I'll weigh in on Apoxie Sculpt too. I've been using ever since the Getty and others tested it, and I'm glad to hear Ashley's news about the SteelStik product too. I've found the Aves Studios products to be reliable and nice to work with.

The one thing I'd love to know about is whether other colors of Apoxie Sculpt and other Aves Studios products also pass Oddy? I really like the black which polishes up to a really nice black finish. It feels like sculpted stone under the object.

I have also used some of the others in non-sensitive situations like using a red-earth tone as a supporting shim on a sandstone Jali so it didn't draw the eye. In situations like this there is always a barrier layer involved to avoid direct contact, but I'd love there to be some discussion in the group about when and how it might be appropriate to use materials that are closely related to tested materials, but have not been specifically tested themselves. In this situation, the material (sandstone) is extremely non-reactive, and the display was an open-air installation. I was very comfortable with the combination, as was the conservator I was working with, but I'd love to know peoples thoughts about how we use such materials.

Jamie

I used Apoxie Sculpt to repair the fog light on my Fiat 500 after I took an animal hit. The plastic tab that the mounting screw goes through broke off, so I made a new one. It's shown no sign of giving up, even with the road vibration loads it's under.

For my fairly simplistic applications, I have been using Apoxie Sculpt or Fixit (another AVES product that typically passes Oddy tests). That is not exactly an earth-shattering revelation but I did hear an interesting answer to a question I have always wondered about in an AIC/CCN Materials Working Group meeting recently.

You know the small tubes of epoxy putty you see in home improvement stores put out by J-BWeld? There are a bunch of varieties. It turns out that one of them (called SteelStik) has been passing Oddy testing! I don't know if any other version does or not but SteelStik is one that is stocked in most hardware stores in my area. Kind of cool to know that if out of the blue you need a same-day source of inert epoxy there is one that is likely to be readily available!

I use Apoxie Sculpt from Aves studios. They have several products but, I just use the natural gray apoxie sculpt. You can do anything with it. It takes screws and you can tap it. It sands down to an ultra smooth finish and it receives paint well. If I need pins set I often try to make a sub-mount of brass that gets covered in apoxie but, leaves what would be my pins exposed. recently we I have been using it in place of mortar so I can stack the stones of an ancient shrine. Great stuff, you will find many uses for it.

Most excellent! Many thanks!

Yours

James

Apoxie Sculpt in the "Natural" color has passed our Oddy tests at The Field Museum. In the past, I've embedded metal, plexi, or threaded inserts into the Apoxie, or bolted through it.