AKICILJ: repairing cardboard tiles

[zwol]

I have a bunch of cardboard tiles (specifically, Carcassonne game pieces) on which tea was spilt, and so have come slightly delaminated at the edges. Right now they're mostly okay but it looks like with continued use they might get seriously frayed or even split. Can anyone suggest a way to repair them or at least stop further damage? The only idea I've had so far is applying dilute Elmer's glue to the edges with a brush, but that might only make things worse.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

Soaking thin superglue (the non-gap-filling kind) into the edges would probably do the trick.

I think the Elmer's trick would work pretty well, too. Might be worth a test on some scrap cardboard.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Hmm, as with nail varnish (below), I'm worried the solvent might damage the printing. Occurs to me I don't actually know what the solvent in Elmer's is, either. Maybe what I need is library paste.

[brooksmoses]

A fair concern. I can ask andres_s_p_b if he has any punch-out pieces from games to test on, or advice.

The solvent in Elmer's is just water; it's apparently not so much a solvent per se as the liquid part of an emulsion.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind asking your friend, that would be great.

[mapache]

Yeah, I would go with white glue (Elmer's). At some point, I used a dot to fix up the edge of a tile in some board game that was splitting, and it worked. Be sure to press down the tiles after applying the glue to get them flat, and wipe off any excess, but be careful not to get the tile stuck to either pressing surface, as that will damage the printing. I'm not certain that Elmer's is acid-free and will stand the test of decades, but I think it should okay.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll try that, then. Did you dilute the glue at all?

PVA

[tkil.livejournal.com]

Occurs to me I don't actually know what the solvent in Elmer's is, either.

Not sure I can answer entirely correctly, but standard white glue is PVAc in water. It's the same basic stuff sold as a primer / sealant for drywall; I had good success using a slightly diluted solution of white glue and water (1:1) for sealing some drywall before applying latex paint.

I suspect that library paste is also based on PVA, but with less water (or some other solvent that wouldn't swell the paper underneath it). Hm... Wikipedia claims it's just water plus a starch. Interesting.

Good luck!

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

clear nail varnish?

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Maybe, but I'm worried the solvent might make the printing (on the face of the tile) bleed. If I'd kept the waste cardboard from punching out all the tiles I could test it, but cleverly I threw that away :/