Restoring dry leatherette

F994 · Sep 21, 2017

Hello guys, recently I acquired in a flea market a really nice camera that can be considered a Leica copy. It's a Gamma III with a Angenieux 50mm f/2.9, produced in Rome, Italy between the 40s and 50s and it's kinda rare.
It's in good cosmetic conditions except the leatherette that is kinda dry and lost its elasticity. There are no cuts and scratches on it but it's restricted. I'd like to save it and restore it to keep it as original as possible, is there a way to re expand it to its original shape without ruining it?
That camera also has two weird solid and curve shutter curtains that have to be lubricated. This is something a good repairman can do but would you recommend to restore the leatherette by myself?
Here two pictures of the item.

Helinophoto · Sep 21, 2017

As far as I understand it, the leatherette on old cameras is vulcanized rubber, similar to car-tires.

Once it gets stiff and brittle, there is very little you can do, I haven't seen any products you can put on it to get it back to a rubbery state again.

At least, all the articles I've read on the subject says that and proceed to explain how to strip off old leatherette, remove old glue and then put on new leatherette.

I have two Leicas with this issue, so I am planning to buy some new leatherette and strip the cameras and then put on new.

AgX · Sep 21, 2017

Any snthetic material that needed plastizers to function can practically not be restored back to elasticity (though a lot of potions manufacturers claim the contrary.

(As you may have read at the current leather thread it is quite similar to leather, though leather accepts its "plastizers" better.)

John Koehrer · Sep 22, 2017

The Leica's an odd beast and actually uses what seems to be vulcanized rubber. It's the only brand
I've seen with a material like that, The covering on Leica is ~1mm and not flexible at all.
Leatherette is an imitation leather, is flexible and is applied with a glue or shellac.

The sources today offer leatherette or leather but nothing that comes close to the original Leica covering.
I believe a sheet leatherette's available from at least one of them.

derek andrews · Sep 24, 2017

On this subject, I have a Olympus winder2 grip that has very worn and brittle 'leather'. Any. Suggestions how I could restore it?

AgX · Sep 24, 2017

Replace it by true leather.

John Koehrer · Sep 24, 2017

^^^ yup.
A source of thin leather are resale shops. Purses, jackets & other unsuspected things will be happy to have a purpose in life again.

derek andrews · Sep 25, 2017

John Koehrer said:
^^^ yup.
A source of thin leather are resale shops. Purses, jackets & other unsuspected things will be happy to have a purpose in life again.

OK, but how do I get the 'old' stuff off and stick on the new stuff?

Svenedin · Sep 25, 2017

Depends what the old stuff is stuck on with. Shellac dissolves in ethanol and other alcohols including isopropyl alcohol.

derek andrews · Sep 26, 2017

Svenedin said:
Depends what the old stuff is stuck on with. Shellac dissolves in ethanol and other alcohols including isopropyl alcohol.

Thanks for that, but I thought it was nigh impossible to get the ingredients here in the UK, unless you know different.

Svenedin · Sep 26, 2017

derek andrews said:
Thanks for that, but I thought it was nigh impossible to get the ingredients here in the UK, unless you know different.

Shellac is very easy to get. It is used for French Polishing. You can either buy a small bottle of ready made French Polish (shellac dissolved in ethanol) or buy shellac flakes and dissolve them yourself, as needed, in methylated spirit (mainly ethanol but denatured with some methanol). Once dissolved in alcohol the mixture has a finite life -eventually it refuses to dry but the flakes last for a very long time. To glue new leatherette back on you would only need a small quantity. The great advantage of using shellac as a glue is it is completely reversible. It will dissolve again in ethanol (as anyone who has spilt brandy or such like on an antique dining table will tell you.....ahem).

Helinophoto · Sep 27, 2017

John Koehrer · Sep 30, 2017

derek andrews said:
OK, but how do I get the 'old' stuff off and stick on the new stuff?

In the US using contact cement is common. BUT only coat one surface, It'll be secure but still be removable.

Another thing I've used is a thin double sided tape that's used in fastening silicone sheets for printing/making
cardboard boxes.

F994 · Oct 4, 2017

I discovered that it's leather, not leatherette! I still don't want to change it with new leather to keep the camera original, any advice?

Svenedin · Oct 4, 2017

F994 said:
I discovered that it's leather, not leatherette! I still don't want to change it with new leather to keep the camera original, any advice?

Looking at the picture of your camera it looks like the leather has come unstuck and crept upwards towards the top of the camera rather than shrunk. There is gap towards the bottom of the camera and towards the top the leather looks buckled up. I think you would need to very carefully remove the leather, treat it to restore the lost oils (whilst off the camera so that there is no risk of getting muck in the camera) and then gluing the leather back in place. The leather is probably held on with shellac which will come loose with alcohol. You need to start at an edge and moisten under the leather with alcohol on a cotton bud. When then glue comes loose you carefully lift up that bit of leather and then soften the next bit of glue with more alcohol and so on. Do not attempt to remove the leather without softening the glue or you will just tear it to shreds. Of course if the leather is very dry and brittle it may be too dangerous to try to remove it. In that case you could just try Neats Foot Oil.

Restoring dry leatherette

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