keepin it nerdy in 2k11
update - heptane is a good adhesive solvent. after reading as much as possible about it, and (more importantly) testing it a bunch, i decided to use it to strip all the tape off of our carol books. i will post a blog with pictures, but it is very strange stuff - it leaves a huge oily stain that somehow disappears in 12 hours or so. my worries that 10 or 20 years from now it will turn yellow were somewhat quelled by reading that this stuff is frequently used by conservators to remove adhesives from very old documents. (it is sold commercially as un-du or bestine.) it is good on paper, since unlike many solvents, it doesn't cause any change to the actual physical structure of the paper (so no warping or buckling) - and it evaporates quickly, similar to lighter fluid, but even moreso. if you're a real geek, you can have a look at the teas chart, which categorizes solvents according to three forces. i'm not smart enough to understand all of it, but the advice was to start with the lowest polarity solvent (heptane is the lowest) and work your way up (to toluene, xylene, naptha, acetone, etc) until you get one that is strong enough. the one problem with it is that the vapors are noxious - not as bad as toluene, but still noticeable. i was working with it for a couple hours tonight while wearing a 3M mask approved for "nuisance levels" of harmful vapors, and i'm still dizzy and have a sore throat... looks like i either need a full respirator or a good fan in front of the window to go with my mask.
as far as adhesives to replace the evil red tape: gudy rocks! it is better than xyron, in this nerd's opinion. the adhesive itself (no carrier, just substrate like xyron) has much more elasticity than xyron, which means that it holds together better and doesn't leave little adhesive bits all over the place. (this was may main complaint with xyron). if you accidentally touch the adhesive side, you can usually pull your finger off without taking a bunch of adhesive with it, and if you do get it on your hands, it balls up more easily, so you can get rid of it. if some of it gets where you don't want it, a crepe rubber eraser picks it right up. the release paper is much higher quality, which means it releases evenly all of the time, with about 1/3 the burnishing required to get xyron to release evenly (without pulling bits of adhesive back up with it). i have been using the 3/4" roll as well, since it's around 1/2 the cost of 3M preservation tape.
for places where we want to use an true archival adhesive, beva 371 film is awesome, although heat setting it is a pain. we bought a $20 tacking iron from amazon and it does the job. to re-glue all the inserts in the carol books, i'm using beva gel, which is a super-thick paste (again with noxious vapors). a little bit goes a loooooooooong way, and it doesn't cause paper to warp the way PVA does. it dries really fast, which i like, and it's easy to work with. you can dilute it in water or alcohol if it's too thick for you, but that's pretty much why i like using it. beva gel is actually acidic, but the manufacturer told me (and by manufacturer, i mean the guy who manufactures it in new jersey, not a rep for some chinese company) that undisolved acrylic resins in the gel cause it to register as acidic, but as soon as it dries, it is completely neutral. (plus, i have confidence in a company called 'conservators products company' that basically makes two products - this and the unbelievably toxic beva 371 formula.)
it just occurred to me that this should have just been an email to bill, not a post on the forum. well, sorry.
cheers,
poptop
