Old Glue Rejuvenation Question

[butchie_t]

MEK can be purchased at Lowes and is great for many things such as this. We used MEK for cleaning our high-speed recorder heads for a long time until the Air Force got all wonky on us and told we could not use it any longer.

You could try it on a small sample of dried glue first. Drop a couple of drops onto the glue spot and stir it with a toothpick. It should form a sticky small blob. That maybe all you need. However I do not know if it would stain the item you are attaching though. You’d have to sample that too on a like item first.

Cheers,

B. T.

[steve B]

Knowing what the original glue is would be important. Some can be reworked with various solvents, but those same solvents may affect the ink a card would be printed with, and/or the blue used to stick the layers together is they used a layered stock.

I have a few old postcards that I'm pretty sure got very wet for a long time, and are now a front and back.

Testing a small amount on a small area, or on something that's come entirely loose would be very helpful.
Water
Solvents like Those already mentioned plus mineral spirits or lighter fluid
Alcohol - some old glues may be alcohol based and similar to shellac. Those will readily soften with nice clean alcohol applied.