Category Archives: Treatment

Just Peachey: Jeff’s Conservation Hand Tools Workshop

For one week in July, 2024, the Preservation Lab busted out belt sanders and opened the elbow grease to host a workshop taught by Jeff Peachey, learning all about making, modifying and maintaining our own hand tools. Jeff, a book conservator and master tool maker, brought all kinds of fun machinery and exciting tools for us to learn from and use. From hacksaws to pencil sharpeners, Jeff’s tool collection is inspiring, and we all left the week with some amazing new additions to our bench.

A set of raw materials each participant received at the beginning of the week to shape into their own personal new tool set! Credit: Jeff Peachey
Extra scraps of horse butt, cherry, pear and box wood, Delrin, and bamboo: materials we used and experimented with during our workshop. Credit: Jessica Ebert

Delrin

We started the week off working with Delrin. Delrin, an acetal homopolymer plastic that appears similar to Teflon, was easy to shape with saws, files, scrapers and silicon carbide sandpapers. We burnished with sanding pads and polishing paper.

We started off with Delrin rods that we shaped into delicate heras. Heras are thin tools with spatula-like ends that Jeff says are great for delicate prying, inserting small amounts of adhesive, and lifting tape to name a few of the uses for this handy little tool.

We made a rough cut of the shape we wanted with the bandsaw, then smoothed everything out by going through a sandpaper grit progression. Once we’d crafted these, many of us tried our hand at making versatile Delrin folders. With lots of filing and sanding, this malleable Delrin was easy to manipulate into a variety of tool shapes, and no two tools were exactly alike.

A Delrin hera created by Holly. Credit: Holly Prochaska
Ashleigh uses a saw to shape her Delrin. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer
Jeff demonstrates how to work with Delrin. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer

Knives

Our second and third days with Jeff were all about M2 steel knifes, both sharpening them and making them. We learned all about using Jeff’s sharpening system and honed down our own Peachey paring knife. We also made two lifting knives out of Starrett 32T hacksaw blades by grinding the blades down on a belt sander and then taking them through the sharpening system with microfinishing films to achieve a sharp edge.

A progression of 3M Microfinishing Films adhered to a glass plate for sharpening. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer
A Peachey knife next to a sharpening system on marble. Credit: Holly Prochaska

Sharpening knives turned out to be a complex process – a burr must be formed at each grit gradient before moving on to the finer grind, and if your hand position is off this could take some time. Furthermore, the wrong hand position could yield a bevel angle too big or too small on the plane of the knife. We aimed for an ideal bevel angle between 11 and 13 degrees.

Specular light shows a raw bevel angle during sharpening, before it has been ground smooth on the first grit progression. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer

Additional Knife Features

Some people chose to add grooves into the sides of their paring knives for a more comfortable grip; some of us chose to wrap our knife handles in leather and make horse butt sheaths for them. Matt was the bravest of all and mounted a custom carved wooden handle to his left-handed paring knife.

Catarina finishes a groove on the belt sander to make it more comfortable to hold. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer
Ashleigh begins her groove. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer
Matt’s paring knife is pictured with a wooden handle and leather sheath. Credit: Matt McCoy
Ashleigh’s German-style paring knife with a leather covered handle. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer
Kathy Lechuga’s completed hack saw lifting knife. Credit: Signature Conservation
Kathy Lechuga’s rounded French-style paring knife with a leather covered handle. Credit: Signature Conservation

Grained Book Cloth

We also went over creating 19th century grained book cloth on our third day. Through toning, glazing, then pressing with a die that has your desired pattern, it’s possible to create book cloth that mimics the textures of 19th century book cloth. After going through the time-consuming process, the idea of making up large batches at one time became appealing.

Jeff demos coating a cotton muslin with acrylics and paste, pressing the coated cloth with screens to add a grain, then finishing with an egg glare. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer
Jeff’s samples he made ahead of the workshop

Wood and Bamboo

On our fourth day we learned all about wood and bamboo carving. Using a chisel, wood plane or hatchet, we created the crude shape we wanted our wooden tools to take. Then we got to work sanding until the wood was smooth, and created a more precise shape. A final finish with nose grease or wax was optional.

Jeff’s workbench after his wood carving demo. Credit: Jessica Ebert

Bamboo is great for creating thin, flexible tools. With our pieces of wood most of us created folders, but a few decided to make wooden handles for their knives or straight edges. Personally, my favorite tool I created the whole week was my wooden folder I made, though it was probably the hardest to create. I had to shape it using a small hatchet, then sand it for quite some time before it took on the shape that I wanted.

