Cellulose Acetate

[keithncsu]

Looking for a little help/wisdom/historical info. 1-2 years ago I made a pen from some vintage cellulose acetate and it turned out great. One of my favorite pens and I never intended to part with it. Problem is I have a family member who loves it and wants to purchase it as a gift for their boss. She knows it is a rare material and wants me to write up something to give with the pen explaining it.

That leads me here. I know it is a vintage material from the 20s-30s and that it is no longer produced and therefore rare. But outside of that, what else is there? Why did it become rare? Was it that new technology/materials/processes came along that made a better/cheaper/more durable product? Being that I never intended to have to explain it, I never really looked into the details. I just loved the look of the blank and made myself a pen. That was the extent of it for me.

Any info the wisdom of the minds here could shed would be great appreciated!

Thanks,

 

[Penultimate]

Someone can probably give you a better explanation but here is a starter. Cellulose acetate is a plant based material that uses a plasticizer to harden it. It is still used in pens and other items like screwdriver handles. It can be extruded or cast.

If you could post a photo someone may be able to identify which pen brand used it. For example, maybe Parker used it in their vacumatics.


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[keithncsu]

Someone can probably give you a better explanation but here is a starter. Cellulose acetate is a plant based material that uses a plasticizer to harden it. It is still used in pens and other items like screwdriver handles. It can be extruded or cast.

If you could post a photo someone may be able to identify which pen brand used it. For example, maybe Parker used it in their vacumatics.


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Thanks! Below is the link to the thread I posted in SOYP.
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/vintage-cellulose-acetate-146875/

 

[Fred Bruche]

Don't quote me on this, but I believe cellulose acetate, like Galalith (the original milk casein-based plastic), has the distinctive inconvenience that it can't be molded, thus fell out of favor over other types of plastic for industrial or mass production purposes.

 

[Scissortail Pens]

Don't they still make eyeglass frames from this? I seem to have read or saw something about it a while back and they were making frames from extruded sheets of it. Of course with the way my mind works anymore, it might have been a dream or something else entirely.

 

[keithncsu]

Paraphrasing all of the responses into one general though is pretty much what I had come up with in my mind. Some of the specific details helped to focus it a little. Hoping to see if there are any other takes on this. I'm actually glad that it is starting to look like I wasn't the only one! Almost like we all jumped on something that is vintage/rare and not really understand why it is vintage/rare but just looks cool and we ran with it.

 

[Shock me]

Don't they still make eyeglass frames from this? I seem to have read or saw something about it a while back and they were making frames from extruded sheets of it. Of course with the way my mind works anymore, it might have been a dream or something else entirely.

https://www.warbyparker.com/how-our-glasses-are-made

 

[mrburls]

This material is hard to come by and especially in larger diameters for some of the medium size pen kits. It's also used by some of the members for kitless pens. Most of the material finds it's way here from Europe. The blanks or rods of this material was made on a mandrel. This is why there is already a hole in blank. You can see the spiral pattern in the blank as they wrapped material around mandrel if you look closely.
There is no need to paint inside of blank or the tubes when using this material. It also polishes up beautiful compared to some of the newer blanks today. Has much more depth and brilliant color.
Now if you take a look in some of the pen collector books out there, you will see some of the same material with patterns and colors used by some of the famous pen making companies. Parker was one of them among others.
Keith

 

[magpens]

Keith,

Thank you for posting those comments about this material

 

[Penultimate]

Greetings
Eastman is the largest supplier of cellulose acetate in the US.
https://www.eastman.com/Products/Pa...egoryName=Cellulose+Esters-Cellulose+Acetates


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[Jontello]

https://youtu.be/6Jpi6gtSdmk

Watch the video and it will explain the process.

 

[Fred Bruche]

My slimline entry for the 2019 BASH was a cellulose acetate blank. It came as a tube with an inside diameter that was very close to a perfect fit to glue a slimline tube, so I took that as a sign Very unique blanks for sure, pretty easy to work with and to finish.

 

[MikeinSC]

Greetings
Eastman is the largest supplier of cellulose acetate in the US.

Eastman doesn't sell a finished product. And if you want to get any, you'll be buying by the pallet. And from a different company. I've been down this road before.

 

[bmachin]

The YouTube video linked to is about the production of a different material, celluloid, which is nitrocellulose. It's another great pen material, difficult to find, which produces flammable shavings (guncotton).

Bill

 

[Penultimate]

Greetings

Eastman is the largest supplier of cellulose acetate in the US.

Eastman doesn't sell a finished product. And if you want to get any, you'll be buying by the pallet. And from a different company. I've been down this road before.

Hi Mike
Yes, thanks for the clarification. Some of the subsidiaries of the company I work for purchase a lot of Eastman Cellulose acetate pellets. The subs extrude their own rod profiles.


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