I've inherited a 1926 made 4x5 RB and it has the usual aged shutter curtains. I've read just about everything here I could find about the shutter ( which is lots!) and wanted to make sure I had all the right materials on hand before I start taking it apart.

As far as I can tell, I'll need a strip of shutter cloth about 0.008" thick, 6" wide and 6' long. Will I need any shutter tape? If so, what size/width? Anything else I'll need to do the rebuild?

I've seen mention made of a set of instructions to do this, would it be possible to get a copy of those?

I'm used to working with small precision things on my model railroad, so I'm sure a shutter will be within my skills, as long as I know what I'm doing.

I would strip and recoat the existing curtain unless the base material is bad over making a new curtain.

Post your email address here or send it to me in a private message.\ for the SLR servicing information.

45PSS wrote:

I would strip and recoat the existing curtain unless the base material is bad over making a new curtain. Post your email address here or send it to me in a private message.\ for the SLR servicing information.

Hi 45PSS, how would a strip & recoat work? I have an 8x10 graflex shutter that I would like to fix the shutter curtain on. The cloth is wrinkled and stiff. Thanks!

Place a section of the curtain, on or off the rollers, in a glass pan coated side up and cover with Lacquer Thinner and let set 1 to 3 minutes. Wearing rubber gloves, latex work well, stripping gloves deteriorate quickly, stand a flat edge wallboard/putty knife 3 inch to 5 inch wide on end and keeping perpendicular to the curtain scrape the curtain going length wise wiping the goo off on a suitable surface such as old newsprint until all of the old coating is removed then move on to the next section. A little left around the aperture stays will not hurt anything.
I use a small rectangular Pyrex glass backing pan.
Once the curtain is stripped wash it in warm soapy water then rinse thoroughly. Fabric softener free laundry detergent or dish detergent works well. Hang to air dry. When dry iron with an iron on Silk setting if wrinkled.