Andy Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 I am in a mess. I glued a piece of highly mineralized mammoth tusk from Florida and I used too much superglue. So, I panicked and started rubbing it off with a paper towel and then proceeded to wash it off with water. Stupid me. Washing it off with water caused a white ring to appear around the piece I glued on. Acetone removes superglue. But, I don't know if will hurt the fossil. Would careful/small application of nail-polish remover be safe? Thanks- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 im not sure what will work but i too have had that happen to me...where it oozes out of the crack!! AAAHHH!! Why not try expermimenting? do you have any other mineralised fragments that you dont mind testing on? why not do the same thing, i dono...snap a little frag in half and glue back together agin with too much glue! :lol: haha sound crazy but....experminent on it with acetone and nail polish remover and see what effects it has on the fossil....then you will know what is safe and what is not safe when removing the glue from your large piece.... ??? just an idea! Regards Chris "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 20, 2008 Author Share Posted January 20, 2008 It is very hard, agate like material, but pourous. There is a very small chip off the piece, I will see if the acetone desolves it. If it dosen't, than it's safe. Thanks- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sharks Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 As far as I know, acetone should be ok to use, but like Kauffy said, try it on a small area first. Peruvian megalodons are notorious for having stabilizer put in any crack and I've been told that an overnight soak in acetone will dissolve it with no harm to the tooth. No idea how it will react with super glue. There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 20, 2008 Author Share Posted January 20, 2008 It say's to use acetone to clean up on the bottle. And I have used it before to get it off my fingers. It's a solvent, not an acid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 Yes acetone should be safe to use, its been used on most fossil types and done well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Andy, If memory serves me correctly most finger nail polish remover is acetone. Try the acetone. Just remember to use in a well ventilated area and that acetone is extremely flammable. JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 It say's to use acetone to clean up on the bottle. And I have used it before to get it off my fingers. It's a solvent, not an acid. It's a bad idea to give an extra soak to a piece of Florida ivory in any liquid, including acetone. If it is not already well-consolidated, it will soak up the acetone like a sponge and the risk is that it will split or delaminate. If it has been consolidated with white glue (polyvinyl acetate), a soak in acetone will be messy at least and a lot of work to re-stabilize the ivory. Acetone dissolves white glue. If it IS well-consolidated with plastic, you might risk a soak. If it is NOT AT ALL consolidated, ignore the Superglue for the moment. When the ivory seems dry to you, drive off all the residual moisture in the ivory in your microwave oven (low setting for extended minutes) or use an infra-red lamp as I do. The heat will not hurt the fossil. Once thoroughly dry, dip it in an acetone solution of Butvar-76 or other consolidant until it stops bubbling vigorously. Allow it to air-dry for 48 hours or until your wife cannot detect acetone fumes (your own nose will be "burned out"). Once consolidated, the ivory chip and Superglue problem can be addressed. The simplest approach is to dip a brush (like a tooth-brush that's acetone-resistent) in acetone and scrub off the excess superglue and paper towel shreds. If you're happy with the join, don't try to separate the pieces. I'm not sure about the "white ring," but using acetone-soluble consolidant on a fossil that has residual moisture within produces a white film on the surface of the fossil (and under the film of plastic). This is water that condenses on the surface as it is drawn from within the fossil by evaporative chilling as the acetone boils off. The solvent in Superglue may cause a similar phenomenon as it evaporates, though the water may be from your tap in this case. Again, the best approach to the white ring problem may be acetone and a tooth-brush. How can you tell if the ivory is consolidated? Your tongue won't stick to it. Let us know how it goes. ------Harry Pristis 1 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrehistoricFlorida Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 this is why I always use a water soluble glue such as Elmers. www.PrehistoricFlorida.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 I believe the fossil has already been treated with Butvar-76. I tried the tooth-brush method, didn't work. Then, I tried something more aggressive like soaking it in nail-polish remover overnight. And now I take it out today and that darn white ring of glue is still there! Maybe not as obvious and not as white though. I don't think the acetone hurt the fossil. It did soak it up, but acetone evaporates pretty quickly. I'd be happy write now to just remove the chip and the glue and forget the whole gluing thing. It was just a small chip I glued on. I shouldn't have done it. Thanks for the help- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Read the last post also as well as this one. It looks like there is a gap between the piece that broke off and the main piece (now it is glued), I probably didn't hold it firmly enough while it was gluing. At the same time , I was trying not to press down because glue keep coming out and onto the fossil. I don't know what to do. I put it back to soak in the acetone and did some scrubbing. It doesn't seem to be hurting the fossil. The features are still there. And I briefly let it dry and only where the glue was it turned white. Thanks- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Read the last post also as well as this one. It looks like there is a gap between the piece that broke off and the main piece (now it is glued), I probably didn't hold