Before gutta percha I think they were made out of neki hokey. Bill Murphy and I have a friend who was a dental technician in the US navy and made up some buttplates from incredibly detailed sand molds taken from originals. He used a type of soft dental epoxy colored with dyed Acraglass (sp?). Whatever the thermal conversion that occurred during the curing process, they really were indistinguishable from old original plates., even down to the olive-sulpher color He even molded and cast a buttplate for the giant #7 frame 8 ga. Parker.
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