M38 FALLSCHIRMJÄGERHELM rescue project

**Jan** · 03-28-2019, 06:22 PM

Patience is the word. The helmet is now in for Alkaline Sulfite Desalination in a heat- (or steam) cabinet and will remain so for several weeks.

Before desalination the helmet was first x-rayed and cleaned manually. The "Kinnreimen" will be put in a moisture chamber before being straightened out.

I will have pictures of both in a couple of days. And in two weeks time a preview of the helmet when they change the liquid in the container were it now rests.

Best, Jan

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 03-28-2019 06:22 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Jan** · 03-29-2019, 11:59 AM

The helmet is now inside this metal container, the lid has been sealed to the container with tape and a weight has been added to make the container 100% tight. The temperaturein the cabinet is 50°C which shortens the process considerably.

The whole process is done to remove chlorides that have penetrated the steel and chrystallized. After the treatment the metal is stabilized.

**Jan** · 03-29-2019, 12:06 PM

Parts of the chinstrap belonging to the helmet were also found. They are mechanically cleaned. After cleaning the leather parts are placed in a steam chamber in order to moisten the leather before the parts are straightened out.

A decanter glass filled with water is placed in the plastic box along with a device that measures changes in moisture and temperature.

**Jan** · 03-29-2019, 12:10 PM

First find! During cleaning traces of a paper tag were found on the inside of one of the straps!

**BlackCat1982** · 03-29-2019, 12:17 PM

Awaiting the great reveal with interest.

**AndyM35** · 03-29-2019, 08:34 PM

Thanks for posting progress Jan! It’s all very fascinating.

**The Devil's Bank** · 03-31-2019, 02:34 AM

I'm really looking forward to the end result.. fascinating!

I put my Panzer headlight through the electrolysis process and it did strenghten the metal.

**Jan** · 03-31-2019, 09:49 AM

by The Devil's Bank

I'm really looking forward to the end result.. fascinating!

I put my Panzer headlight through the electrolysis process and it did strenghten the metal.

Thanks for sharing this. Seems you did very well

Best, Jan

**The Devil's Bank** · 04-06-2019, 10:41 PM

Here it is now..

**PotatoDigger** · 04-07-2019, 09:43 PM

Very nice work so far, since I've heard the name History Secrets, I decided to opt into the conversation, I personally am a friend of Nick (History Secrets), and , as far as I know he still has the helmets(including the FJs), at least last time I saw them they were scattered around his room, I'm guessing the M38 came from another dump, as there were lots of these sorts of dumps all over Europe.
For all I know he hasn't found any chin strap remains either, as most of his M38s he recovered had battle damage and thus probably no liner.
He is not in any direct contact with araeologists for all I know, as in the Netherlands you don't need a permit.
I personally work together with some archaeologists from time to time and detect areas for them, I might study archaeology too, and in NRW (in West Germany) you need a permit to even metal detect on fields and anything sort of important gets reported to them.
But as I already said, in the Netherlands there is no such thing, so I would guess that this specific M38 came from somewhere else.
Keep up the good work
Luis