it firmly enough while it was gluing. At the same time , I was trying not to press down because glue keep coming out and onto the fossil. I don't know what to do. I put it back to soak in the acetone and did some scrubbing. It doesn't seem to be hurting the fossil. The features are still there. And I briefly let it dry and only where the glue was it turned white. Thanks- If the white ring persists, it may be that you've trapped some moisture. Less likely, the cyanoacrylate fumes may fall out of suspension as a white film. Soak, scrub, and (after it is acetone-free) heat the specimen to drive off residual water. If there is a gap 'twixt chip and body, the acetone should dissolve the Superglue. See if you can pop it off after the next soak. Good luck! -------Harry Pristis http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 I've had it soaking in nailpolish remover for 2 1/2 days or so now and scubbing it with a toothbrush and only little progress. I have been using nailpolish remover (the kind with acetone) not pure acetone. I don't know if that makes a differences. It makes the superglue gummy and you can pick off some with your fingernail, but it dosen't seem to desolve it. What should I do? Thanks- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I've had it soaking in nailpolish remover for 2 1/2 days or so now and scubbing it with a toothbrush and only little progress. I have been using nailpolish remover (the kind with acetone) not pure acetone. I don't know if that makes a differences. It makes the superglue gummy and you can pick off some with your fingernail, but it dosen't seem to desolve it. What should I do? Thanks- Be patient. I don't know of anything more effective than acetone. (Nail polish remover is acetone with some fragrance added, I believe.) Give it a week or two . . . see what happens. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 I decided to let it dry and it dosen't look too bad as it did. It is now a clear ring of glue around it and not as obvious. The acetone must have evaporated the water out or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 PS: I work at a hardware store and they sell acetone pure for the purpose of paint-thinning. I don't know if it is more potent than the nail-polisher remover or not. They also sell mineral spirits and stuff. I don't know if they would be worth a try or not. Or Kerosene. The acetone didin't harm the piece at all. But, some of these might. I will let the piece dry more and then decide if it needs another soak. The glue might just vanish when it is fully dry. It seems the drier it gets the less obvious the glue is. I will post a pic of the piece when I get a chance. Thanks- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Heres some pics to show you what I am dealing with. It dosen't really come out in the photos, though you can see it a bit of the glue. Or places where is darker. As you can see, no white ring, which is good. The piece is a "chip" off the main piece. You can see the crack where it was glued. Its starting to look alright to me. But, I would like to get off that excess glue. What do you think? Should I try to remove the piece and try again or just soak it some more and try to get off the excess glue. You can't really see the glue until you bring it into some light. But, even without light there is a darker area. There are some black spots on the piece, but those are natural. Thanks- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Here's one more pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Why doesn't that look like tusk to me? Is it just the core of a tusk? I'm only used to seeing the outer layers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 There's no doubt in my mind about that being tusk.. Shame on you, Anson... Look at the lines What's the size on this piece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Heres some pics to show you what I am dealing with. It dosen't really come out in the photos, though you can see it a bit of the glue. Or places where is darker. As you can see, no white ring, which is good. The piece is a "chip" off the main piece. You can see the crack where it was glued. Its starting to look alright to me. But, I would like to get off that excess glue. What do you think? Should I try to remove the piece and try again or just soak it some more and try to get off the excess glue. You can't really see the glue until you bring it into some light. But, even without light there is a darker area. There are some black spots on the piece, but those are natural.Thanks- I wish I could see the details you're describing, but I cannot fully open your very large image. A portion of the image does open verrry slowly, but not the full image. Nor can I simply scroll left or right, up or down, to see the image -- the image is just too large for my 17-inch monitor. When I make a SHQ or HQ image with my six megapixel camera, the resulting image is as large as 39 inches wide by 29 inches high. I have to reduce the image size with my editing software to even work with it conveniently. You can produce excellent photos with the Standard Quality (SQ) setting on your camera. (See some of Worthy's or Mike Owens' recent posts.) If you are going to post images that are not edited, that is, images directly from your camera, SQ is the camera setting you should be using. I'd like to see your pix. I hope you can post some images that are accessible to everyone on the forum. ---Harry Pristis http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Chris, the lines look like they go in different directions to me ? It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Yeah it looks odd to me too the lines don't look right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I use a Sony Cyber-shot with only 3.2 mega pixels and the image size is set to VGA but it seams to work well. :Thumbs-up: It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I use a Sony Cyber-shot with only 3.2 mega pixels and the image size is set to VGA but it seams to work well. :Thumbs-up: looks like a tusk to me andy go with the pure acetone soak. pic improvea a post. tusk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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