[Nhcoll-l] old glass containers

[John E Simmons]

Paul is right, don't try to pry the lid off silicon. Once the lid has been
removed, you can scrape the silicon off with a blade, then use a silicon
release agent (which you can buy at a hardware store) to get the remaining
silicon off of the glass before you apply a new gasket.

John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 6:36 PM, Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu> wrote:

>  It looks as though your lids have been glued on with clear silicone
> caulk. This can stick to old glass like crazy and makes getting the lid off
> tricky. Rather than trying to dissolve it or pull the lid off, my
> recommendation would be to cut through the silicone all round with a fine
> model-makers's saw or an X-acto knife with a long blade.
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [
> nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] on behalf of Nancy Glover McCartney [
> nmccartn at uark.edu]
> *Sent:* Friday, March 20, 2015 2:54 PM
> *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] old glass containers
>
>    I have several old glass containers housing fish, herps, inverts, etc.
> that are getting very low on fluid. I expect the containers are pretty
> brittle, as a gar with a giant lobster broke with almost no provocation and
> spewed formalin all over: not a process I want to repeat.  I don't have any
> idea what these specimens are stored in.
>
> I have attached a few pix of fish and the screw down tops that appear to
> have parafilm  or an ancient rubber around the lid; some of the smaller
> containers have what may be beeswax holding in a stopper.
>
> Should I attempt to open and replace fluid?  If so, how? What precautions?
>
> An earlier query 10 years or so ago said just to leave them alone, but
> maybe there is different advice now.
>
> I'd appreciate some doable suggestion.
>
> My thanks in advance, as always.
>
> Nancy Glover McCartney, PhD
> Curator of Zoology
> UA Collections Facility
> 120 BIOMASS
> University of Arkansas
> 2435 Hatch
> Fayetteville AR 72701
>
> Phone: 479-575-4370
> Fax: 479-575-7464
>
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