Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What Kind of Glue Was it?

This is topic What Kind of Glue Was it? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 01-20-2009, 05:06 AM:

Back when DFS/ETS was National Film Service, they used some kind of water-based glue and a paint brush to attach the labels to the film cans. The stuff was brown, IIRC. Over here, they mixed it in half an old metal single-reel can, and the stuff seemed to last as long as they kept water in it.

Does anyone know what the stuff was?

On the same relative subject... how about the glue that billboard companies used on their paper rolls? It probably wasn't brown, but the application is roughly the same. Watered-down Elmer's?

Posted by Paul H. Rayton (Member # 1817) on 01-20-2009, 12:30 PM:

Hi, Jack - I seem to recall hearing someone once call it "silicate", or something like that. Its color was virtually clear after they slathered a layer of it on the can, but you're right, it certainly kept those labels affixed, seemingly forever. Kind of like "rubber cement" they still sell in stationery stores, but not so smelly (and probably less toxic, and less intoxicating...)

I'm sure eventually someone will have the full info on it.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 01-20-2009, 01:09 PM:

I'm betting the brown water based stuff was plain old hot or cold hide glue. It sets up fast, was cheap back then, non toxic. Used primarily in furniture making and organ and piano building. Contrary to what many believe it is very strong when used correctly.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 01-20-2009, 01:19 PM:

quote: Jack Ondracek
DFS/ETS was National Film Service, they used some kind of water-based glue

Crud, they still use the same stuff as back when NFS was still alive...

The many times I used to travel to NFS to deliver film back to the depot when I was a driver, and also when NFS and ETS were separate depots, both depots used the same goop (which is very water soluable - take a spray bottle of water and soak the label and label comes right off..) that was stored in a coffee can and the stuff was brushed on by a paintbrush...

..almost reminded me of flour paste....

-Monte

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-20-2009, 01:56 PM:

I always assumed it was good old-fashioned mucilage.

I'm not sure what it's made of but I'm pretty sure it's water based and was often used as a label paste.

My 2nd guess would be the hide glue as Bill Enos suggested.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-20-2009, 05:38 PM:

I was told it was called fishglue
http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v19/bp19-29.html

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 01-20-2009, 05:42 PM:

quote: Gordon McLeod
I was told it was called fishglue
http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v19/bp19-29.html

Ahhh, higher education, the future of America.....

They have the picture captions transposed. Duh......

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-20-2009, 05:46 PM:

Teaser topic title!

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-20-2009, 05:54 PM:

quote: Jim Cassedy
I always assumed it was good old-fashioned mucilage.

Thats what I think it was too! It was real cheap... Made from parts of old horses [Eek!]

.

Mark

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-20-2009, 06:22 PM:

Our local DFS (ETS) depot uses 3M spray adheasive. It works fine when they use enough spray and apply it evenly (which is maybe half of the time).

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-24-2009, 11:52 AM:

The original 3M Spray Adhesive was a great product in that you could apply it to one surface and it would go on super fast, evenly and create a very strong hold. Applied to both surfaces would allow you a bit of repositioning time. Down side, they found it was carcinogenic -- your material would hold together indefinately, but you would be dead. 3M wisely reformulated it to get rid of the pesky toxins.

quote: Jim Cassedy
I always assumed it was good old-fashioned mucilage.

Isn't this a breakfast cereal? [Big Grin]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-24-2009, 12:02 PM:

Btw, what DID they used to use on billboards? I always figured it was the same stuff as used on film can labels.

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 01-25-2009, 08:54 PM:

he glue sounds like what we used over here. We used simple wallpaper paste , mixed it with water in a bucket , just kept thew water topped up used it for poster boards and sticking labels on film cans, it also used to go brown after a while.