Helmet Lining

[Neuraleanus]

Back to the original topic, as far as I know, the only helmet liner that has been fund is from Dura-Europos, quote from Simon James:

On page 108-109 of his book:
"A felt lining of undyed wool with undyed wool thread...It was apparently dyed after weaving, dark brown. ... It is quite well padded with pile added to the cheek flaps and a felt lining"


This is from the middle 3rd century.

[M. Demetrius]

I'm in the middle of making a liner for a Gallic A. Cool helmet.

What I've done so far, is sew a soft cap that fits my head, and another, coarser cap that fits inside the helmet. I have an old blanket, one of the "emergency type" that is made of loosely felted mostly wool. I'm using that for spacing in between the two caps, and adding in the cheek pieces.

I went to a weaving/spinning/fiber supply store, and bought a needle felter. It's a punch, sort of, that has a few needles in the end, spring loaded, and easy to use. Each needle has a bunch of barbs milled into the edges, so that when you press down on a stack of felt (against a brush-like tool that is the mate of the needle tool), it sticks the layers together. They use these for putting eyes on stuffed animals, and things like that. But what the result in this case is, is that the resulting 3-5cm thick felt is very soft, but springy. Pretty good padding, and it holds its shape, and since it is sewn onto one of the caps, stays put. That way, I don't have to have padding everywhere inside the cap, which should help keep my head a little cooler.

I'll send up a couple of pictures later of the tool, and the way it works if anybody is interested.

I think I'll use the same method for inside the upcoming subarmalis. You can just add more felt if you need a thicker layer. And it breathes pretty well, since it's very loosely felted in the first place. Also, since it's already felted in the normal way, sweat and friction shouldn't make it felt any further. Might just work, you know?