Fixing Old Bakelite Grips?

C

Classic_Cool

Regular
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Location
BC
I'm guessing they're bakelite anyway. Just picked up a British Enfield "Tanker" pistol, mailed to my door. Finish is kind of dull, but a nice little wartime revolver.

I immediately noticed a hairline crack in the corner of one grip. It came from a guide peg hole on the inside surface. Left unchecked it won't be long before the whole chunk comes off.

Any thoughts about gluing it or something?
 
Classic_Cool- Epoxy may be the answer although by the sound of your description you may want to sand/grind a bit off the inside and epoxy a thin strip of aluminum or brass over the problem area to reinforce it.

I started looking through my digital back issues of Rifle Magazine and there is an article in the July 2010 issue in Gil Sengle's "Light Gunsmithing" series on repairing horn trigger guards etc. which also covers some plastics. I'll see if I can extract the relevant pages from the .pdf I have and send to the OP by PM.

:) Stuart
 
Last edited:
Bakelite is an early form of plastic. Epoxy is your friend. Likely would be easier if the bit did break off, but try one of the syringe style epoxy applicators.
 
Some 5 minute epoxy thinned with a couple drops of pure alcohol will suck up in a syringe fairly well. You can then try to spread the crack as much as you dare and get that epoxy in there from the inside. Thinning will also help the epoxy wick into the crack. The bad part is that your 5 minute epoxy will take a day or so to set up properly :)
 
Josquin kindly share the article should you find it. I had someone supposedly with some chemical experience/education tell me once that Crazy Glue is the best for bakelite repairs but came across an internet posting that was totally contrary ... so I don't know and have not yet attempted to re-glue the cracked grip.
 
15567 said:
Josquin kindly share the article should you find it. I had someone supposedly with some chemical experience/education tell me once that Crazy Glue is the best for bakelite repairs but came across an internet posting that was totally contrary ... so I don't know and have not yet attempted to re-glue the cracked grip.
Click to expand...

I don't think there is a way to post the .pdf here (?) but if you'll pm me your e-mail address I'll send it to you. :)
 
Regarless of which glue you use first of all you'll want to flush out the crack to remove any and all oil that might be in there. And this means FLUSH, not simply wet it down and hope for the best. Try a spot on the back side to see if brake cleaner affects it. If it's OK then this is a great solvent for removing the oil. But you may need to slightly spread open the crack. If you can't do that without breaking it off then repeatedly wet it down and wick it away with a paper towel. Repeat a good dozen or more times so it fully removes any oil.

A couple of years back I did a CA repair on a set of old Iver Johnson grips that seemed like they were Bakelite. I used the thin watery stuff I got from a good hobby shop. But it was a long time back and my mind might be playing tricks on me.

If you go with epoxy instead of thinning it with alcohol try using a heat gun or hotter hair dryer. It'll thin the epoxy until it'd darn near like water and wick into the finest of cracks with just a very little flexing of the material to encourage the heat thinned epoxy to pump itself into the crack.

The nice thing about using the epoxy is that you KNOW it'll work since it's neutral and has no solvents at all.
 
I had a set of grips with a hairline crack on a Beretta Jaguar. I couldn't find an OEM set, and I tried a number of aftermarket companies that advertised vintage grips. After several disappointments, I gave them to a friend of mine that owns a plastics company.

He cast a set that matched the originals right down to mimicking the hairline crack. I don't know what he would charge for such a thing, but PM me if you're interested, and I can forward his info.
 
I busted the corner off of one of the grips on my TT-33 and used a version of super glue you get at hobby stores. It was a medium thickness so doesn't set as fast as regular super glue so you can give the piece a little wiggle before it sets to make sure it's in there tight.
 
Grind the crack out on the BACK side of the grip with a pencil tip dremml , don't get carried away with this . You want the crack to be wider , not deeper . Try for a v notch along the length of the crack , with the v ending halway through the cracks depth ( don't go to deep ) then break out the epoxy , jb or 5 min. is just fine . Make sure the epoxy has God overlap on both sides of the crack . I don't like to spread the crack as I'd worry about it running ( getting worse ) . Good luck ! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom