How do you stop brittle canvas from tearing further?

[mrhell]

I have a WWII canvas bag that has a small area that is brittle. It looks like it may be old battery acid and I notice that in that small spot, the canvas tears very easily. Is there a way to stop this tear? Will superglue work? The rest of the bag is decent, the affected area is less than an half-inch in diameter.

[Bluehawk]

Please don't use superglue - that's a cyanoacrylate adhesive which tends to evaporate with time, and will eventually just become as fragile as the canvas.

 

Not being able to see and touch the piece in person, the general diagnosis could be that it may be possible to gently infuse the area with plain water (and maybe even a tiny bit of either castille soap or Ivory) using a eye-dropper and Q-tips, thereby dilute whatever remains of whatever caused the deterioration several times until it becomes essentially gone or at least neutral.

 

But, once that kind of thing gets started, I don't believe there's much you can do to stabilize or reverse it. Of course, "in the field" the GI would probably have sewn on a patch of some sort, or tried to pull the tear together with sewn thread.

 

I'd really have to see a picture of it to do any better for you than this...

[Captainofthe7th]

It sounds like your canvas is dry rotted...there is a product on the market called Can-Vac (i think) that you can apply to canvas pieces to preserve them and reduce dry rot. From a reenactor stand point, it's magic. However, some collectors might not like it if it has a chemical content. Just one suggestion, to each his own.

 

Rob