Leather fire helmet painting
- Thread starter tfpa78
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Josh, I don't know of any official vendors. I've always refurbed my collection myself. I just finished my work helmet (N6A-Sam Houston) and it came out great. All you need is some sandpaper (I use 100 grit or finer), a water soluble/non petroleum paint remover, Sherwin Williams gray primer & a Sherwin Williams top coat i.e. gloss black, gloss yellow, etc..
If you do it yourself be careful sanding near the scroll design on the brim and don't use anything that may gouge or puncture the leather.
Dean-o
If you do it yourself be careful sanding near the scroll design on the brim and don't use anything that may gouge or puncture the leather.
Dean-o
Try this website, www.smokeshowing.net, very good and very fair on price. Or DIY like vbcapt suggested, probably alot cheaper.
I had my leather helmet repainted by Smoke Showing just before last Xmas. It was originally yellow and I had it painted black. He did an excellent job. I also had him add a new d-ring and frontpiece holder. With shipping it was, I think, $135, but would have been less for the painting only. If I remember correctly he is located in Annville, PA. His communication with me was great.....several phone calls to make sure of what I wanted him to do. I would highly reccommend him.
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I would say do it yourself.....i have done several.......just avoid sanding on the stitches or you will wear them down .....also i would skip any kind of paint remover especially if you are repainting the same color........just sandpaper your only cost will be paint & sandpaper & it will not leave your possesion.
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I agree how bad is the leather's condition, if you have open cracks in the brim or even weakened areas of the brim I would be a bit more concerned then some typical paint chipping and loss... One place to find what The manufacturer recomended for use is the Fire store on the web site look in the Cairns leathers section and they include paints that was recomended by Cairns before MSA was involved ... using a light 100 grit sand paper to basicly ruff up the surface prime and Paint color is pretty easy stuff , using masking tape on the brass parts, bourkes, and LIner if you choose to spray rustoleum flat black looks stupid use gloss which will also look stupid until it gets broken in,...lol (Old schooler here) I've painted a few myself and the paint I put on always was better then the 80's epa chip o matic paint... remember the 80's fords where you would drivce down the highway and the paint would literally peel off? helmets were right with em for a while.. ;D :
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You do not take the brass band out......however to remove the flaps/liner....you carefully lift the brass edge somewhat all around with a screwdriver ....then grasp the earlaps & bring them somewhat together inside this will allow the earflaps & sewn in circle of wire to come out....the actual brass remains in place....... when replacing it again squeeze it somewhat until it fits in ...then tap around the ring lightly w/a small hammer to close it up......also before tapping it down make sure the liner is in straight.... in other words so both edges of the flaps are even on your head......only take the inside out if you are replacing the inside....for painting the helmet w/a brush leave it in & be careful......for spray painting it just carefully mask around the opening.
bklk said:
I had an old black one and when I became a chief this year I refurbed it to white. My buddy has a sandblaster and he used a light sand, it took a little time but worked out good and didn't damage the helmet or stitching. The only process I screwed up was painting, I painted it well, but the osha inspector failed the helmet for using the wrong type of paint. No lie, he smelled my helmet. VBCAPT, and the Chief seem to have a lot of experience with this, whatever they tell you to do, is what you should do.