Rubber cement stains

Miriam A. Kilmer <miriam [at] risingdove__com> writes

>Does anyone know of a safe and effective way to remove rubber cement
>stains from paper?  Robert C. Morrison wrote in 1995: "To my
>knowledge, there is no solvent for rubber cement [made from natural
>rubber]."

It is unclear from the query whether it is the orange staining or
the adhesive residue (often causing translucency of the paper) that
is the problem.  I've had success removing dried out (no longer
adhered) rubber cement with ethanol.  Soaking in ethanol for 10-15
minutes, either overall or with blotters cut to the size of the
stain, followed by rinsing on the vacuum suction table with same. If
the rubber cement retains its adhesive properties (and is usually
still clear rather than orange), the same treatment but with toluene
will usually dissolve the rubber cement, or at least soften it
enough to remove mechanically.

After removal of all the adhesive, residual stains can be bleached
with hydrogen peroxide.

Jon Derow
J D Conservation, Inc.
790 Union St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215-1307
718-789-1270 (phone/fax)


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:19
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 25, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-19-006
                                  ***