Hello, I recently acquired the Hasag 351L from a collector here in the states. It has a brass fount and from what I'm reading most were steel. It might have one area that looks questionable with stress cracks. Any thoughts on how to proceed?
Try putting air in the tank first and plenty of pressure the place it in a bucket of water and see if it loses air first A picture of the area would help? Pete
This is a very very rare find because the tank is made of brass. Please look at the bottom of the tank to see if there are numbers stamped there. In Germany there has been an intensive discussion for years about when the Hasag 351L was first manufactured.
@Dean D Thanks for the Photo. That's too bad.Now the experts will probably have to continue discussing the age of the Hasag 351L.
When I start restoration I may try to lightly glass bead blast to bottom or should I just leave it be?
In my opinion, this is a pre-war variant, because the pump looks like the old style with the locking by a small screw on the bottom of the knob. Even though the tank is brass, the bottom with the aluminium laquering looks a little rusty to me so it could be steel. This was also the case with some of the older 51 / 51A models, as well as with some other lanterns from Hasag of that age, like a 252SP that I own. I would not recommend glass bead blasting it unless you want to restore it to "like new" condition. Lanterns in this condition I myself just clean a bit and conserve them, and repair broken parts to make them functional. Edit: I have a 351L here in my collection which also has a brass tank and a steel bottom, which unfortunately has stress cracks. So I decided to leave t as a "shelf queen". However, unlike your lantern, it has a double rim at the bottom.
Martin, thanks for the info. Pump has the small pin to lock it down, magnet sticks to bottom but not the sides. (I'm not going to bead blast the bottom) The fount is very dirty inside and I will just plan on cleaning inside well. I have successfully used a product here in the states called Caswell to seal small stress cracks and being kerosene it should work just fine. I think I can make it work again I'll keep you all posted. thanks
I don't see any evidence of lettering on the bottom either, but one trick that I discovered if you see a little that you cannot decipher is to spray the lettering with oil. For whatever reason, spraying something like WD-40 or Kroil with a little bubbling or foaming going on can reveal the lettering as you are spraying if an old fashioned pencil rubbing does not work. I was curious about your mention of Caswell as I know a Caswell plating products company. It appears that you are talking about an epoxy sealant that they sell. I have had automotive fuel tanks cleaned and lined with a similar product. The warning that I always get is to let the compound cure for several days before you put petroleum in the tank, or else it will gunk everything up.
I'll try wetting it with something like that. Yes same Caswell company, I let it sit for a week with pressure before I add fuel.
