Interleave pages with paper towel, and press (weights are ok, doesn't need a
bookbinding press) the books while they dry. Rotate the paper towels out and
allow them to dry out in open air. Sewing interfacing is good between the
books, if you do them in a stack (not the iron-on kind, just pellon). The
mold is going to be a bitch, though. You might find some information at
http://www.cbbag.ca/, at least it will be a good jumping off point. The
other thing worth trying, if it is a really bad case of mold, is to expose
the books to formaldehyde crystals in a sealed garbage can. You can't really
de-innoculate paper, once it is innoculated with mold, all you can do is
ensure that they don't stay in conditions for the mold to grow (ie dry is
good). I wouldn't put moldy books on the same shelf with unmoldy books, the
mold travels pretty easily. Wet and un-moldy books should be segregated from
the moldy ones, immediately. Freezing helps arrest mold, and is a pretty
good stop gap if you have more stuff than you can deal with (ie bag and
freeze the lot, defrost and dry a few books, repeat till done).
If you hit a wall, let me know, I have lots of contacts with bookbinders and
bookbinding, book conservation etc.
Adam Smith
Midland, ON, Canada
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gunner Asch"
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 5:24 PM
Subject: Wet books?
I scored quite a number of books from the leftover yard sale tables up
at the cat rescue place Ive been donating my Saturdays for the past
month or so. But many of the batch I got this past saturday, have
gotten wet, some are moldy.
Any quick and simple methods for drying them out? Other than sticking
them in the oven for a couple days?
And no..I dont have a vacuum chamber big enough ..G
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner
"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
I scored quite a number of books from the leftover yard sale tables up
at the cat rescue place Ive been donating my Saturdays for the past
month or so. But many of the batch I got this past saturday, have
gotten wet, some are moldy.
Any quick and simple methods for drying them out? Other than sticking
them in the oven for a couple days?
And no..I dont have a vacuum chamber big enough ..G
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner