Microballoon mixture for wood

Eugenia Stamatopoulou <stamatopoulou [at] deste__gr> writes

>This query is posted on behalf of Maria Filipoussi
>
>    Does anybody have information about epoxy resin/phenolic
>    microballoons mixture as a filler for wood objects? I am looking
>    for a commercial brand name and suppliers in Europe.

There is a very good epoxy structural adhesive, Araldite carveable
paste, AV/HV 1253. now available, imported from the USA and
distributed by Conservation resources in the UK, which is
specifically formulated for bonding and repair of wood. I have found
this to be the best available commercial wood filler, but generally
use it only for structural repair of stretchers frames, etc.

Although this has the appearance of containing phenolic resin
microballoons, it is listed as being aluminium filled.

For the repair of panel paintings I use a filler mix which I
developed some years ago, consisting of phenolic resin microballoons
and coconut shell flour mixed to a paste with a standard PVA
woodworking adhesive.

Because this is an aqueous adhesive there are some drawbacks such as
shrinkage, which does not occur with the carveable epoxy, but
nevertheless I feel it is a lot closer to what I would consider as
meeting conservation standards. This was among the materials studied
in the article written on 'The mechanical behaviour of adhesives and
gap fillers for rejoining panel paintings' in the National Gallery
Technical Bulletin, vol.23, by Christina Young, Paul Ackroyd, Roger
Hibberd and Stephen Gritt.

Ray Marchant
Hamilton Kerr Institute.
Simon Bobak conservation studio London


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:47
                 Distributed: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
                       Message Id: cdl-19-47-002
                                  ***