Spade Grip Material…

Hmmm…

Thanks for the insight showing Leica approach to this, P&P

Seems a right pain in the b#tt using vulcanite though, would be a lot easier to apply if the material was supple to begin with, but shrink and go brittle when heated…

Know of such thing?

Stu…

Evidence in camera

Ha!

Yes, spade grips as well…

Hows it put on then, a separate sheet thats cut and glued on or sprayed/dipped?

Have a look here for vulcanite replacement on Leica cameras :

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/vulcanite.html

Lucky for you in the UK, but long waiting list ! I have always wondered about this material.
I have a 1935 BSA spade grip in hand ( Hawker Demon), after reading about the Leica approach I can now see that the spade grip vulcanite portion has been painstakingly covered with 1-2 inch rectangular patches worked around the grip body, seam meeting on the underside. From the Leica story it appears that each strip of Vulcanite was hand worked around the grip body and merged into the next while still hot and ‘plastic’.

If you manage to convince this gentleman to make up a ‘spadegrip’ texture pattern and have a go at your grip, please let me know, so I can have mine recovered. Where the vulcanite has come away from my grip I can see that BSA has scored the steel to allow better grip. I also think where it has come away is consistent with the grip was held…much like the steering wheel on my car it tells a story of countless hours of mind numbing patrol work…I wonder if I should cover this up ?

Ha!

Yes, spade grips as well…

Hows it put on then, a separate sheet thats cut and glued on or sprayed/dipped?

And spade grips

Vulcanite, I would have thought it too brittle to stay put on something that would be handled every day and would afford very little grip…

Also there is a patterned texture to the all the ones I’ve seen and look a very even coating, according to WIKI it is or was used for battery cases, electric plugs and pipe mouth pieces…

Hi Stu

It’s vulcanite

If the covering just has damage I always repair mine with milliput. Once applied it takes a good while to harden and so cam be fashioned to match the original covering. I have done a good few grips now and you would be hard pushed to tell I had touched them. It always breaks my heart when you see a grip with damaged covering and the owner strips it off and covers it with string or electrical type tape.

I could ask Monday, RR had their stick reannodised and recovered, could ask.

.