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historical brown vulcanite


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I really like this look, and and would buy this body if I knew the leatherette was period.  My question is about the color.  Do you think this actually started out brown or through some sort of fading ended up brown when it started out a normal black? It looks like some sort of cheaper quality replacement leather, but just wanted to be sure.  

 

 

il_570xN.1495841711_ncds.jpg

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A lot of 1930s Leicas have leather that has turned brown. I have 3 or 4 like this example. I'm not sure of the cause, but the cameras are genuine. I suspect that the colour in the leather, which would started out black, has faded over time. Others may be able to explain the cause.

 

See the camera on the right in this link. I cannot find the original of this photo just now, but these are some of my collection items.

 

http://macfilos.com/photo/2016/1/8/three-little-maids-from-wetzlar-are-we

 

William

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The vulcanite on my 1933 is rigid like plasticlike and has no white colored underlayer as this one seems to have.  That's why I wondered if it could be an older replacement leather.  

 

My one in the photo is the same. It is fairly rigid and is cracked in one place. I have repaired this and you cannot see the repair now. The camera is fully original. I purchased it at the Westlicht Auction some years ago. I have some others like this. I am satisfied that this is not replacement leather. If you go through the LTM models on sale at Westlicht auction over the years you will see a lot of them with brown leather.

 

William

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I'd be interested in repairing mine.  It just has a crack in the back that seems to get more loose, the more I use it .  

My one in the photo is the same. It is fairly rigid and is cracked in one place. I have repaired this and you cannot see the repair now. The camera is fully original. I purchased it at the Westlicht Auction some years ago. I have some others like this. I am satisfied that this is not replacement leather. If you go through the LTM models on sale at Westlicht auction over the years you will see a lot of them with brown leather.

 

William

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CRR Luton still does vulcanite replacement, and they note on their website about vulcanite:

 

"Ageing effects tend to make there appear to be more. For example , a brown vulcanite , sometimes with a shallow pattern, is really just a camera that has been in a shop window for some years and been bleached by the sun , although, some genuine calfskin factory fitted coverings are known of , but only a small number ."

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My grandfather's Model II had gone a horrible blotchy greenish brown colour - very unattractive. After cleaning very throughly with a soft toothbrush and car upholstery cleaner, it lost the blotchy green look and was just mid brown. I have now treated it with Simoniz SAPP0105A rubber restorer (after all Vulcanite is a rubber product) and it is gradually getting back to black. I forgot to bring the Simoniz with me to France and I can see that although the first treatment helped, it needs more treatment. I am taking it very gently and only putting on a very small quantity at a time. 

 

Wilson

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Absolutely correct that Vulcanite (Vulkanit) is a rubber petrochemical based product. When my collection was housed in my store in a display case with fluorescent lighting, some of the Vulcanite on several screw mount cameras was turning brown. I suspect exposure to UV radiation was causing the problem. I used a car detailing product for preserving and restoring the black appearance of door seals, dashes and tires on the Vulcanite with good success. I think the product I used was called Back to Black. Currently I think Maguires makes the best of these types of rubber treatments.

When Vulcanite was applied new to the body shells in the factory it was heated to make it pliable to help it conform to the body shape. I believe some type of shellac was applied to the body shell to promote adhesion of the Vulcanite. I think perhaps Jerzy could give some insight here.

At the time, it was considered to be a improvement over the leather coverings used by other camera companies. If you look at older Contax cameras with leather covering, they show wear and discoloration and some also exhibit "Zeiss Disease" where chemical interaction between the leather covering and the metal underneath causes bumps to appear on the body shell. I have also seen reports about the leather body covering on the first Nikon rangefinders being carcinogenic due to the tanning salts used then and not being cleared properly!

Keep in mind that the Leica I is over 90 years old. These cameras have held up remarkably well all things considered. Leica used Vulcanite from 1925 to 1984 with the introduction of a vinyl covering being used on the M6. I have seen many M cameras with beautiful Vulcanite which looked like it just came out of the factory, as well as some where the covering is brittle and coming off in sheets. Interestingly, some of the best preserved Vulcanite I have seen is the "Sharkskin" type used for a short period in the late 40's. It is also apparent that Leitz made some change to the Vulcanite being used from the original Model I cameras to the later IIIf, IIIg and M cameras.

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Absolutely correct that Vulcanite (Vulkanit) is a rubber petrochemical based product. When my collection was housed in my store in a display case with fluorescent lighting, some of the Vulcanite on several screw mount cameras was turning brown. I suspect exposure to UV radiation was causing the problem. I used a car detailing product for preserving and restoring the black appearance of door seals, dashes and tires on the Vulcanite with good success. I think the product I used was called Back to Black. Currently I think Maguires makes the best of these types of rubber treatments.

