John Hupcey wrote about an original Duo-Art roll with brittle
paper [131221 MMDigest].  I purchased a Haines Ampico last year,
including a number of rolls from a gentleman who said he had
treated many of his old rolls -- not recuts -- with spray "pure
silicone", and was able to reduce their brittleness and improve
flexibility.  He would stretch out a long portion of a roll on
a work surface and treat it in an outside building.

I subsequently searched out spray silicone which claimed to be
"pure" (most do not, but I don't know what the difference might
be) and found product #57555 by Kellogg's Professional Products.
It states "contains no oils, water or waxes," "won't spot, won't
stain," and lists as ingredients Heptane, Tetracholroethylene (sic),
Propane/Isobutane/N-Butane, and Dimethylsiloxane.  Product #57555
is also called Pure, but has other ingredients as well.

Castle Products has a 99.1% pure silicone spray with similar
propellants but contains Polydimethylsiloxane instead of Dimethyl.
Both Castle and Kellogg's products are sold on Amazon.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried such a treatment, with these
or similar products, with or without success, and whether it can
help or hurt original roll paper.  I presume any tears would need
to be repaired before treatment.

Roger Angell
Worley, Idaho
rgangell@gmail.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]