Gap-filling materials for Bakelite

Heather Thomas <calluna [at] bulldoghome__com> writes

>I am looking for research and information on suitable fillers to
>repair a Bakelite box. I have successfully used Paraloid B72 to
>repair a crack, but there is still a chip out of the lid that needs
>filling. (The Paraloid seems to cause no problems to the material,
>but the xylene used to tidy overspill seems to have removed what is
>possibly degradation product.) The fill must be able to be coloured,
>either with pigments or over painted.

Put in simple terms Bakelite was produced using phenol resin and
wood flour.

It would not be difficult to reproduce the material since we have
manufacturers notes held in British archives. Organic pigments could
be added to the mixture to achieve the required colour. Some
experimentation will be necessary as it will change tone as the
mixture cures.

A good study of bakelite manufacturers is given in

    Tilson, B. (1999)
    The development of the British Plastics Industry 1855 to 1990.
    University of Birmingham, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.

Jake Kaner
School of Design and Craft
Buckinghamshire New University
High Wycombe HP11 2JZ
UK


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:26
                 Distributed: Sunday, November 2, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-26-010
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