>> Haven't we heard at sometime on the list that "lithographers gum" isn't
>> really gum arabic but is really a synthetic polymer? Possibly it is
>> polyvinyl alcohol or a similar stuff? This cropped up somewhere in my
>> research on gum.
> Judy says:
>I know, Dick, that you don't believe everything you hear, because I
>myself, personally, have told you things you didn't believe.
I don't think I was being absolute about it, I posed it as a question.
>For one thing, PVA is generally much more expensive, so why sell it for
>less than it brings? For another, what crook (and s/he would have to be a
>crook, since the label says "pure gum arabic") would add colorants to make
>their "gum" dark brown when natural PVA is relatively if not completely
>pale? For yet another, many customers would know the difference and raise
>holy hell...
I have some 3M stuff here that is called "R Process Gum" it says nothing
about it being Arabian or any other ethnicity. It is clear white with no
coloring. PVA is expensive, but that is relative, expecially when you are
buying it by the ton. I would venture to say that the bottle, label
screening, and cap costs more than the contents, whether gum arabic or PVA.
Since you say yours is actually labeled "gum arabic", you are probably
right in your assertions that it is gum arabic. My 3M stuff is still in
doubt and could be any number of things.
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