<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body>
<div style="font-family: Aptos, -apple-system, HelveticaNeue, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">
<div style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_MSFontService, -apple-system, Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" dir="ltr">
Nina,</div>
<div style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_MSFontService, -apple-system, Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" dir="ltr">
I don’t work with vertebrates, so others may have differing opinions about wherher or not one *<b>should</b>* use adhesives for this task, but I am a big fan of Paraloid b-72 as a general purpose museum adhesive. You can vary the tensile strength of it by
the concentration, and it is easily reversible using acetone/ethanol. We use it to repair broken mollusk shells in our collection. </div>
<div style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_MSFontService, -apple-system, Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" dir="ltr">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_MSFontService, -apple-system, Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" dir="ltr">
You may want to swing by your institutuon’s paleo prep lab, I’m sure they have some you could experiment with!</div>
<div style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_MSFontService, -apple-system, Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" dir="ltr">
-Nate</div>
<div style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_MSFontService, -apple-system, Roboto, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" dir="ltr">
<br>
</div>
</div>
<div id="ms-outlook-mobile-body-separator-line" style="font-family: Aptos, -apple-system, HelveticaNeue, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt" dir="auto">
<br>
</div>
<div id="ms-outlook-mobile-signature" style="font-family: Aptos, -apple-system, HelveticaNeue, sans-serif;font-size: 12pt">
<span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);line-height:1.5">-<br>
</span><b style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);caret-color:rgb(33, 33, 33);font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-size:14.666666984558105px"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:rgb(187, 0, 0);background-color:white;line-height:1.5">Nathaniel
F. Shoobs, </span></b><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);line-height:1.5">Curator of Mollusks<br>
</span>
<div><span style="background-color:white;font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:rgb(187, 0, 0);line-height:1.5">College of Arts & Sciences </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);line-height:1.5"><span></span>Dept.
of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University<br>
Museum of Biological Diversity</span></div>
<div><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);line-height:1.5"><span></span><span dir="ltr" style="color:currentcolor">1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212</span><br>
<span dir="ltr" style="color:currentcolor">614-688-1342 </span><span></span>(Office)<br>
<a href="http://mbd.osu.edu/" style="color:rgb(0, 120, 212)"><span style="color:rgb(5, 99, 193);background-color:white">mbd.osu.edu</span></a></span></div>
</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Black, Nina <npblack@fas.harvard.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, November 20, 2025 9:57:04 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] Keeping bills shut</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="display:none!important; display:none; visibility:hidden; font-size:1px; color:#ffffff; line-height:1px; height:0px; max-height:0px; opacity:0; overflow:hidden">
Hi All, Does anyone have advice for an archival glue that can be used to keep bills closed when preparing bird skins, or perhaps can suggest a good method for this? We always tie them shut with string through the nostrils, but for some birds</div>
<div style="display:none!important; display:none; visibility:hidden; font-size:1px; color:#ffffff; line-height:1px; max-height:0px; opacity:0; overflow:hidden">
</div>
<style>
<!--
#x_pfptBannerdcnd64q
{display:block!important;
visibility:visible!important;
opacity:1!important;
background-color:#CFD3D7!important;
max-width:none!important;
max-height:none!important}
html:root, html:root > div
{display:block!important;
visibility:visible!important;
opacity:1!important}
-->
</style><style type="text/css" style="display:none">
<!--
p
{margin-top:0;
margin-bottom:0}
-->
</style>
<div class="x_elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Hi All,</div>
<div class="x_elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="x_elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Does anyone have advice for an archival glue that can be used to keep bills closed when preparing bird skins, or perhaps can suggest a good method for this? We always tie them shut with string through the nostrils, but for some birds that have long bills or
oddly shaped ones it is hard to keep it closed. Some colleagues have used regular super glue, but I am not so keen on this idea</div>
<div class="x_elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="x_elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Thanks,</div>
<div class="x_elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Nina</div>
<div id="x_Signature">
<div style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:10pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<b>Nina Black</b></div>
<div style="text-align:left; margin:0px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:10pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Curatorial Assistant</div>
<div style="text-align:left; margin:0px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:10pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Ornithology & Mammalogy</div>
<div style="text-align:left; margin:0px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:13.3333px; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Museum of Comparative Zoology</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>