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About 5 years ago I took a trip out to the Green River Formation, found some nice Knightia and Diplomystus. This was long before I was on the forum, otherwise I would have made a post about it! Since then, I have found a number of shell fossils in Washington State where I live. Anyways, the commonality between them is that I coated them all in an Elmer's glue mix. This was before I knew about Butvar-76 and the like, which I still haven't bothered to try yet. The Green River Fossils consolidated well, but the shell fossils from the Lincoln Creek Formation slurped it up and didn't seem to be impacted in anyway whatsoever. My concern is that the Elmer's glue mix is going to age and yellow the fossils, or worse peel off and damage them. I want to have these fossils for a long time, and maybe even pass them on one day. Should I coat the fossils in something else to prevent this outcome? Would Butvar-76 work better as a consolidate for shell fossils in a flaky, sandy matrix? If it's going to work better and protect them better, I'm willing to pony up the money to have it shipped from England.

I have sometimes had difficulty dispensing small amounts of glue to the right place. Especially superglue can be so thin that - if you try to secure a small spot with glue during preparation to prevent flaking - too much glue is applied, which of course runs immediately and you have difficulties removing the excess glue later. I have now bought a (used Eppendorf) dispenser / pipette, which biologists use, for example, in genetic engineering. With the dispenser, smallest amounts can be dosed safely - the amount of my smallest pipette can be varied between 2.5µl and 0.02µl (i.e. only 0.00002ml !) via the adjustment wheel. First set the desired quantity with the setting wheel, then press down the setting wheel and suck the adhesive into the pipette when releasing the setting wheel. To dispense the adhesive, press the adjusting wheel down again. The part is designed for one-hand operation: Press down, dip, release to suck in the glue, and press again to empty. The superglue does not come into contact with the metal parts of the pipette - a disposable plastic tip is used (1000 pieces cost under 10US$).

I found a great dispenser bottle for Butvar 76 dissolved in acetone from Nalgene: 60 ml/2oz LDPE drop dispenser bottle. I have used it for more than 5 years (stored inside) and have had not problems with evaporation, leakage or being unable to unscrew the bottle or open the top due to Butvar films. I do keep the bottle upright in a larger plastic container to catch any mishaps. I bought mine at REI in the camping section. I suppose that this bottle also would work with other consolidants/solvent combinations including those using ethyl alcohol. See chart for plastic containers and chemical/solvent compatibilities: http://www.shepherd.edu/wordpress-1/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/chemical_compatibility_for_nalgene_containers.pdf Note that LDPE containers are not recommended for storing acetone at higher temperatures: 50 deg C. I have had no problems storing acetone (and dilute HCl) at room temperatures at less than 90 deg F. For a great source of small quantities of consolidants to use in this bottle see my post:

I found a US source, Talas, for small quantities of Butvar and Paraloid consolidants in 1 and 5 lb quantities. http://www.talasonline.com/Butvar-Resin For a great bottle to use with Butvar and probably other consolidants see my post:

I've always been a fan of PVA and all of it's various forms. I'm getting close to needing to reorder (I'm down to around a 6 month supply). Apparently BHIGR has stopped selling PVA beads. Does anyone have contact for a supplier?