Thread: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Celluloid (but was afraid to find out...)

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

The only thing I can find wrong with this is the shrinkage factor. I have seen the stuff made, and it shrinks enormously. The bolsters appear to be pre-drilled or pressed holes, made before attaching to the scales. If so they are gambling with the two scale halves shrinking at exactly the same rate and keeping more or less the same shape, otherwise the holes would not line up.

This has to be correct. The material would have to be hard set prior to drilling holes I would certainly think. The odds of the holes lining up for perfect alignment after any shrinkage are astronomical. We all know how much a tenth of a millimeter can affect our alignment, and we're talking about a piece ~130mm in length, after shrinkage. Would be interesting to know just how much volume is lost during this drying process...

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Maybe the mould itself had 'stubs' that the pre-drilled holes in the metal bolsters fitted onto and which held them in place, but then we have to explain how the metal foil logo was kept in place. Maybe a thin solvent-rich coat of cellulose was dabbed onto the parts, like a thin glue, and this became absorbed into the celluloid once it was pressed.

EDIT: Ah! I understand, what I had typed just now was simply an overly complicated version of what you state above. Brilliance!