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Slimcut22

Custom Leather Fire Helmet Shields

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I have been making custom leather fire helmet shields for a few months now, any feedback is appreciated. We call our little business Big Hammer Shields, because sometimes it takes a big hammer to make them!

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Hello slimcut

I too make helmet shields although i havent posted any pictures in a while. Your work looks top notch. Very unique desigin. I especially like the chiefs shield. The tooling with ths paint really gives an authentic gold leaf feel. Keep up the good work!

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Very cool! And nice work!

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Very nice. Any chance you would share a full size outline? Son in law is a Firefighter/EMT/Rescue down in Florida and I would love to put one together for him.

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I've always wondered how guys paint the lettering so cleanly. what's the trick?

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Never seen that before very nice.

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Very nice work! Frenchy07 I can send you an outline of my shields if you don't get a response.

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Much appreciated bwillielv. PM sent.

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Those look sharp! I've been messing around with a few myself and have a few different templates I would be willing to share.

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Slimcut22, I had someone approach me today about making a white shield. I haven't done a white one yet. Would you mind enlightening me on the process? I was gonna try white angelus paint and resoline on top. Any help would be appreciated

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Schultzt I have made quite a few white shields. I just make sure the leather is very clean, use the deglazer, and roll on the Angelus paint with a 2" foam roller. I usually use 3 coats, and then at least 2 coats of the Angelus paint finisher. And I always finish with a wax or shoe polish

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Thanks for the reply. I will let you know how it turns out.

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I have a few questions. Since there are several different brands and models of helmets do you have to have a pattern for each or are they pretty much the same size. I know the screw holes are a little bit different. My department we all have cairns 1044 helmets so I cant really play with other types. Any help would be great

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@firelarry28... I would imagine that all of the shields shown on the first post of this thread measure to be 6.25 inches or so. All helmets styles that have this visual appearance should be close to that. If someone has an after market parade shield holder or something like that it may be a bit taller. ( I made 10 for our honor guard that were a hair taller.) That being said you can compensate for a lot if you notch the top where the holder meets the shield. It will allow for thickness variances, bent holders, and height differences. I never punch screw holes unless I have the helmet in hand. I have had too much trouble with it even with a dept helmet in my shop. If it's crucial to the design I will figure it out but I try to avoid it. In my opinion its easy enough to do with a drill once you receive the shield.

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Do u know If there are any templates out there that I could find I haven't seen any

The one on my helmet is pretty deformed

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Just sent you a message. I will email you the templates I have.

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Sorry for not replying everyone, for some reason it never updated me that there were posts in this thread. I use the same template size for almost all helmets, with the attatchment holes left undrilled so that the customer can attach them where it's needed. We use angelus paint and sealer to finish the shields. As for the painting of the tooling, my wife runs that portion, she is particular and takes her time to get them very clean and straight. Sorry I didnt get back on the template, my mistake. At this point we have built over 400 shields, and continue to do so, our website is Bighammershields.com.

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Sorry for the delay in responses, I never got an update that there were replies here. It looks like the template was sent already, but to answer the questions;

1. We use Angelus paints and sealers when painting shields, several coats as nessecary.

2. Painting them is tough, its just patience and practice.

3. We use the same size templates for all shields, the final attachment holes are left to the individual.

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On 3/3/2014 at 5:32 PM, bwillielv said:

Very nice work! Frenchy07 I can send you an outline of my shields if you don't get a response.

can i get your outlines you use

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