Can I salvage my ‘jellied’ rollers?

Years ago, after using my Kelsey 3x5 press, I coated the rollers with petroleum jelly to keep them from drying out like my first set did. Well, after all those years of storage, they certainly didn’t dry out, but the petroleum jelly has penetrated them and turned them to jelly. They look good, but one touch confirms they are unusable.

Is there any way to reverse this stupid mistake? How can they be de-jellied?

Log in to reply   3 replies so far

Sounds like your former rollers were either the old composition formula, or polyurethane. In both cases the roller material will, after a period of time, self-distruct, no matter what you try to do to protect them. This is especially evident when the rollers have been exposed to heat and humidity. I don’t know if coating rollers with petroleum jelly is a bad thing (others could comment on this), but it was not a stupid idea to try. Get your existing cores stripped & recoated and get back to printing!

Jim

prob not

send them to me and I will make them look new