time for an update on the initial chin straps research...
NEW FOUND PART DISCOVERY
The Chin Straps Part 2 - New Evidence For the Definite Source of the Helmet Chin Straps
You can finally forget all those helmets, because the real source of the straps has been found and it's not from a helmet.
@Jojofett95 took the prior Everoak research I did to the next level and brought us definitive proof the chin straps for all the Fett helmets were in fact made by Everoak, but not the source I previously identified. He rightly felt something was missing, especially in light of the funky procedure I came up with to attach the leather guards. He decided to dig deeper, and he finally got to the bottom of it. He interviewed Bill Vero, the grandson of the founder of Everoak, Everitt W Vero, which yielded the discovery of the actual source of the straps.
Jojo has done a superb write-up with all the details and the compelling evidence and he’ll be posting it at some point when he has time. For now he’s given me his blessing to post an update about the straps as a part of my build. This is 100% his discovery.
The Straps
They’re still EVEROAK.
This is it. The Everoak “Fully Detachable Harness with Chin Cup.” For those of you tempted to immediately google that, forget it. The internet is completely devoid of any information on these harnesses. The top hit will be a link to this build thread. ChatGPT will tell you there is no info for it online. Jojo’s interview and the physical examples we’ve been able to acquire from tough hunting are the only sources of information right now.
In the box is a strap system compatible with any equestrian helmet of the time. It consists of just the straps and chin cup which you fit over the helmet. This was the earliest attempt to convert traditional riding caps into safety helmets.
This is what it looks like out of the box:
These are essentially identical in design to the Everoak motorcycle helmet straps already identified in my previous research post in this thread, with one important exception: the correct leather guards are already attached and with the exact same hardware and stitch patterns seen in the archive pics.
Also, these always came with the correct chin cup, whereas we didn’t have evidence of that with the motorcycle helmets. Additionally, the unique stitching on the middle strap matches, where the motorcycle version does not.
It’s important to note that Everoak actually originated this particular chin cup, which has long been identified as the correct chin cup. And, as established in the previous research, Everoak is the only helmet maker which uses this double attachment method of snap on one side, and double D-rings on the other. But this product is the first to tick off all the boxes.
Jojo has a good number of excellent comparative shots for the PP3, ESB, and ROTJ helmets, so I won’t repeat it all here. This is just a taste of what I think is rather convincing evidence Jojo will post.
The only thing needed to make them the same as the screen-used is to snip the strap system in four places:
Then add the grommets.
Variations
These definitely varied over time, and because they were hand-made there are also minor individual differences between each one.
So far, with the additional help of
intwenothor, we’ve recovered samples from three, maybe four distinct time periods showing shifts in materials and/or construction.
For example, this one below is probably a slightly older version than what we see in the ILM helmets. It has the cast D rings rather than the rolled rings, as well as other various differences.
And this next one below looks so different, for a long time I thought it was a look-alike brand. I eventually realized it was an Everoak — probably from the 80’s. The little shape in the stitching around the backside of the snap button, though it varies, seems unique to Everoak.
Crash course on variants:
A) 100% correct circa 1978
B) Cast D-rings, probably pre-1978
C) Slightly different webbing, updated cinch clasp in the back, probably post-1978
D) Wrong webbing, wrong leather, pattern is narrower with less material, cinch clasp is thinner, maybe circa 1980’s
Right now we only have one example of ‘A’. Hopefully more of these will be recovered now their significance is understood.
Look-alikes
Everoak was the first helmet maker to produce this type of add-on harness, but I found some look-alikes out there. They’re easy to spot because most of them don’t come with the correct chin cup. None of their details match very well, either.
The two shots below are examples of the most ubiquitous brand I found, and seems to be the most like the Everoak. I was unable to identify a maker. They can be found on various different brand helmets. They’re frustrating because at first glance they make you think you found an Everoak. Such a tease. Hard to tell in these shots, but the D-rings on these are very unique.
Here are some more unidentified maker examples of lesser quality…
The Christy Beaufort brand (below) is only good as a source of correct chin cups. The straps are wrong. (thanks to intwenethor for taking the hit on that one).
Since the Everoaks are tough to find, these knock-offs can serve as decent stand-ins. But also, it might be just as easy to build your own straps using similar materials which could end up looking more correct than these. Maybe this is an item a vendor could step in to make good replicas of someday.
Cutting and Installing
So now the difficult part… cutting up a hard-to-find found part. Fingers crossed.
But it’s pretty easy. Just make a few snips and put in a couple grommets. Way simpler than the insanity of converting the Standard motorcycle helmet straps, which required ripping the straps out and cutting up the neck guard.
But if you want ESB or ROTJ, the cut is slightly more refined than the PP3.
PP3 has a straight cut at the end which creates a point. Both ESB and ROTJ had the point rounded off, at least for the D-ring side.
The snap side is much harder to tell what’s going on in the one singular photo we have of it for ESB because the angle is so extreme. The backside of the snap isn’t visible, although its certainly still there, it’s just obscured by the bottom of the strap.
It’s not very hard to demonstrate how the snap backside can be obscured by the leather when the angle is extreme enough like in the ESB helmet photo above.
It’s also clear, by the time that archive photo had been taken, years after the films, that particular strap had been pretty badly beaten up. I really doubt it was like that during filming.
Since my helmet is still in the UK, I’m going to wait until it arrives before I snip the straps and put the grommets in. Unless I finish everything else and there isn’t anything left to do.
Anyway, that’s it. Newly identified found part. All thanks to JojoFett! What an incredible job. Outstanding work. That’s one less mystery. How many mysteries left to go?
