...Okay, I may putchase a Speed Graphic sometime soon that has a good deal of damage to the leather. I'm looking to replace it and was wondering if there is 1) a source of the leather anywhere, or a good substitute, or; 2) a paint that might do a good job at replicating the pebbly surface of the leather should I decide to cover the camera with something else and paint it. Or, if there is an easy way to remove the leather from a sacraficial camera and re-apply it to the good one? Ideas anyone?

jeff

Moroccan leather is readily available...stripping leather off is fairly easy, but depending on how you intend to
re-finish must be determined up front. Paint or clear natural finishes will not cover up scratched surfaces! I use a paint scraper to remove old leather, holding it in place with a thumb, and rotating it in small arks, to keep from gouging ugly holes!
You will have enough problems removing the leather without any >hopeless< attempt to try to save it, have a garbage can handy for the pile of rubbish you will have left!
The wood underneath is Beautiful Hoduran Mahogany, but to refinish it a'natural, will take longer to finish, than to apply new leather, sanding until the wood is perfectly smooth and imperfection free, plus polishing the brass that must show under your finish coat....lot of patience required here! Replicate the leather with paint, just another ugly camera would be the result!
The old leather if only scuffed, can in many cases be dressed up to look pretty good with a bit of leather dye and some neatsfoot oil.......email me at
bsaunders1@bak.rr.com
if you need more help on the subject....Bert

Actually, I know all about stripping and refinnishing the wood on Speed Graphics... I did exactly that to my first speed, a pre-anniversary with the wooden drop-front and brass parts. Of course at the time, i didnt think I'd be restoring another a year later so the scrap leather got tossed long ago. Finished with 1/3 linseed oil, 1/3 turpentine, 1/3 beeswax so it'll age natrally. Veneered the metal if the back viewer and the metal plate up front so it looks like a 19th century field camera. It is dedicated strictly to my verito portrait lens. THIS one I want to restore as best as possible to it's original appearance to use with my slowly growing collection of lenses... plus I'm very tempted to get into flashbulp photography. So I will look into the moroccan leather. The stuff is pretty thin... can I aquire it that thin anywhere?

jeff

I satified with Mostenblocker's Lift Off #2 to remove / disolve adhevsives and the like. If used on the leather, a start edge would have to be established and then small strips per application or score the leather over a larger area then saturate. Other removers such as GOO Gone and Goof Off leave a hard to remove residue that prevents other adhevsies from sticking so I'm sure they would cause problems with paints or varnish.
Charles

_________________
While a picture may be worth a thousand words, a quality photograph is worth a million.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2002-11-05 18:52 ]</font>

Well I guess a good followup question--now that I have won the camera--would be if anyone has any experience removing the focal plane shutter plates without completely taking apart the mechanism? This is the anniversary Speed Graphic and I fortunately have the Graflex parts list and manual, so I can see the basics and have an idea what I'm getting into. I want to be able to remove the external plates for refinishing if the condition is bad enough, rather than try and do it with the plates in place.

jeff