Thread: White celluloid?

The difference between then and now I guess..."This stuff can catch fire just sitting on the shelf," "Really?", "yes", "Well just build a fire department next to the building".

I have - accidentally! - set fire to old celluloid scales by drilling out a stuck pin - the camphor holds it back a bit, but once it starts it means business and merrily resists attempts to put it out, other than throwing it in a bucket of water.

I used to make ambrotypes, etc, on glass plates by flowing collodion onto them and sensitizing with lunar caustic. Collodion is made in nearly the same way as celluloid - you nitrate cotton wool then dissolve it in a mixture of ether and alcohol, so I thought I save some money and make my own. Big mistake. The cotton wool caught during nitrification - good job it was wet - instead of an explosion the room filled with billows of orange, acidic smoke. Makes good paint stripper.

the wife still thinks I really wanted to redecorate...

Regards,
Neil

Yowsa! Nothing like the smell of agent orange in the mornin' Did she let you tinker with any "projects" for a while after that one?

I tried to straighten some old Cell scales in hot salt once! Whoosh!
NOTHING burns like hot celluloid! In 10 seconds the inlay was lying there, perfect as punch!

Burrell blades are the BEST! Burrell scales are...well... the WORST! JMO

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If I were going to make scales of something other than a natural material it would be some form of acrylic.

I'm with Jimmy here.
You can get various white acrylics but if you want celluloid these guys will make it :
American Art Plastics

A day in Neil's shop would be one helluva ride folks!

Originally Posted by tiddle

A day in Neil's shop would be one helluva ride folks!

The wise would politely decline any such invitation.

Makes me remember the time I built a reflux condenser to leach out spike oil from lavender to make sandarac varnish with. The thing was cobbled together and had alcohol in the bottom of it. The idea was to place a 100w bulb under it, the alcohol would warm up and give off fumes that would envelop the muslin bag of lavender suspended in it, dissolving the oil, then rise up the column of the condenser which had water pipe wrapped around it - flowing water in the pipe would precipitate the alcohol and it would return, with the spike oil, to the bottom of the condenser.

Anyway, I set it all up, left it for a couple of hours and returned to see how it was going. Nothing. The bottle (bottom of the condenser) was barely warm. I was so annoyed I played the bunsen burner on it to get it going - crack! - it wasn't a pyrex bottle after all. No wonder I got it cheap. I didn't know whether to run or beat out the raging fire. Tool-love got the better of me and I stayed to put it out. Burnt all the hair off my arms and singed the hair on my head. Warmed the shed up a treat, though.

Don't say you haven't been warned!

Regards,
Neil

Reminds of a still, Neil! Spike oil lavenender, yeah. I do think the alchohol part is accurate! Tom

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Reminds of a still, Neil! Spike oil lavenender, yeah. I do think the alchohol part is accurate! Tom

I have no idea what you are suggesting Tom, being brought up by nuns and me being a founder member of the local temperance society. Shame on you!

I hereby nominate Neil as the SRP official guinea pig! That's cool Neil, wouldn't mind helping to figure out how to blow sh!* up; that's 3/4 of the fun man!