The driver golf club from Eisenhower National Historic Site is composed of a varnished wood head, iron shaft, and brown leather grip.

 

The green polyurethane plastic cover around the shaft was extremely degraded causing the brittle material to crack and break. The plastic's inherent material instability would not allow it to be repaired. As it still represented an important aesthetic component to the object, a replica "plastic" covering was created using conservation-grade materials. 

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Replicating the plastic's color, texture, sheen and uniformity required extensive material tests. Casting a mixture of bulked acrylic paint on a smooth surface resulted in a workable "sheet" that was then heat-set around the metal shaft. 

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This treatment represents conservation's important challenge of balancing reversibility, material preservation and accurate visual representation of historical objects. 

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