[Nhcoll-l] Paraloid B-72 applicators?

[Mariana Di Giacomo]

Dear Nate,

I'm very late to this party, but most of the frustrations you're
experiencing can be fixed by not using the brush-bottle combo. We prepare
B72 in glass bottles and dip brushes into it to make repairs. Closing the
bottle right away is key as well, to avoid rapid evaporation. Another thing
I do is work "by feel," meaning that if my concentration is 38% or 46%, as
long as it gives me the consistency I need, it's ok. Concentration matters
most when you're consolidating vs labeling vs adhering, but for most
repairs, some deviation from the percentage (as long as it's the
consistency you want) won't be the end of the world.

Finally, I have made the cleanup of my brushes for these repairs very easy
by using pump dispenser bottles. I pump the acetone, dip the brush, clean
it with a kimwipe, repeat until clean (and dispose of kimwipe in solid
solvent waste). I use much less solvent this way and it prevents people
from leaving brush cleanup for later, which also prolongs the life of the
brush. Sustainability!

Hope this helps,
Mariana

Mariana Di Giacomo, PhD
Natural History Conservator, Yale Peabody Museum
Associate Editor, Collection Forum, SPNHC

On Mon, May 6, 2024, 04:13 Fabian Neisskenwirth <
info at naturhistorische-konservierung.de> wrote:

> Dear Nate,
>
> I know its a bit of a late response.
> Have you tried different solvents than acetone (pretty aggressive and
> super volatile). Paraloid B72 can be dissolved in ethanol as well. You can
> use a wide variety of solvents actually, depending on what you want to work
> on of course. A magnetic stirrer will be useful, since some solvents takes
> a wile to dissolve the pellets. For many of the purposes I use it, my
> solvent of choice is ethyl acetate.
>
> Hope this gives you a wider view on the use of the resin.
>
> all the best from Germany,
> Am 01.05.24 um 19:29 schrieb Shoobs, Nate:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I use Paraloid B-72 to repair shells that have been broken, and to
> prepare shell surfaces for labeling in cases where the material doesn’t
> hold ink well.
>
>
>
> While the repairs it makes are beautiful (often I can’t even tell that the
> shell was broken in the first place), a great frustration of using B-72 is
> how messy it can get, and how quickly the solvent evaporates (which changes
> the concentration).
>
> I have the resin pellets and mix up new B-72 in acetone, and currently we
> apply the B-72 with little brush-bottle applicators supplied by University
> Products with their pre-mixed paraloid.
>
>
>
> However, it only takes a few uses before the threads on the brush-bottles
> get gunked up, requiring acetone and a lot of grip strength to reopen.
>
>
>
> Is there any clever solution for this?
>
>
>
> Also -- has anyone tried “fineline applicators” with b-72 before?
>
> Best,
>
> Nate
>
>
>
> --
>
> [image: The Ohio State University]
> *Nathaniel F. Shoobs*
> Curator of Mollusks
> College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal
> Biology
> Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212
> 614-688-1342 (Office)
> mbd.osu.edu
>
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> --
> *Fabian Neisskenwirth*
> Restaurator/Präparator
>
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>
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>
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>
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> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
>
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