Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Larry- Ditto for the tip! Incidentally, I am sure that Marc is familiar with Vulcanite in another venue! It was, and I imagine still is, used for the bits or stems of smoking pipes! The material seemed to resist the nasty brew of condensates from tobacco smoke, and was stury enough to make a good pipe stem, but was not too hard on the teeth! It had a tendency to get a greenish oxidation, but I remember having a polishing cloth from Savenelli that restored the pipe stem wonderfully! Too bad the cloth wouldn't work on the textured camera body!! If we have a Firestone or Goodyear employee on list, they may be able to varify, but as I recall, the gutta percha or rubber gum was mixed with sulfur and treated with heat to make the vulcanite. It was an early attempt at making plastics (cellulose nitrate or celluloid being another- once used as a film base with some interestiung results!) I seem to recall that Celluloid, Vulcanite, and Bakelite were all early plastics. I have seen some fellow advertize Leica coverings, die cut and with adhesive on eBay- so someone out there is making them... now if we can just find out who he is, and where he's hiding.... we could make him an offer he couldn't refuse! Dan (One word....PLASTICS!) Post