Removing adhesive residues

On behalf of Valerie Lemorvan, Catherine Dumas
<catherine.dumas [at] bnf__fr> writes

>    ... In the last issue of "Restaurator", 1999,
>    no. 3 et 4, p. 188 German restorers have used an unknown product
>    (unknown for me) it is named Attapulgite, a magnesium silicate
>    moistened with ethyl acetate for removing adhesive residue. It
>    seems very time consuming but it works.

Attapulgite is an ultra-fine, grayish-white clay which is mined just
20 miles north of here, in Attapulgus, Georgia.  It is prepared by
the Engelhard Corporation (engelhard.com), and sees use in a wide
variety of applications, from drilling mud to molecular sieves in
petroleum refining, and is marketed in a wide range of particle
sizes.  I have a small quantity of an attapulgite product called
Minugel MB (for Molecular Bonding), given to me by a local
researcher for them, which I used once in an attempt to create a
completely non-polar gel.  As I recall, the particle size was so
fine that it proved impossible to remove the residue of the clay
from the fine fissures in a test surface, but that might not be as
disfiguring on paper as it is on varnished furniture. Unfortunately,
I do not know of a retailer which repacks it and sells small
quantities (I seem to remember that it is shipped in 55 gallon
drums); perhaps customer service at Engelhard can direct you to
someone.

Clint Fountain
Furniture Conservator
The Museum of Florida History
Tallahassee, Florida


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:39
                 Distributed: Monday, January 10, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-39-013
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