Is Bakelite still being produced anywhere in the world?
Just gotta know,
-W-
“Anywhere in the world” is casting quite a wide loop. It is possible that somewhere, someone is making bakelite items.
It is unlikely though, because according to several websites (I used “bakelite” on Yahoo! Search) there is quite an active collectors’ market in bakelite products. Artist(?) Andy Warhol (quite a coincidence, or are you playing a game?) was a apparently a great bakelite fan and had a highly prized collection of bakelight artifacts. It would be strange for collectors to pay much for something that could be easily duplicated in quantity by a manufacturer somewhere.
My pans have bakelite handles, and they’re brand new, so yes.
David Simmons, replicas are worth less than originals in every type of collecting, so saying that something is a collectible doesn’t mean it’s no longer produced.
What is . . . this . . . “bake-light”?!
According to the Britannica, Bakelite is a phenyl-formaldehyde resin and many such plastics are still made and used. Bakelite is a registered trademark of the Union Carbide Corporation.
Of course, the newly made items wouldn’t have to be replicas. But, still, it looks like there is a small (insignificant really) possibility that I might have been wrong.
Do you suppose the sun will rise tomorrow?
Bakelite, otherwise known as phenolic, was the first synthetic polymer, and was named for its inventor, Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland.
It’s a thermosetting polymer formed by reacting phenol and formaldehyde, and was used for many purposes in its heyday, including electrical outlets, telephone bodies, early composite airplane propellers, and radio housings.
It’s still being produced today, though not nearly as widely as it once was; you’re most likely to see it in heat-resistant applications such as handles for pots and pans.
David Simmons, the reason Bakelite artifacts are rare is that it was a material used mostly for utility goods; manufacturers went on to mechanically better plastics like ABS for most of these purposes after WWII, and consumers had no need to keep old radios and phones… they and AT&T just junked them. For non-utility goods, Bakelite was used because it was a novel, technologically-advanced material, and since it was cheaper than ivory or horn. Still, you’d run into the same problem with reproductions of any artifact: it’s not difficult for a collector to tell the difference between something that came out of a mold yesterday and a piece that’s genuine; it holds true for glassware and ceramics, and would as equally hold true for Bakelite.
Edit on preview:
I’d like to add an article that my polymers professor wrote about Leo Baekeland and his legacy. I’m assuming this falls under fair use (he gave it out to our class during a lecture); moderators, let me know if it’s a problem.
Bakelite radios are becoming collectable and sometimes expensive. We’re talking just an AM radio here, too. And they usually don’t even work, at all, until basic repairs have been made.
But if you >really< want to see crazy, check the link here on Catalin radios. Catalin is not bakelite, but oftentimes catalin items are called “bakelite” and there were patent issues as well.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2101352267
$1200 bucks for an AM radio. Check your attic, folks.
This zombie thread is 15 years old. Our beloved David Simmons left this world in 2008.