Need advice with my Niederbieber helmet!

[Virilis]

Salve!

I have just ordered the old version of the Deepeeka Niederbieber helmet. I would like to modify it a bit like I have done with my steel Deepeeka roman helmets, mainly bending the cheekpiece hinges etc. So here is my question:

-is it possible to bend brass like steel or will it break easily? All advice appreciated!

[Peroni]

Jyrki,

It should be easier to bend the shell, but the cross bracing on the deepeeka helmet is cast, so may it be slightly brittle. BE Careful!

[Virilis]

Thanks, Peroni! The bowl shape is in my opinion quite acceptable, I would like just to bend the hinges between the cheekpieces and the bowl a bit...

BTW, I just received my new Deepeeka Gallic G, bent the bowl and the hinges a bit and I must say IT IS PERFECT !!

[Caius Valens]

Hi Caius here I would like to "take a gander"(have a look,1940s American slang) at your helm before and after shots please if possible. I have one of the old Aux E and am having a similar problems Thanks in advance Caius/Thom R

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Virillis,

Just dont move the brass too much back and forth. Brass will crack very easily under these methods. If you need to move them more than a couple times I would suggest annealing the brass between movements.

[Virilis]

Caius, I`ll try to remember to take some "before and after" photos of my operation :wink: ! I am only worried about hammering the pins out of the hinges because the earquards seems to be located in a quite bad place considering that operation...

Paul, this was why I asked about bending the brass, I have heard that brass (unlike iron) will harden after some bending and might break...

[Virilis]

Here is my new Niederbieber helmet (the older Deepeeka model). I took the cheekpieces off and bent the hinges of the bowl and cheekpieces a bit inwards. Now it fits my conehead perfectly! I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this helmet...

[gaiusseptimiuslucianus]

Virilis,

Great job! It fits you perfectly! :mrgreen:

If you needed to work on the bowl of the helmet more (although it doesn't seem like you do), you would probably need to remove the cast bits, do your adjustments to the bowl (probably annealing as you go), anneal and reshape the cast brass pieces and then reassemble the lot. Brass is very easy to work with but you need to keep a very sharp eye on it to make sure you're not work hardening it too much.

In another life :wink: I make Medieval style ring brooches often using commercially available cast brass rings as a base. I find I need to intially anneal the rings before I start and then continue to anneal them between flattening and several stages of ornamentation. If I don't, its easy to cut through a ring when I'm adding chiseled designs. I use MAPP gas and the hot head torch that I also use for glass bead making.

Lucianus
_______
L.E. Pearson

[Virilis]

Thanks, Lucianus! Fortunately a minor alterations to the hinges was enough to make the helmet fit much better. I was afraid that if I have to bend the brass more radically and many times it would break (I don`t have the tools at home to do annealing etc.).

In fact the cast brass pieces on the top of the helmet were easy to take off because they are attached with bolts underneath the bowl. This I did because I took off the "excess" shining of the helmet by "Scotchbrite" pads...