AR
Well-known member
Earlier this year some Masson CG members were in Cumberland and found yet more sprayed graffiti. Nothing new there, but some particularly mindless idiot had decided to spray their tag over the "Land of Dope and Story" slab - see the July picture. Generally, I've dealt with spray paint by wirebrushing but in this case, that wasn't going to be an option given the original smoked graffiti underneath.
Having read up on alternative methods, I decided to try solvent-based removal. Armed with various glues and solvents from my garage, I experimented on spots that weren't over the smoking. This proved that evo-stik contact adhesive shifted the majority of the spray paint (if you rolled it around like a giant bogey...), while xylene would dissolve much of the remainder. I then carefully tried a bit over the smoking, and was delighted to find that very little of the carbide soot came away - game on!
However, this inital session taught me another lesson, which was that exposure to solvent fumes in a confined space isn't good for you - I probably wasn't in a fit state to drive home that night and I had a splitting headche the next day. I was advised to get a chemical filter mask, which I did.
Subsequent sessions were better for my health and more productive, with the result that after last Tuesday's session, there's not much left of the spray paint. I want to do one last mop-up with xylene but I'm really pleased with the result; I'm intending to do a more detailed paper for Cave & Karst Science about the methodology
Having read up on alternative methods, I decided to try solvent-based removal. Armed with various glues and solvents from my garage, I experimented on spots that weren't over the smoking. This proved that evo-stik contact adhesive shifted the majority of the spray paint (if you rolled it around like a giant bogey...), while xylene would dissolve much of the remainder. I then carefully tried a bit over the smoking, and was delighted to find that very little of the carbide soot came away - game on!
However, this inital session taught me another lesson, which was that exposure to solvent fumes in a confined space isn't good for you - I probably wasn't in a fit state to drive home that night and I had a splitting headche the next day. I was advised to get a chemical filter mask, which I did.
Subsequent sessions were better for my health and more productive, with the result that after last Tuesday's session, there's not much left of the spray paint. I want to do one last mop-up with xylene but I'm really pleased with the result; I'm intending to do a more detailed paper for Cave & Karst Science about the methodology