Fossils

Dominique Rogers <do [at] pepin__demon__co__uk> writes

>Christine Ianna <christinei [at] qm__qld__gov__au> writes
>
>...
>As an object conservator (mainly furniture) I have always hated all
>PVAs that have been inconsiderately used on furniture.  A close joint
>adhered with PVA is practically impossible to reverse, it swells all
>right but if there is no place to swell into.

Dominique is right that the PVA 's that are often used on furniture
(commercial white glues such as Resin W, 'stronger than the wood
itself') are not reversible. I have spoken to a manufacturer in the
past and the most that can be done is to swell them with solvent and
mechanically remove them. Dominique should not confuse these
products with conservation grade PVA's (e.g Sentry Plus Resins--USA;
Mowiliths UK and Europe) which are both stable and reversible, come
in a variety of molecular weights and vary in Tg from 30-50 degrees
C. Even so, animal/hide/scotch glues remain the adhesive of choice
for joints on wooden furniture.

Shayne Rivers
Senior Furniture Conservator
Victoria and Albert Museum
London


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:31
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-31-002
                                  ***