Tamron leather barrel grips - source?

[martyn_bannister]

Hi all, back in the 70's the Tamron range of adaptall lenses came with a sort of grained leather effect on the barrels.

For example, here

I have seen some where this is clearly a flexible rubber type material, and others where it has, over time, hardened and become brittle. Anyone know of a source for a replacement?

Thanks in advance.

[OM]

I've got an old Vivitar 200/3.5 from Komine which I bought without a grip but it's in lovely condition.
I have been looking to replace the grip and I'm considering buying a piece of self-adhesive leather from Aki Asahi in Japan.

I bought a recovering kit from him a while ago for a Fed 2 rangefinder and his service was excellent.

I am tempted to send him dimensions and it would probably cost less than £15 delivered.

Just a thought

[Scheimpflug]

I've seen that type of texture in the "no-slip" traction tape that is intended to be put on the edges of stair steps... I think most of those are too coarse for your hands, but perhaps some are softer?

[Jesito]

I always look for a piece of thin leather and stick it with two-sided adhesive tape (red tape). It works well. Cutting the leather is easy if you do it with a circular cutter, over a piece of flat glass and with an iron ruler.

Regards.
Jes.

[martyn_bannister]

The reason I asked was that I had captured a Tammy 35-100 on *bay with these grips "loose".

I can confirm that this model at least has rubber grips, but they have lost their elasticity, either through time, exposure to light, or by being glued down with contact cement. I have cleaned them off and soaked them in boiling water to no avail.

I am currently negotiating some self-adhesive leatherette with a well known camera covering firm and I'll let you know how I get on. Would be nice to discover a way to re-elasticise the originals though. Any industrial chemists/rubber engineers out there?

[Scheimpflug]

Would it work to just put some double-sided tape under the original rubber grips?

[martyn_bannister]