Bakelite

For discussion of fitting and shaping stems, doing inlays, and any other stem-related topic.
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JHowell
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Bakelite

Post by JHowell »

Does anyone out there have a background in chemistry/polymers, or an interest in collaborating on small-scale bakelite production?
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Tyler
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Post by Tyler »

Jack,

I am interested. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering, but I'm not sure it would be of any value. I don't use it any more, and I'm not sure how much of it I have retained...closer to none than anything probably. :)

At any rate, I'm interested in at least learning what you have in mind, and I'd like to get my hands on some to play with for stems.

Tyler
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JHowell
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Post by JHowell »

Well, here's the deal. Bakelite is made from phenolic resin, formaldehyde, and sulfuric acid. Heating those together in the appropriate proportion yields a prepolymer which can be molded or cast under further heating to create the cross-links that yields the final polymer. There are other ingredients that add color, flexibility, heat resistance, and whatever other properties are necessary. Those other ingredients are, I presume, present in the proprietary material that was first Bakelite and then Catalin. I don't know what those ingredients are. Formaldehyde is really nasty stuff, and dealing with the fumes may prove to be the final obstacle, but one could make enough polymer in a test tube for one stem, given proper knowledge of what sort of pigments and plasticizers to add. That's the sort of info I am looking for.

It seems odd that there is such demand for vintage Bakelite jewelry, yet no current production. I suspect that the environmental and health objections are the reason, but I still wonder if some company that specializes in custom polymers couldn't be paid to recreate Bakelite rod, if it turns out that home production is impossible/illegal.
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Tyler
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Post by Tyler »

Jack,

I'm not sure how many hours I might have to do anything with this, but I do have access to a high school chem. lab. complete with a hood for working with toxic materials. Honestly, my interest would probably lie more in finding a place to make the stuf than do it myself, but if we find out that it is not too time intensive, I'd be willing to give something a go.

Tyler
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JHowell
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Post by JHowell »

random wrote:I'd be interested in playing with a chunk to get a feel for its properties. Once you guys get production going and Tyler is selling it, please let me know. <g>
It's lovely stuff, harder than ebonite but softer than acrylic, polishes beautifully, takes on an attractive patina. It's unobtanium, though -- I lucked into a couple of feet of it and haven't found any more. Dealing with formaldehyde is a difficulty, but not so much as discovering how to manipulate its properties -- from what I read, the unalloyed polymer is rather brittle. Making the prepolymer is a fairly common lab exercise in college organic chemistry classes. What we need is some source of information for the commercial process.
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