When Vulcanite was applied new to the body shells in the factory it was heated to make it pliable to help it conform to the body shape. I believe some type of shellac was applied to the body shell to promote adhesion of the Vulcanite. I think perhaps Jerzy could give some insight here.

At the time, it was considered to be a improvement over the leather coverings used by other camera companies. If you look at older Contax cameras with leather covering, they show wear and discoloration and some also exhibit "Zeiss Disease" where chemical interaction between the leather covering and the metal underneath causes bumps to appear on the body shell. I have also seen reports about the leather body covering on the first Nikon rangefinders being carcinogenic due to the tanning salts used then and not being cleared properly!

Keep in mind that the Leica I is over 90 years old. These cameras have held up remarkably well all things considered. Leica used Vulcanite from 1925 to 1984 with the introduction of a vinyl covering being used on the M6. I have seen many M cameras with beautiful Vulcanite which looked like it just came out of the factory, as well as some where the covering is brittle and coming off in sheets. Interestingly, some of the best preserved Vulcanite I have seen is the "Sharkskin" type used for a short period in the late 40's. It is also apparent that Leitz made some change to the Vulcanite being used from the original Model I cameras to the later IIIf, IIIg and M cameras.

 

Thanks Bill. Most of my early Leicas have their original Vulcanite except for 2 from 1926 which have replacement covering. One of these seems to have spent time in the tropics (India to be specific) where it lost all of its paint and various other features were repaired, including the covering. The climate conditions in which cameras were kept can affect the Vulcanite. Cameras from the early to mid 1930s seem to have been affected very much by very dry conditions and a lot of them have cracked brown Vulcanite. You are right about the sharkskin Vulcanite being the most hard wearing covering ever used by Leica. I have 3 such items with sharkskin covering and the covering is in absolutely perfect condition today and gives the best grip to be found on any Leica model. Unfortunately, some of the sharkskin models also have pitting on the chrome, but I would never attempt to have this repaired as I view it as a kind of 'badge of honour'. Two of my sharkskin models have been upgraded from 'c' models to 'f Black Dial' models, probably in the early 1950s. I have recently exchanged emails with Jerzy about these cameras as I believe there is some scope for further study of the sharkskin models and their status (camera type) and serial numbers which display quite a degree of variation which does not follow 'conventional chronology'. The sharkskin covering looks like it will last forever, though.

 

William

Edited by willeica
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Hello William,

 

You are correct about the influence of the environment on older Leica finishes and coverings. I suppose a modern analogy would be the sensor corrosion on many M9 based CCD's. It seems high humidity is the main culprit here, so our modern Leicas are not immune to these problems.

 

The pitting on the post war chrome finishes is also an interesting subject. I think this is a result of shortages of critical materials such as nickel and chromium, which were important to war production. That was why Leitz turned to the gray paint finish for later war IIIc and IIIcK cameras. Nickel is an intermediate plating during the chrome plating process, and was the original finish on the LTM Leicas before going to chrome plating for the later pre-War models. Chrome plating was superior as it was harder and more durable than Nickel plating. You can sometimes see the nickel wearing off on heavily used early Leicas with the brass showing through on the wind on knob, etc.

 

If you have ever seen the plating process being done, it is a fairly nasty affair. Leitz used to feature this on their factory tours. The parts being plated were hung on "trees" and put through various heated chemical and acid baths as the nickel and then chrome plating were deposited on the pieces being plated through electrolysis. The smell was something to behold. To say it was environmentally unfriendly would be an understatement. Here in the States, it is said that the bodies of victims of a mob hit would be disposed of in the sulfuric acid bath used for bumper plating. A couple of days over the weekend in the acid, and there would be no trace!

 

I suspect that the reason for the plating pitting is that either the nickel plating was skipped or that some other aspect of the process was not being done properly. Chrome plating is something of an art, and if something is not done properly during the whole nasty process, the final plating will fail. If you look at the chrome plated bumpers on old cars, you will see pitting and bubbling on occasion. It goes without saying that automobiles are subjected to much nastier conditions than our Leicas!

 

The plating shop is long gone at Leica, and I'm sure that whatever is being done these days is farmed out to a specialty plating business. I'm also sure that when they closed down the plating shop at the old Wetzlar factory, it could have classified as a Hazmat site.

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I suspect the plating may now be done in Portugal instead of Germany, where the factory inspectors might be more rigourous. When I visited Wetzlar with my father in 1962, the whole place smelt like a chemical factory. 

