Advice on Rubber Conservation

[Matt L]

Hi guys,

Does anyone have any experience with rubber? I just got a nice SlfZF1a gun sight- the sight used by all the Sturmgeschütze, the Ferdinand/Elefant, Hornisse/Nashorn, Jagdpanther, and Hetzer- and it is complete with rubber brow pad and eyecup. The rubber is a bit tough- it's not brittle or cracking or anything, but it could be softer. I'd like to 'condition' it if that's possible. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

Matt

[Rich G]

Matt

i'm not sure if you can treat old rubber. I'd imagine it would be a case of preventing it from gettin worse rather than making it better.

Rich

[AndyD]

I'm not sure if this will work but,the manufacturers of a pressure cooker we own recommend giving the rubber gasket/seal a light coating of olive oil every now and then to keep it supple.
As I say I don't know if it would work but you never know!
Kind regards,
Andy

[GJR100]

Hi Matt,

As far I as know Richard is correct. The softeners that were in the rubber have disappeared and can't be re-applied.
I was told the only thing you can do is use talc-powder to slowdown the process.

MfG,
Bart

[Matt L]

Thankyou gentlemen- I'll give the oil a try. After you mentioned it Andy, I recall that the restorers of the Bf109G 'Black 6' soaked the airplane's tires and fuel tank in WD40 to 'bring them back to life'- so I'll give the olive oil a shot first (I expect it'd be a tad gentler than penetrating oil) and see how it goes. I've never heard of using talcum powder to inhibit the drying of rubber, but I'll give that a shot too. Thanks again.

Matt

[Albert]

Be careful with olive oil

Dear all,

Please be careful with treating rubber with olive oil. It can cause rubber to swell. This indeed can work well with cooking pot gaskets by softening them and giving them some extra volume.

In old and already cracked rubber items the swelling can cause even further damage by enlarging the cracks.

Of cours it would help to know exactly what kind of "rubber" was used but as a rule of thumb olive oil causes rubber / EPDM to swell.

Best regards,

Al