Jeff demonstrating how to carve our piece of wood using his proprietary bench hook. Credit: Jessica Ebert
Holly chiseling a piece of bamboo using a generic bench hook. Credit: Jessica Ebert
My new wood folder. Credit: Nicole Browning

Stainless Steel

Our final day with Jeff was spent shaping stainless steel tools, which to me was the hardest material we worked with, as it took a lot of patience with the belt sander, and the metal was prone to heating up quickly and potentially burning our fingers. We created straight edges or 45 degree triangles, and even learned how to drill holes and attach small handles to these tools. We also had a thicker piece of stainless steel for creating a folder, which I found the most challenging of all. The stainless steel was harder to manipulate, understandably, and much less forgiving than the wood or Delrin.

Holly drilling holes in the stainless steel handle of her straight edge. Credit: Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer
Two stainless steel folders made and engraved by Jessica. Credit: Jessica Ebert

We ended the week by testing the sharpness of our blades and doing a little show and tell of our favorite tools that we made. It was so amazing to see all the different tool shapes people were inspired to make based upon what they most used in their work.

My assortment of tools I made at the workshop. From left to right: bamboo lifters, two Delrin Heras, two lifting knifes, a Delrin folder, a paring knife and its sheath, and a wooden folder. Credit: Nicole Browning

Learning from Jeff was such an amazing opportunity, and it was so eye-opening and world-expanding to learn that so many of these tools we use every day can be created from our own hands.

Jeff did a fabulous job tailoring his tool-making workshop to the the availability of machinery and other logistics of our facility. As a result, the actual tools made in our version of this workshop vary from other workshops Jeff has taught, empowering us to keep making tools with our space in the future. If you ever have the chance to take this workshop, we highly recommend it!

Be sure to check out this Instagram post by Jeff featuring all of us showing off our favorite hand tools we created!

Nicole Browning [CHPL] – Conservation Assistant

Nests and Eggs on Display at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio are on display at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra March 1st and 2nd as part of a musical program honoring Oliver Messiaen who was both a major composer of the 20th century and an ornithologist.

Synesthesia

Oliver Messiaen is well known for studying bird songs and interpreting their notes into musical transcriptions. His works are also unique in that Messiaen experienced synesthesia which greatly influenced his creations. Synesthesia is when a person perceives more than one sense at a time, such as Messiaen who experienced colors when listening to music and was able to see sounds. 

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Program

The program at the CSO honors Messiaen by incorporating both music, color, and bird visuals to invite the audience to experience a unique multi-sensory experience. Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles (“From the Canyons to the Stars”) will be performed  by the conductor, Matthias Pintscher, and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Click the image for a link to the digital program for the CSO Proof: From the Canyons to the Stars

“Inspired by his visits to Utah’s Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles (“From the Canyons to the Stars”) depicts the birdsong and red rock hues he experienced during his time in the desert… Accompanied by immersive video-art, Springer Auditorium will be transformed, allowing listeners to escape into the southwestern landscape and experience a synesthesia of their own.” – As described by the CSO website

Nests and Eggs

Complementing the musical performances, on display will be a page from Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Illustrations of the nests and eggs.  The page showcases a local Ohio native, the Wood Thrush, who lays bright blue colored eggs within a nest made of old leaves, dried grasses and moss (rarely sticks).  The nest of the Wood Thrush also contains “rootlets” placed intentionally inside of the nest, resulting in a pinkish brown or black lining. The nest is “plastered” with a thin mud that is easily missed as it’s thoroughly worked in and covered.

Nests and Eggs, while lesser known than Audubon’s Birds of America, is quite extraordinary in how it highlights the uniqueness of the construction of nests made by different bird species. Take for instance, the Baltimore Oriole’s nest, which primarily consists of strings and flax fibers to create a soft and long pocket.  Compare that to the more traditional nest of the Wood Thrush whose home is bowl-shaped with a wide opening.

Baltimore Oriole – Plate 1
Wood Thrush – Plate II

It’s also extraordinary that the illustrations are detailed lithographic portraits created by Gabrielle Estelle Jones and her family, despite not having been formally trained.  Their work was intended to be used as a companion volume to John James Audubon’s Birds of America.  While not as large as the Birds of America double elephant folios, Eggs and Nests is still an impressively large-sized volume. 

