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Flash hood and gloves - care?

A

ajf.350d

Well-Known Member
Hopefully someone might be able to help.
I have a set of Royal Navy anti flash gloves and a balaclava that were my Grandads in WWII.

How should I care for them? I am not sure if they are any special material?
They are also dirty - mostly aging.
Can I wash them?
i am trying to find a dummy head to put the balaclava on for display as I also have his two RN hats.

Thanks
Andrew
 
Hi Andrew, any chance of a photo.
The thought occurred to me that the gloves or indeed both sets of items may be made out of Asbestos. If you can take a couple of photos of the items and then some close up photos of the material that would be a start in identifying what they're made of and help you decide if you wanted to get a small piece analysed (you've guessed it, this is part of what my day job is so I can help advise if you want).
Dave.
 
I know that the old style Police inner flash gloves and hood were able to be washed on delicates, but not very often. They then had to be hung out to dry, and then ironed for a good while to keep them working. These ones date back only to the 80s though so material may be completely different. Just a thought.
 
Thanks for the replies. I hope they haven't got asbestos in them!
I have taken some photos and put them in my gallery here. Not sure how to link to them in a thread?

Andrew
 
ajf.350d said:
Thanks for the replies. I hope they haven't got asbestos in them!
I have taken some photos and put them in my gallery here. Not sure how to link to them in a thread?

Andrew
Click to expand...

Thanks.
The asbestos gloves I've seen look a lot thicker than these, obviously if you wanted to be 100% sure you'd have to get them analysed but based on the photos they look like non asbestos ones.
Dave.
 
ajf.350d said:
Hopefully someone might be able to help.
I have a set of Royal Navy anti flash gloves and a balaclava that were my Grandads in WWII.

How should I care for them? I am not sure if they are any special material?
They are also dirty - mostly aging.
Can I wash them?
i am trying to find a dummy head to put the balaclava on for display as I also have his two RN hats.

Thanks
Andrew
Click to expand...

Hello Andrew,
I've only a few steel helmets in my collection as they take up to much valuable space! But I was able to buy a job lot, (about 13), polystyrene heads when a local wig shop closed down. Unfortunately they are all female heads but are doing the job until I can get some better ones. I have a few left and I think there are three without too many small dent's in them. I paid 4.00 each for them so if they are of any use to you I can let you have three for 10 if you will pay the postage, obviously they dont weigh much. I am quite happy to send them to you so that you can decide if they are suitable for what you need. Anti flash gear could be easily padded out to make them a bit larger. Asbestos or not, when I had to use the things they made my neck sore!
If this is any help for you please PM me with your email or home address and I can arrange to send them to you.
Best regards,
navyman.
 

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Sorry for lack of response here.
Glad they are not likely to be the asbestos versions. As far as I could tell they just felt like thick cotton. There is a marking in one photo that says proofed, which I assume means they have a fire retardant coating of some kind though?

Navyman - will drop you a pm shortly :)

Andrew
 
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