Adhesive for coral

Miguel Garcia <miguelalexgarcia [at] gmail__com> writes

>I have a small natural coral object that cracked in two pieces, and
>I needed to glue them together. Has anyone ever experienced an
>adhesive for coral that could work as a structural binder for this
>problem?

This slightly depends on the coral.  For reef coral (abrasive
surface, bleached white) then neutral pH PVA penetrates well and
provides a firm bond providing not too much weight from the specimen
is reliant on the adhesive.  For weight-bearing joins a dowel rod or
non-oxidising wire or wood is required.

>From your text I suspect you are referring to precious coral which
also responds well to PVA but also to paraloid B72 with glass
micro-balloons if a slight gap-fill is required.

Simon Moore, MIScT, FLS, ACR,
Senior Conservator of Natural Sciences
Hampshire County Council
Recreation and Heritage Department
Museums and Archives Service
Chilcomb House, Chilcomb Lane
Winchester SO23 8RD, UK
+44 1962 826737


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:56
                  Distributed: Friday, April 18, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-21-56-004
                                  ***