Gabrielle “Gennie” Estelle Jones

The following excerpt was written by Sara Williams, Arts & Special Collections Reference Librarian:

Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio was a project begun by Genevieve Estelle Jones, a native of Circleville, Ohio. Born May 13, 1847, Genevieve, or Gennie, spent much time as a young girl birdwatching in the woods and wetlands with her father, an amateur ornithologist. Just before the age of 30, Jones’ father forbade her from marrying the man she loved, and in 1876, she visited the Centennial World’s Fair in Philadelphia to take her mind off her broken heart. While there, she viewed hand-colored engravings from John James Audubon’s vibrant The Birds of America. Inspired by Audubon’s example, Jones set out to illustrate the nests and eggs of birds, an aspect often missing from his work. Jones completed only five illustrations for her book before she died of typhoid at the age of 32. The work was eventually completed by Genevieve Jones’ family. Only 90 copies of the book were published, of which only 34 are currently known to exist.  

Preservation

As part of the Preservation Lab’s role in displaying the object, a condition report book was created to accompany the item to ensure the object’s condition is preserved. This helps those who are installing anticipate any possible challenges in supporting fragile pages or bindings. In this case, the upper endsheets are extremely brittle and have been previously repaired, but could break again if not carefully draped and held with polyester strapping in a safe manner.

After determining a proper exhibit case to fit and secure the binding, a custom cradle was made. To protect weak points of the binding on display, a support was constructed out of 8 ply museum mat board to support the heavy and oversized pages from stress along the joint.  

Solutions were tested to fit within an 18 inch deep case, however, the book was just too large!
A custom 8 ply mat board cradle was created to fit within a more appropriate 4 ft case. Pages are strapped with polyester strapping

Before an object travels, it’s often reviewed to make sure it can handle transport and treated if necessary.  Luckily, in this case, the binding was treated in 2016 and is still in great condition for its age.  When it received treatment, at that time it received a lightweight yet strong enclosure that will also work well to safely protect the item for travel to the CSO.

Corrugated banker’s box with a drop spine houses the Nests and Eggs book. Binding and exhibit labels are ready for packing.
A 4-foot case was kindly loaned to the CSO from the Behringer-Crawford Museum and is ready for use! (Image credit: Amber Ostaszewski)
  • Entrance to the Founder’s Room
  • Bird sounds were played in the entryway
  • During staging of the exhibit
  • Nests and eggs on display in the Founder’s Room
  • The Founder’s Room
  • Night of the performance
  • Entering the theatre
  • Not visible are the camping chairs and fire pits in the orchestra pit

Additional Resources

Interested in seeing more Nests and Eggs?  The entire binding is conserved and digitized where it is made publicly available online. More information about Gennie’s fascinating and tragic history can be read at the Linda Hall website.

CSO Program Dates

There are two programs where you can view the item on display, Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd, both at 8pm at the Music Hall. Interested? Click here for the digital program.

We hope to see you there!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Book and Paper Conservator, Co-Lab Manager

Fish gelatin: Spreading the word about a book conservator’s new friend

Last year around this time, the lab was fortunate to bring in book conservator and toolmaker, Jeff Peachey for a week-long intensive workshop to learn leather rebacking. While I always expect to walk away with new anticipated skills as advertised by the workshop, I’m ALSO always pleasantly surprised by the tangential tips and tricks shared along the way.  In the case of Peachey’s workshop, there were many! One of my favorites was his use of a fish gelatin.

Introduction to Cold Fish Gelatin

While adhering spine linings to our text blocks, Peachey pulled out a small baggie of fish gelatin he brought with him to the workshop.  He poured the dry flaky powder into a small jar, added room temperature cold water, and mixed it until a liquid-y consistency.  He then added strained wheat starch paste to the gelatin and mixed with water until he was happy with the consistency.  He estimated it was a 40:60 ratio of gelatin to paste. 

Jeff Peachey taught a workshop at the Preservation Lab in Oct. 2022 where he first introduced us to a low-bloom fish gelatin for book conservation that didn’t require heat for use

If you’ve ever used gelatin before, you might be wondering – how is it possible to mix the gelatin without heating?  That’s the beauty of this product – it has a high molecular weight with low bloom strength and is produced from cold water fish which gives it this ability.  It might not be the strongest of the films with a 0-bloom strength, but for a book conservator doing paper repairs that need to be reversible yet strong, this combo still had an amazing tack when dry!

Peachey explained he first heard about the gelatin on a lab tour at the Weissman Center. He recalled Alan Puglia might have been the one who originally investigated the adhesive for pigment consolidation of hundreds of manuscripts for a show. The mention of a high molecular weight Norland fish gelatin was shared during a talk given at the American Institute for Conservation’s 44th annual meeting.  The talk was titled, The Challenge of Scale: Treatment of 160 Illuminated Manuscripts for Exhibition,” by Debora D. Mayer and Alan Puglia.