 

Wilson

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I suspect the plating may now be done in Portugal instead of Germany, where the factory inspectors might be more rigourous. When I visited Wetzlar with my father in 1962, the whole place smelt like a chemical factory. 

 

Wilson

There you go Wilson. I had been there first in 1971 and then twice in the 80's. I still have a recollection of the smell, which made me nauseous as it was early in the morning of the tour. I don't know how the employees could be around that all day every day! Could not have been good for their health.

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Absolutely correct that Vulcanite (Vulkanit) is a rubber petrochemical based product. When my collection was housed in my store in a display case with fluorescent lighting, some of the Vulcanite on several screw mount cameras was turning brown. I suspect exposure to UV radiation was causing the problem. I used a car detailing product for preserving and restoring the black appearance of door seals, dashes and tires on the Vulcanite with good success. I think the product I used was called Back to Black. Currently I think Maguires makes the best of these types of rubber treatments.

When Vulcanite was applied new to the body shells in the factory it was heated to make it pliable to help it conform to the body shape. I believe some type of shellac was applied to the body shell to promote adhesion of the Vulcanite. I think perhaps Jerzy could give some insight here.

At the time, it was considered to be a improvement over the leather coverings used by other camera companies. If you look at older Contax cameras with leather covering, they show wear and discoloration and some also exhibit "Zeiss Disease" where chemical interaction between the leather covering and the metal underneath causes bumps to appear on the body shell. I have also seen reports about the leather body covering on the first Nikon rangefinders being carcinogenic due to the tanning salts used then and not being cleared properly!

Keep in mind that the Leica I is over 90 years old. These cameras have held up remarkably well all things considered. Leica used Vulcanite from 1925 to 1984 with the introduction of a vinyl covering being used on the M6. I have seen many M cameras with beautiful Vulcanite which looked like it just came out of the factory, as well as some where the covering is brittle and coming off in sheets. Interestingly, some of the best preserved Vulcanite I have seen is the "Sharkskin" type used for a short period in the late 40's. It is also apparent that Leitz made some change to the Vulcanite being used from the original Model I cameras to the later IIIf, IIIg and M cameras.

 

Thanks Bill. I rarely get cosmetic improvements made to vintage cameras and I tend to leave them as they are. I generally only buy cameras in quite good condition and I also stay away from re-painted or re-chromed cameras, as original condition is largely what I am looking for. I will, over time, get a CLA done to every camera that needs it, but I have more than enough vintage models to play around with while I am waiting.

 

William

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My camera was delivered today after its CLA, as you can see, it is brown and patchy, I think it looks wonderful. :)

 

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My camera was delivered today after its CLA, as you can see, it is brown and patchy, I think it looks wonderful. :)

 

attachicon.gifcamera.jpg

 

This fits into the 'age range' for covering turning brown. There must have been something in the coverings or dyes used in that period that caused them to go brown with age.

 

William

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Some cameras I do own or had access to seem to have patches of decoloration predominantly in areas where the photographer‘s fingers would rest for extended periods of time. Thus the effect may be augmented by a vulnerability of certain vulcanite formulas to ingredients of human sweat (mostly water, minerals, lactate, urea and trace metals). The effect‘s intensity may thus have been modified by climate conditions, intensity of usage and owner’s idiosyncrasies.

 

Kind regards

Mathias

Edited by schattenundlicht
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Some cameras I do own or had access to seem to have patches of decoloration predominantly in areas where the photographer‘s fingers would rest for extended periods of time. Thus the effect may be augmented by a vulnerability of certain vulcanite formulas to ingredients of human sweat (mostly water, minerals, lactate, urea and trace metals). The effect‘s intensity may thus have been modified by climate conditions, intensity of usage and owner’s idiosyncrasies.

 

Kind regards

Mathias

 

Matthias, 

 

I had something very similar. I found it was much improved by using automobile leather and vinyl cleaner (Simoniz). I applied with a very soft toothbrush, small amounts at a time with a lot of gentle brushing and then well cleaned off with a damp (but not wet) Spontex kitchen sponge cleaning cloth, rinsing the sponge cloth in hot water frequently. This at least restored a uniform brown appearance to the vulcanite. I will post a photo tomorrow to show the results after one application of Simoniz rubber restorer. I think it would benefit from two more applications. Certainly a lot better than my 1C Standard, where a previous owner had painted the damaged vucanite with black nail varnish. The vulcanite was irretrievable so it now has Hugo Studio embossed black kid leather on it. 

 

Wilson

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