Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/29

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] How to treat and protect old M3 vulcanite?
From: John Collier <jbcollier@home.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 08:02:22 -0600

From the archives:

- ----------
From: "Doug Richardson" <doug@meditor.demon.co.uk>

Subject: [Leica] Re: Vulcanite maintenance

Bill Satterfield <cwsat@cyberhighway.net> wrote:

>I just purchased a M5 and the covering looks almost new. I just want
to
keep it that way. Looks like lemon oil will leave an oily surface-
something I do not want.

I apply the stuff, leave it on overnight, then wipe the vulcanite dry
using soft kitchen tissue. The vulcanite rapidly returns to its normal
appearance, and the camera does not feel oily. Vulcanite is a very
hard and brittle plastic-type material, so I'd imagine it absorbs only
the tiniest amount of the lemon oil.

Whether applying lemon oil actually achieves anything is hard to say
until a few more decades have gone by, but Leica UK once told me that
cameras which are used are less prone to "vulcanite disease" than
those which are not. If they're right, it's possible that the
vulcanite on cameras which are regularly used is absorbing moisture or
natural oils from the user's fingers. So the lemon oil may have a
similar effect.


- ----------------------


> From: Grégoire Vandenschrick <vandenschrick@geog.ucl.ac.be>
> 
> I and my wife were wondering how we could treat and protect the Vulcanite of
> the M3 I offered her in order to stop it crackling
>