Peachey also doesn’t take credit for mixing the gelatin with wheat starch paste. He notes that even in Rene Matin Dudin’s 18th century manual, it discusses the “union” of paste and glue in the last paragraph below.

Peachey shares an excerpt by Rene Matin Dudin descripting his 18th century historic use of gelatin mixed with paste.

By the end of the week-long workshop, I had fallen in love with the properties of how well it adhered.  By itself, the fish gelatin had a long working time and didn’t stick until it was nearly dry – but when mixed with wheat starch paste, it combined the best of both worlds.  There was both the initial tack from the paste and a strong adhesion from the gelatin after dry.  I wasted no time in ordering my own sample supply.

Treatments Testing the HMW Fish Gelatin

Over the past year, I’ve slowly incorporated the fish gelatin in treatments and testing more applications. 

  • I first successfully used it to hinge-in heavy encapsulated sleeves into an album containing lung cross sections. After ultrasonically welding a paper hinge into an encapsulated sleeve, I applied the mix of wheat starch paste and fish gelatin to adhere the hinge to the scrapbook stubbing and had wonderful success.  I was able to adhere with confidence that the encapsulation would stay in place and was able to avoid disbinding and resewing.  At one point during treatment, I found I needed to reposition a hinge.  I am happy to report the mixture was as easily reversible as wheat starch paste alone!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer uses the 40:60 mixture of fish gelatin and wheat starch paste to hinge encapsulations into an album, ensuring the heavy encapsulations with paper hinges stay adhered.

  • Most recently, I played around with using it for photographic emulsion consolidation. I used it first as a barrier layer before inpainting, and then to add sheen to in-painted photograph regions that were originally matte in comparison to the surrounding gelatin coating. It seemed extremely easy to apply and clean up was less messy than other photographic gelatins I’ve used in the past.  The sheen was just the right amount of gloss I needed without being overly shiny.  And, best of all, no heat required.
Before in-painting emulsion losses
After in-painting emulsion

Examples of photographic condition issues where the fish gelatin was tested: flaking emulsion was consolidated and a barrier layer was applied before inpainting

  • We’ve also used the gelatin to stabilze breaks in a wooden box originally used to house a Richter’s architecture game from the early 20th century.
Before Treatment
Inserting fish gelatin with syringe
Clamping box during the curing process
  • Jeff Peachey’ main use is to line spines. He’s found it not only has better adhesion than straight paste, but makes the spine feel slightly more solid and resistant to torsional forces
Applying fish gelatin to adhere spine linings
  • In the future, I imagine this gelatin would have excellent potential in media consolidation.

In all these uses, I couldn’t be more thrilled to not have to pull out my baby bottle warmer to set a beaker of gelatin on.  As a result, there was no fuss in worrying about how long the gelatin was heated and if it was losing its properties due to heat.

Example of using a baby bottle or coffee warmer to re-heat pre-made gelatin during typical use

In terms of shelf life, the dried granules can be kept indefinitely like unmixed wheat starch paste.  Once mixed, Jeff suggests that he’s found the adhesive properties hold up for about a week in the fridge; however, it does begin to smell fishy after just a day. So unlike wheat starch paste, if you’re adverse to the fishy odor, you’ll only want to make up as much as you’re planning to use for one day. 

Supplier Info

Interested in getting your hands on some?

I found the product used at Weisman is no longer supplied by Norland – but I was able to track down what appears to be the same product through AJINOMOTO NORTH AMERICA, INC.  If you’re interested in trying a sample, message Henry Havey, the Business Development Manager of Collagen & Gelatin at haveyh@ajiusa.com to request a sample of High Molecular Weight (HMW) dried fish gelatin. 

Fish gelatin sample acquired by the lab in a 500 gram sample bag

They provided me with a 500- gram sample at no cost and confirmed it was a Type A fish gelatin with a 0-bloom strength. Henry Harvey can also provide a pricing quote should you be interested in ordering a full supply which comes in 25 kg packs. They also provided the following product data info sheets:

HMWD-Tech-SheetDownload

While I still covet my isinglass cast films I created from boiling dried fish bladders, as well as our mammalian photographic grade type B gelatin, this HMW fish gelatin is a welcome addition I’ve added to my tool kit.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Special Collections Conservator, Co-Lab Manager

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