So I have been intrigued by vintage brushes, especially due to the butterscotch thread. My question is, what is the difference between celluloid and Bakelite, how can you tell, and which one is the better material?
vintage brush: celluloid v. bakelite
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Bakelite is a form of early plastic, it was common from the 20s-40s. Celluloid was another early plastic made in the late 1800s, but was really only used from about 1900-1930 (and was entirely gone by the 40s).
If you sand the material with like 1200 grit paper and water and the slurry is brown then its bakelite, if it smells like camphor its celluloid. Bakelite is probably 'better' only because its more stable - celluloid can rot and is really flammable
If you sand the material with like 1200 grit paper and water and the slurry is brown then its bakelite, if it smells like camphor its celluloid. Bakelite is probably 'better' only because its more stable - celluloid can rot and is really flammable
Bakelite is a cross-linked phenol formaldehyde copolymer with filler (can be anything, wood dust, talcum, gypsum, you name it). It is a 'true' synthetic resin.
Celluloid is a modified cellulose (wood polymer, consisting of sugar units). It is made by reacting cellulose with nitric acid, yielding cellulose nitrate, which is chemically similar to gun cotton. It is flammable and chemically instable (although a solid form like a brush handle would not suffer from that too much; early motion pictures (until ca. the 1920s?) are an archival hazard since they may spontaneously disintegrate or even combust).
Hnek
Celluloid is a modified cellulose (wood polymer, consisting of sugar units). It is made by reacting cellulose with nitric acid, yielding cellulose nitrate, which is chemically similar to gun cotton. It is flammable and chemically instable (although a solid form like a brush handle would not suffer from that too much; early motion pictures (until ca. the 1920s?) are an archival hazard since they may spontaneously disintegrate or even combust).
Hnek
Out of these two, I would choose Bakelite - it is harder, stronger and more durable. Also the true celluloid is made of nitrocellulose - gun cotton. This can burn at a very high rate. Old film was made of celluloid and then replaced with cellulose acetate that is non-flammable - safety film.
Celluloid is also credited with saving the elephants whose ivory had been previously used for billiard balls. However, legend has it that tensions rose in saloons in the old West when celluloid billard balls would explode on being hit!
Celluloid is still being used, but mainly in the pen industry. Celluloid is the most prized material for fountain pens and even mechanical pencils. I just bought a celluloid mechanical pencil about a year ago. (Just to let you know that celluloid is not "entirely gone.")
Celluloid is still being used, but mainly in the pen industry. Celluloid is the most prized material for fountain pens and even mechanical pencils. I just bought a celluloid mechanical pencil about a year ago. (Just to let you know that celluloid is not "entirely gone.")
its still used in modern tennis balls - but for the purposes of straight scales and brush handles im comfortable with saying entirely gone
It isn't like gun cotton; nitrocellulose is gun cotton. You take nitrocellulose and add to that camphor and ethanol, plus any dyes and stabilizers you want, to yield celluloid. That's why celluloid smells like camphor and is rather flammable.
