Cedar cradleboard

Georgia Fox <gfox [at] csuchico__edu> writes

>We recently received a cedar cradleboard in our collection, and it
>has a masking tape adhesive stain on the wood;  the masking tape was
>probably put on the cradleboard about 20 years ago by the donor. The
>piece of masking tape and residual adhesive have been carefully
>removed, but the stain is remaining.  Does anyone have any
>experience or suggestions in removing adhesive (tape) stains from
>wood?

I have had success in removing old tape and tape residue from wood
on many occasions using naphtha to swell the old adhesive and a
bamboo skewer tip to gently roll the adhesive up and remove it. The
process can take from minutes to a half hour on average to get the
adhesive to swell. Even on painted wood I have never seen a stain
afterward or tide lines from using naphtha, but you should spot test
first. Naphtha evaporates quickly so using a Mylar cover to slow the
evaporation while the adhesive swells (and usually turns white and
rubbery) helps and the substrate is still visible.

Amber L. Tarnowski
Objects Conservator
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC)


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:26
                 Distributed: Sunday, November 27, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-25-26-002
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