What is Bakelite?
Bakelite is another name for phenolic resin, early form of plastic. Today, objects made of bakelite are considered highly collectible, although on their famous days at the age of 30 and 40. Year 1901. Baekeland spent several years working on a durable coating for stripes of bowling streets, similar to today's protective polyurethane flooring. Combined carbolic acid and formaldehyde to form phenolic resin. This resin would remain spilled long enough to relate to the hardwood floor, but after curing it became insoluble and impermeable. Dr. Baekeland patented this early plastic form and founded its own Bakelite Corporation around 1910 to sell it by heavy industry and car. Bakelite could be used for electrical insulators or as an insulating coating for connecting cars.
After ten years of primarily Bakelite industrial applications, he soon entered the consumer market. Thomas Edison used this as a base for his early commercial phonographic records. It was also used to create pool balls and as decorative handles for cutlery and hand mirrors. Bakelite could be melted and poured into lead molds to form glasses of drinking, floral vases, musical instruments and other consumer goods. It replaced the earlier, flammable form of plastic called celluloid.
Bakelite products were often not mass produced by the process of injection. Craftsmen who wanted to create jewelry or other decorative objects would order them in the form of rollers or blocks. Powered hand tools and grinders would allow craftsmen to carve individual pieces for further sale. Bakelite jewelry has become rage among fashion consumers, but its relatively low costs were also popular among the general public runninghem depression. In 1927, the original patent expired and the rights to the process were bought by a company called Catalin. Manufacturers have learned how to add a full range of colors to resin and bakelite-katalin was still popular until the end of the 40th year.
Finally, Bakelite-Catalin's process of intensive work proved to be his demise. After World War II, mass production became the buzzing of the plastic industry and this early form has become a pleasant memory. Collectors today appreciate the patina and versatility. However, ruthless sellers tried to sell other plastic items such as authentic bakelite. One authenticity test is called a hot pin test. Interested buyers should find an inconspicuous area of the object and use a heated pin. True Bakelite releases a distinctive smell melts, very similar to the smell of burnt human hair. If the pin melts the object, but no formaldehyde/burnt hair odor is found, it is most likely imitated.