Removing old camera leather

spoolman

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Joined
Sep 7, 2007
Messages
661
Location
Toronto Onta
Format
Med. Format Pan
I just rescued a #4 Cartridge Kodak that had been badly abused over the years and I am considering restoring it.Is there a method of removing the old black leather covering without causing damage to the wood body?.

Doug
 

pgomena

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Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Messages
1,391
Location
Portland, Or
That's a tough one. I asked the same question a while back about removing ancient, dried-out tape from antique film holders. I ended up using mostly elbow grease and a putty knife. Solvents of any kind did little good. I didn't want to use water-based solvents for fear of warping the thin strips of wood, but that's what I ended up using. The tape seems to have had a protein-based glue on it. What worked best was a water-based label remover I found at Home Depot. Something like a wallpaper stripper that has some enzymatic action might work, but those are water-based too. Once you get a corner of the leather up, you might find it will peel right off if it's not too brittle.

Peter Gomena
 
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