.
This is just an opinion from personal experience and would be happy to stand corrected.
I would NOT recommend using it on this helmet liner because there are still many downsides to it. One being that it can create food for fungi. In some cases it can also weaken the leather fibers.
I'd leave it as Is and try to store it In a way where there is nothing putting any stress on the liner.

Once again, just an opinion based on personal experience but would be happy to stand corrected and listen to other opinions.

Regards,
Daniel

[Watchdog]

Hello,
As stated by B.B. there isn't much you could do about the damaged areas. In this case a restoration of the leather liner would only ruin the originality of the helmet.
Dry rot can be caused when all of the naturally occurring oils in the leather evaporate or dry out. This causes the leather to become hard and brittle, wich leads to damage. Using water to try to re-hydrate the leather would only make it worse and dry it out more.
However, I respectfully disagree, when it comes to using oils. I belive that the leather parts that remain unaffected by the dry rot could still be salvaged. I have used leather conditioner to try to help prevent further damage with great success in the past. (NOW Before Anyone Gets Worried, I have NEVER used this on helmet liners or anything collectible, just some random dried out leather bits of no significance) With that said, it has worked great in softening dry brittle leather to become supple again thus helping it not dry out.
This is just an opinion from personal experience and would be happy to stand corrected.
I would NOT recommend using it on this helmet liner because there are still many downsides to it. One being that it can create food for fungi. In some cases it can also weaken the leather fibers.
I'd leave it as Is and try to store it In a way where there is nothing putting any stress on the liner.

Once again, just an opinion based on personal experience but would be happy to stand corrected and listen to other opinions.

Regards,
Daniel

I am inclined to agree here and just a word of warning to be very careful if you do choose to treat the leather.

I had one of these in, as far as I can tell from the pics and description, exactly the same condition.

I tried using Fiebings 4 - Way leather treatment (a US made product available in UK) which is just about the best product of it's kind that I have ever used. The result was that the liner totally disintegrated

I have never known this to happen with the very many leather items I have used Fiebings on.

Maybe it was something to do with the leather, maybe it was dry rot that was not obvious, I don't know but it was certainly a shock!

Regards

Mark