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M31 Helmet Liner restoration

Article about: Decided to do another sort of restoration, I traded an original field bottle I did not need for the 1942 marked 56 size steel liner band which is in great condition and bought the leather pi

  1. #1

    Default M31 Helmet Liner restoration

    Decided to do another sort of restoration, I traded an original field bottle I did not need for the 1942 marked 56 size steel liner band which is in great condition and bought the leather piece off the internet for 15€, it is not in the best condition, but it will do, I will have to do some stitching to get the felt piece to stay in place and also attach the leather together at the end, can't find any markings because it has darkened substantially, but all the tongues are still there and flexible, some parts are a bit brittle though, now I just need an inner ring and pins for attaching the leather to it, in case anyone has original ones, please tell me, otherwise I will just get repros for that as they are not visible anyway.
    I will keep you posted on the process.
    Luis
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

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  3. #2

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    Stitching is done, now I just need the pins and an inner ring, used pretty old thread I had lying around and dipped it in muddy water to match the appearance of the leather more, had to be very careful to not pull too strongly otherwise the thread would rip straight through the old leather, only happened a few times, I only restitched the existing holes to maintain originality in that regard, unfortunately, some places could not be stitched, because the remnants of the inner ring had rusted into the felt lining which made it very hard and I didn't want to risk breaking it so I left those places out, but overall I'm quite happy with the results so far, there are some dark spots on one of the last tongues which might be remains of a size stamp, but it's almost indistinguishable from the rest, as the leather has darkened so much.
    Luis
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration  
    Last edited by PotatoDigger; 05-15-2019 at 03:19 PM.

  4. #3
    MAP
    MAP is offline
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    Soaking the thread in tea would have given it a nice aged look (if it was of natural fibers).

    Nice job.
    "Please", Thank You" and proper manners appreciated

    My greatest fear is that one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them

    "Don't tell me these are investments if you never intend to sell anything" (Quote: Wife)

  5. #4

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    Thanks for the tip, MAP , unfortunately a bit late, but I will try it next time I do something similar, at least in this way there are no things on this liner that shouldn't really be there (i.e. tea )
    I will keep you posted when I order the inner ring and pins to finish the restoration, still looking for a suitable helmet to put it in, might put it into my restored Q M42, right now it has a repro liner in it or I might get a shell with original paint and stick it in there, will have to see.
    Luis

  6. #5

    Default

    Also I think I will get a size 62 and 64 inner ring as I'm not quite sure which will fit, but they are only about 6€ so whatever, as the leather has contracted a lot, but I'm guessing it used to be a 64 liner, just shrunk a lot, if it won't fit I will make it a size 55 one.
    Luis

  7. #6

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    Time for a quick update, currently the leather is being reshapen, I hope, anyway as I put it up on one of these plastic things that you put hats on, don't know what they're called, but we have a hat store so we have tons of them lying around. Whilst cleaning out an old wooden chest (I do mean old, that thing is at least 200 years old) I just threw stuff in I did not need at the time I found a little bag with original aluminium liner pins, 8 of them, apart from 2 they all had 1 broken prong though, I superglued that together and am hoping for it to stay as one piece (though I am not hopeful) as I will install them on the inner ring which I have ordered now, I am planning on digging up my old jerry-rigged electrolysis setup and using an old piece of zinc I found metal detecting and am going to attempt to galvanise that thing properly and not leave it blued as the repros come.. for whatever reason. The drawstring is a reproduction I took from a helmet I had restored just to make sure this stays in the right shape. I have also taken a photo of the remnants of one of the split pins for the leather from the original liner that had still remained in the felt piece, not much left of it at all..
    Luis
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    Last edited by PotatoDigger; 05-21-2019 at 10:00 PM.

  8. #7

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    Alright, back again after having been to London for the weekend. Found a nice package from Slovakia waiting for me, the liner components had arrived. So I quickly put the leather onto the inner ring which I had tried to galvanise with zinc which didn't really work. I think I need to buy myself some zinc salts to dissolve while the electrolysis is working, so now I just removed most of the bluing which made it not look as out of place as it would have with the bluing. Unfortunately I had to punch additional oles into the leather as they didn't line up with the holes in the inner ring, but it wasn't hard as the leather was fairly brittle and easily punctured. Then followed the installing of the inner ring into the liner band, and WOW did that go smoothly! I remember doing it before and it was a pain in the arse! But as for this time, 2 minutes and it was done! Apart from 2 of the repaired original split pins they also all stayed together while I assembled it, so it is a bit more original that way. Anyway, here's the results, I'm quite satisfied if I dare say so myself, but I'm curious what you all think of it.
    Luis
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration   M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

    M31 Helmet Liner restoration  

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