[Nhcoll-l] Large specimen jars need opening - help!

Fri Nov 17 05:04:19 EST 2023

Dear everyone,

Thank you all for your insightful tips, links, and stories!

I have a lot to go by now and feel slightly more confident to open the jars. Also, good (and re-assuring) to know there are some suppliers that can make them.

Hope you all have a good weekend! 😊

Kind regards,
Vanessa

From: Joachim Händel <Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de>
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2023 7:33 AM
To: prc44 at drexel.edu; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; shoobs.1 at osu.edu; HawksC at si.edu; Vanessa Pitusi <vanessa.pitusi at uit.no>
Subject: Aw: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Large specimen jars need opening - help!

Yes, Paul - Alconox is great!
It takes a little time but it penetrates well and frees the stopper.
It also dissolves any hardened gasket grease.
(Alconox contains more than trisodium phosphate)

Another note: yes - the white sealing compound at the photos could be linseed oil putty.
Or gutta-percha, a rubbery, caoutchouc-like substance made from the  coagulated sap  Sapotaceae-Tree (for example Palaquium gutta)

Originally used in dentistry - and golf balls were made from it.
It was a common sealing agent for specimen storage jars in the 20th century.
However, the elastomer becomes hard and brittle and crumbly over time and no longer seals the jars.
To open it, simply use a sharp knife and slide the blade under the lid.

All the best
Joachim

--
Joachim Haendel

Center of Natural History Collections
of the Martin Luther University (ZNS)
- Entomological Collection -

Domplatz 4
D-06099 Halle (Saale)
Germany

Phone:  +49 345 - 55 26 447
Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de<mailto:joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de>

>>> "Callomon,Paul" <prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu>> 15.11.2023, 16:34 >>>
Just to add two points: I’m not sure that heating the fluid to increase internal pressure is a good idea, as – apart from possibly upsetting the chemistry of the specimen – the jar might crack at its thinnest point before the lid lifts.
Also, the penetrating power of trisodium phosphate is extraordinary. A teaspoon of powder (e. g. Alconox) in a liter of water is a very effective detergent, and just soaking a jar with a stuck lid in that might well do the trick.

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170

From: Hawks, Catharine <HawksC at si.edu<mailto:HawksC at si.edu>>
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 9:42 AM
To: Shoobs, Nate <shoobs.1 at osu.edu<mailto:shoobs.1 at osu.edu>>; Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu>>; Vanessa Pitusi <vanessa.pitusi at uit.no<mailto:vanessa.pitusi at uit.no>>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: RE: Large specimen jars need opening - help!

External.
Sometimes it works well just to put the jar in a low try of warm water to slightly warm the bottom. The resulting pressure change inside the jar will loosen the lid.

Cathy

Catharine Hawks
Museum Conservator
NMNH Smithsonian Institution

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Shoobs, Nate
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 9:13 AM
To: Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu>>; Vanessa Pitusi <vanessa.pitusi at uit.no<mailto:vanessa.pitusi at uit.no>>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Large specimen jars need opening - help!

External Email - Exercise Caution
Vanessa,
Others (especially EU collections folks who deal with more of these jars)  may have better tricks, but I have, in the past, used warm water and acetone in cases where some adhesive putty or wax has been used. I let it pool on the lid of the jar for a while. The acetone will cool the jar by evaporating, so you may have to alternate them. If you can leave the jar in the sink, run warm water continuously over it for 5 or 10 minutes as Paul suggested, that usually works.

You can scrape any sealant/wax out of the perimeter with a sharp dental pick or similar tool in order to increase the penetration of your warm water or other solvent and decrease the friction between the lid and the jar.

The real trick is rocking/wiggling the lid back and forth  gently. You want to use a decent amount of force, but it’s not about brute strength, it’s more about making the lid move that first little bit.
Once it budges at all, it’ll generally lift right up.

For future reference -- for clamp top jars with gaskets of any kind, puncturing the seal with a putty knife or awl is the easiest method to open them.

-Nate

-
Nathaniel F. Shoobs, Curator of Mollusks
College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University
Museum of Biological Diversity
1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212
614-688-1342 (Office)
mbd.osu.edu<http://mbd.osu.edu/>
________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> on behalf of Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu>>
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 9:02:39 AM
To: Vanessa Pitusi <vanessa.pitusi at uit.no<mailto:vanessa.pitusi at uit.no>>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu> <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Large specimen jars need opening - help!

Hi Vanessa, Stubborn tapered ground-glass lids like those you show often loosen if you simply pour hot water over them, as the jar neck expands further than the lid. Don’t make the water too hot, though, as the glass could crack –

Hi Vanessa,

Stubborn tapered ground-glass lids like those you show often loosen if you simply pour hot water over them, as the jar neck expands further than the lid. Don’t make the water too hot, though, as the glass could crack – I find hot water from the tap is usually enough to do the trick.

Paul Callomon

Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates

________________________________

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Vanessa Pitusi
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 2:42 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Large specimen jars need opening - help!

External.

Hi!

I posted the following on a Facebook page for Museum collection managers and was advised to ask here for help. So, any answer would be greatly appreciated!

I work at the Tromsø Museum (Norway), and we have numerous large and tall glasses containing specimen. The ethanol level on some of them is starting to be low, but we do not know how all of them were sealed.

Some were sealed with linseed oil putty, which I was advised to open by warming. However, some have no putty but are firmly stuck. Any advice on a good solvent to use to open those? The Internet tells me something like Xylene could do the job, but just wanted to get some more opinions.

Secondly, does anyone based in Europe know of any suppliers that make such glasses and lids?

Photos for reference of size and lids (that I am after).

Kind regards,

Vanessa Pitusi

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