Hi all,

Just took delivery of an elderly Speed Graphic generally in ok condition but the leather on nearly every surface has shrunk, especially on the drop bed and the focus hood.

Assuming that leather shrinks when dry is there a remedy to 'swell' it back into shape, like gentle wetting or ferocious steaming (just kidding with the last one) or maybe numerous doses of leather conditioner?

All replies received with thanks.

Cheers,
Bruce
http://graflex.coffsbiz.com

Generally this is caused by extreme humidity or outright wetness. It doesn't shrink from being dry, but from being wet for a long period, then drying. It's doubtful you can save it. If you do steam it and try to stretch it, I suspect it will disintegrate. You might want to consider a visit to the Camera Leather website to see what's available. Is the camera itself damaged? Be wary of loose box joints and such before you go too far.

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for the reply...shows what I know about leather. I'd better join an S&M club!

From what I can see by peering into all the corners the mahogany seems fine, no swelling or conversely, looseness. The lens is clean, front and rear shutters work well, the rangefinder is good and all movements are as they should be.

The body leather itself isn't too bad at all, it's pretty much just the front and back (focus hood) that have the problem.

Renewing the leather on the rear is not a problem as it's flat but the drop bed leather looks difficult to do well and I have seen some BAD replacement attempts. Anyone got that one worked out?

Cheers,
Bruce
http://graflex.coffsbiz.com

Bruce, though the leather on the door looks like it would need to be molded, I've found that with real leather, this is not the case. I just did one that had the same problems on both ends. Just for giggles I used red leather, stuck down with Pliobond. It looks perfect, just red. It was very easy to get it to mold to the shape of the front door. I don't believe leatherette products would work as well, but I don't know. I got my leather from a S.F. 49ers jacket I found at a yard sale. A tad thick for some things, but I've used it to cover several cameras. Cheers!

Thanks Glenn, I feel encouraged now!

Many thanks,
Bruce
http://graflex.coffsbiz.com

http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-00399-Pledge-Furniture-Polish/dp/B000LUTVYA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1264537453&sr=1-5

works wonders on dried leather, leatherette, and shutter curtains. It will prevent shrinking but probably will not undo shrinking.

glennfromwy wrote:

I got my leather from a S.F. 49ers jacket I found at a yard sale.

Now that football season is (almost) over, there should be lots of cast-off team jackets out there. Around here they would be Phila. Eagle jackets; great if you need green leather!

Hi all,

I tried a thick 'horsey' leather conditioner (called ReVitalize) for saddles and reins, applied VERY generously all over the camera leather and left it for 48 hours.

Now the dry, shrunken leather is shiny, full and plump and has expanded to the point of looking practically brand new! The rear door had a gap of around 5mm between the edge of the leather and the edge of the door, now down to 1mm.

I managed to remove the front door leather completely, gave it a good going over with the conditioner and where the leather scarcely reached the edges of the door before, it now wraps over the edges again to where it should be.

I'm stoked!
Bruce
http://graflex.coffsbiz.com

Aha! Great! I'll have to look for some of that stuff. We have lots of horse people around here, so it should be easy to get a lead on it. I know the popular Lexol conditioner has not worked for me on old crispy leather. The times I've tried it, it just makes it fall all apart. Glad you got it fixed!