Romania Romanian World War 2 Helmet

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gents

I recently picked up this helmet, a m34, post Dutch helmets supplied via Nazi Germany to the Romanian Military,

and would appreciate any tips on restoring it or at least controlling the rust!!

It has remains of at least two paint jobs, an olive green and dark green with optional rust

Kevin in Deva

[Kev in Deva]

The inside might have been painted white at some stage judging by the white flecks and specks.

Kevin in Deva.

[Kev in Deva]

Some slight damage to the inner fitting adjustment straps.

Leather Liner retaining ring, rivets, and pads.

Kevin in Deva.

Edited December 7, 2007 by Kev in Deva

[Kev in Deva]

Eyelets for the adjusting tape/string.

Kevin in Deva

[Kev in Deva]

Inner detail of the rivets.

Inner detail showing the position of the 3 pads.

Comments welcome

Kevin in Deva

[Gordon Craig]

Kevin,

What to do with a rusty helmet is always a thorny question. Lots of discussion on this topic on the WAF in the Restroation Forum and if I remember correctly some on the Helmet Forum as well. The most useful information seems to be to leave it alone and try and control any further deterioration by controlling the environment where the helmet is kept. In other words controll the humidity level. I find that much more difficult to do in my apartment here in Budapest than in the room I store my collection in in Canada.

Regards,

Gordon

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gordon,

thanks for your reply, but, I must say, I tend to think more along the lines of getting rid of the rust.

and give it a paint job, while not in the polishing medals category, it might be the old soldier in me,

but, it looks very unappealing to the eye with the rust on it.

Kevin in Deva.

[Gordon Craig]

Kevin,

I guess that depends on you individually. For more expensive helmets you would be destroying the value. For this helmet, you are probably ok with repainting. I know it is hard to leave rust alone. Foreign to the way we are taught to treat it. I have a WWII Hungarian helmet that is still in the original paint with some rust showing through the paint. It is very hard to resist doing something to it until I see that 90 per cent, or higher, of these helmets that are for sale have been repainted. Better to have a slightly rusty original, that you can resell some day, than a repainted one that no one wants. Other alternatives that I have used on helmets in the past to treat the rust and not repaint the helmet was to put some oil on the rusty areas. The problem is that no matter what you do, it affects the surface of the helmet in some way. In the end there is no one way that every person will agree to is how you should treat a rusty helmet.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited December 15, 2007 by Gordon Craig