baseball helmet restoration

[dwight24]

Hello,

i have a 1960 batting helmet in need of some restoration (it has cracks and needs a new decal).

Does anyone know who would do this type of work?

Thanks,

Mel

[icollectDCsports]

More info would be helpful and photos would be best. Is it a helmet that was worn in competition (game worn)? How badly is it cracked -- so much so that it's in danger of falling apart? As far as the logo, in almost all cases for a game worn helmet I'd say just leave it as is because adding a new one lessens the vintage, original character. Just my opinion.

[dwight24]

Hi,

It is a game used batting helmet. In pretty rough shape with some big cracks and lots of tape holding it together.

I'm attaching some pis to give a better idea.

[icollectDCsports]

Cracks: I can't tell whether the whole thing would fall apart without the tape, but you might want to consider carefully applying strong but pliable tape to the inside to hold it together and then remove the outside tape to improve the looks. Perhaps the helmet's cracks are just part of its use, such as a player slamming on the dugout floor, and I'm not sure you'd want to completely obscure that element of the helmet's use history.

Decal: There appears to be so much old pin tar on it that I don't see where there was ever a logo, and to apply a new logo, you'd have to remove pine tar which again is taking away an element of the use of the helmet.

[BrianK]

This is super cool as it is.

[dwight24]

Thanks for the responses. I do love the helmet. It is a Boston Red Sox helmet (I don't think I mentioned that before).

The more I think about it, the more I think that you are correct in not adding a replica decal. I do want to keep all of the pine tar and old look/feel to it. Practically the entire inside helmet has this same tape as is on the outside. I'm thinking of removing all of the existing tape, glueing the cracks with crazy glue, and re-taping the inside. So, a few more questions...

Any suggestions on a specific type of tape I should use?

Any idea what I might want to use to remove the tape residue from the outside of the helmet?

Thanks again.

Mel

[icollectDCsports]

I figured it was a Bosox helmet given your forum name. Is there any evidence that it ever had a logo, or is it one used before the team logo was put on Sox helmets? In any event, I think you're right to not put a new logo on it.

As for the possibility of adding new inside tape, I'd recommend a flexible cloth tape of some kind, but I don't have a particular brand in mind. Check with your local craft store. The thing to keep in mind is that new tape will only stick on the inside and hold the cracks tight if the surface it's stuck to has been properly cleaned of the old tape residue. Folks here have recommended Goo Gone for such purposes, but I don't have any experience with it.

As for the crazy glue idea, I'm skeptical. I'd think with the thinness of the helmet, it would be almost impossible to not to get glue squeeze-out onto the top surface of the helmet and that would look bad and be difficult to remove without doing even more damage. So, without having handled the helmet personally and from seeing the photos, my best advice would be to -- a little at a time -- remove and replace the inside tape and then remove the outside tape completely. If there is tape residue on the outside, you may just have to live with it as removing it will have the effect of cleaning the pine tar and such off which would make the surface appear uneven. Maybe you could post additional photos when you have removed the outside tape.

[dwight24]

[quote=icollectDCsports;304927]Is there any evidence that it ever had a logo, or is it one used before the team logo was put on Sox helmets?

That is a good question. There is no evidence that there ever was a logo on the helmet, but I've been trying to research the changing Red Sox helmets throughout time, with little success. Lots of info on changes in jerseys and hats, but not batting helmets. This helmet belonged to a player who was with the Red Sox from 1959 - 1962, so I am calling it a "1960" helmet, but it could be from any of those years.

Do you know the year when logos were first introduced on the Red Sox batting helmets, or know a good resource that might have an answer?

Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

Mel

[icollectDCsports]

Pretty sure some teams did not have logos on at least some of their helmets when first introduced during the time period you mentioned. I don't know the history of logos on Red Sox helmets, but I recommend you post an inquiry in the game used memorabilia forum here. I'll add that, if this is indeed a game worn Bosox helmet from the time period you stated and you are sure it can be attributed to a specific player, it may be a fairly rare item -- especially if the Sox did not use logos initially and therefore their helmets from that time would be hard to identify without some reliable provenance. All the more reason to not risk overdoing it on the restoration. It's a cool and significant item pretty much as is.