Here’s a little trick I was shown many years ago. The binding is typically Acetate Celluloid plastic… nice thing about Acetate is how rapidly it is dissolved by acetone.. no smoking for this procedure or the last thing your wife sees of you, after she pops in to see what the BOOM! was, is your charred butt flying through the air over your neighbor’s house.
Often there will be a gap or two, somewhere that just will not close. Take a small section of the binding and soak it in the acetone for a few minutes. It will swell up into a gooey glop of filler.
it doesn’t take long…. Now just apply it as though you were filling flaws in the wood with wood filler…
Allow it to dry… it’ll take several hours…. Sand… and bingo… no more gap…
Now a little sanding, and on to the real color….
Ron Kirn