Thread: Reinforcing a cracked celluloid scale

Hi guys,

I knew it was risky, but I decided to unpin my newly acquired Robeson. Sadly, the hinge pin was secretly bent, and I couldn't get it out without creating a super thin crack in one scale. This crack only goes from the pin hole out to one side of the scale, and it doesn't seem to be broken all the way through. Other than that, everything cleaned up nicely, and I would love to use the original scales.

Does anybody know if I can reinforce the scale so that the crack doesn't turn into a break further down the road?

Thanks

Try just a speck of super glue to seep into the crack, this should seal as well as reinforce/strengthen.

Had the same thing. Super glue at the back of the scales helped.

There's a chance that super glue contains acetone and may actually melt the area where it's applied to celluloid. I've had great success melting scrap celluloid that matches the color of the location I want to transplant it. Once it gets nice and melted, you can apply is like putty to the area and let it dry. Once dried, sand as usual to level the scales out.

I once took a back scale that had broken in the center and tried epoxy. It held for a time but broke loose when I was stropping. I took contact cement (definitely contains Acetone) and applied that and it fused the two halves together and so far it has been holding even when stropping or whatever.

I also tried epoxy and it didn't hold but super glue worked just fine. I had to repair a broken scale with an insignia (Crown & Sword) and replace a broken scale. The hole didn't line up in the replacement scale. I drilled a new hole, filled in the old hole with super glue, when it dried real well sanded it down. Fixed the broken scale with super glue also. You could barely tell where the hole was or where the broken scale was repaired.........the customer was very happy with the results.