Re: paleonet Butvar-76 vs. Acryloid-B72

["Ken Leonard" <ken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Howdy;

There is at least one source reachable online:
http://www.bhigr.com/pages/sans/prep/pva_beads.htm.

They get US $8.00 for a pint (I would estimate 400 g) or US$ 50.00 for a
gallon (I would estimate 3200 g).

That's about US$ 0.02 per gram of product in the smallest quantity and less
than US$ 0.03 per gram, or US$ 3.00 per 100 gram, allowing for shipping
cost.

Acetone weighs about 790 gram/liter or very slightly less than 3 kg per US
gallon.  I pay a few cents less than US$ 9.00 per gallon at my nearby paint
supply store.  That's about US$ 3.00 per kg or $US 2.40 per liter.

I commonly use a nominal 10% ratio (80 g PVA per liter of made solution) for
occasional matrix stabilization and a nominal 5% ratio (40 g PVA per liter
of made solution) for (invertebrate) specimen stabilization.  I also use a
nominal 25% ratio (100 g PVA per liter of made solution) for cementing.

[I _think_ I have done the arithmetic correctly, here!!]  I can make-up a
quarter-liter bottle of 5% solution for about US$ 0.90.  That 250 ml bottle
treats a heckuva lot of trilobites, brachiopods etc.

The message of the moment is that the stuff is _cheap_!

The fact that it also works _very_ well, IMHO, is also a good thing.

BTW -- Please delete the reference to "Ethyl Acetate".  I'm not sure why I
typed it, but it is incorrect.  The solvent to use is Acetone.

Best regardz,
Ken Leonard


----- Original Message -----
From: "John VanRegenmorter" <johnneboi@hotmail.com>
To: <paleonet@nhm.ac.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, 14 January, 2003 20:17
Subject: Re: paleonet Butvar-76 vs. Acryloid-B72


>
> I agree with Ken, I also prefer a PVA bead. There use to be a product
called
> Vinac, but I believe it is now sold by a different company and simply
called
> Poly Vinyl Acetate. (Correct me if I'm wrong. ) I have also heard it
called
> B-52 but I think that only refers to the bead size.
> Ken, who do you go through to get your PVA? I am hoping to get some
funding
> to do some fossil prepwork for school credit this summer, and I will need
> some PVA. Any Idea how much it costs? The smallest quantity I have been
able
> to locate is either 50 or 100 LBS. Are there smaller sizes available?
> Thanks
> JOHN Van Regenmorter
>
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