Source for stretcher expansion bolts

Stephan Schaefer <s.schaefer [at] visualbyte__com__br> writes

>For quite a while, I have been trying to locate a supplier of
>painting stretcher expansion bolts, so far without much success.

Having watched the matter of the elusive stretcher corner expanders
for a few issues I thought I'd let out this (apparently)
too-well-kept secret. About 25 years ago when both Ursus Dix and I
worked at the Pacific Conservation Centre of the Canadian
Conservation Institute Ursus, finding the corner things then on the
market not entirely to his requirements, designed a drilling jig to
complement an existing bolt system. The jig, which was fabricated at
a Vancouver machine shop, guided the drill for the adjusting bolt
and two steel dowels in each half of each corner in custom-milled
redwood. The corners were very slick, both in appearance and
operation, and the jig was probably sent back to CCI HQ when the
Centres were closed and may have disappeared completely. I do have
the drawings we made for the machine shop and I can take snapshots
of the actual stretcher corners which are on some of the paintings
here if anyone is interested.

Barry Byers
Chief Conservator
British Columbia Archives
655 Belleville Street
P.O. Box 9419 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9V1
250-387-3686
Fax: 250-387-2072

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:28
                 Distributed: Tuesday, November 2, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-28-005
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