Posted by philip on May 08, 2001 at 18:02:34:
In Reply to: Removal of adhesive from camera case posted by JP Mose on May 08, 2001 at 08:46:04:
: My question isn't related to any specific camera model
: but I know a lot of you are expert on restoration. I
: have a tan leather camera bag from the 50's that had a
: name badge on it. Upon removal, some of the gum (or
: sticky substance) remains on the leather, along with
: appearing darker or the equivilent of this leather when
: it is wet or with conditioner applied to it. Any
: suggestions on how to remove this sticky substance
: without damaging the leather. It should be noted that
: the leather has a slight shine to the finish but does
: not appear to have a coating on it (in other words
: there is a porosity to it which allows for darkening
: when wet but not to the extreme of suede). Thanks for
: your help.
I'm not an expert on camera repair in the slightest, but leather working I have a little more knowledge about. You have a case that is "vegetable tanned" leather & it's really durable stuff. If you can find a local boot shop or fine shoe store, they can help you with this. The darkening of the leather is actually the real color of the leather itself, not the color of the adhesive. It will never come out because the leather under the label has aged differently than the leather exposed to the elements. Sunlight caused the rest of the case to lighten in color while the area under the label was shielded & stayed very close to the original color. I used to have this problem when restoring saddles.