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:

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


Can't remember exactly but when the ex worked at a used book store, they
often took moldy books (not really bad ones) and gave em a shot in the
microwave.

For water damage (wrinkled pages), not much worked. They got a little
better by extended pressing with a heavy weight (at least sat on the
shelves better). Every once in a while, you'd get one that came out
like new but that was rare. You might be able to scab together a book
press with an old acme screw, a handwheel and some of that iron you seem
to so often scrounge.

Or....if you really need a vacuum chamber you might try Rush's head

Koz (who couldn't resist taking a cheap shot)

"Gunner Asch" wrote: 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. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What I recall about libraries that have been flooded, the job of preserving
and restoring wet books is difficult. If too much time passes, they begin
to mildew. It's probably too late for this, and impractical, but I believe
that damaged valuable books are placed in a freezer to prevent
deterioration.

To me, the interesting part of your post is that you have been working
Saturdays to help build them a sheltered area out of donated metal garage
doors. This is terrific--I hope you are taking pictures. Please post them
so the rest of us can see what a good guy you are, in spite of your
right-wing leanings.

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

Oh and BTW: small bits of scrap in small cardboard boxes make great
bookbinding weights. My twenty year old 154-cm knifemaking offcuts are still
seeing service in my Mom's bookbinding studio. A press is nice, but it is
amazing the things you can do with boards and weights.

Adam


"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

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 22:24:26 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

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


I think I remember hearing of putting them in a vacuum chamber.
Randy
--
Randy Replogle

http://www.chem.purdue.edu/machine

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 14:38:59 -0800, Koz
wrote:



Gunner Asch wrote:

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


Can't remember exactly but when the ex worked at a used book store, they
often took moldy books (not really bad ones) and gave em a shot in the
microwave.

For water damage (wrinkled pages), not much worked. They got a little
better by extended pressing with a heavy weight (at least sat on the
shelves better). Every once in a while, you'd get one that came out
like new but that was rare. You might be able to scab together a book
press with an old acme screw, a handwheel and some of that iron you seem
to so often scrounge.

Or....if you really need a vacuum chamber you might try Rush's head

Koz (who couldn't resist taking a cheap shot)


Chuckle..I thought the Left thought he was over inflated and pompus?
Ill see if I can dig up a Liberal..perhaps Pelosi..for a high vacuum.
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

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 22:24:26 GMT, Gunner Asch wrote:


snip

And no..I dont have a vacuum chamber big enough ..G


Build one!!!


Mark Rand
RTFM

In article ,
Gunner Asch wrote:

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

Use a vacuum BAG, it'll dry and press together

--
Free men own guns, slaves don't
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/

Professional restorers use freeze drying. I don't know if you need a
hard vacuume for that. As long as you can get the ice to sublimate to
vapor it should work. Good luck.
73 Gary

I don't reccomend using the microwave. When I tried it the glue in the
binding softened up and the pages fell out.
Engineman

"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

I've heard that cat litter is good for absorbing odors from old documents.
Probably best if it hasn't been used by a cat first.

I wonder if just leaving them in a freezer for an extended time would dry
them out - kind of a low grade freeze dryer.

I have always had good luck just hanging wet books on clothes line out
doors on a nice sunny day. They will never be quite the same again,
maybe a little wrinkly.
You live in Bakersfield so finding a sunny day should be no hard task.
Works for wet cats also.....

The University of Hawaii Library did basically the same thing when it was
flooded. They used bushes.
Karl

"daniel peterman" wrote in message
...
I have always had good luck just hanging wet books on clothes line out
doors on a nice sunny day. They will never be quite the same again,
maybe a little wrinkly.
You live in Bakersfield so finding a sunny day should be no hard task.
Works for wet cats also.....

In article , Adam Smith says...

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 ...

Has anyone ever considered irradiating books to scramble the mold's
genetic information? This is how they treat foods, basically just
run them under a high flux cobalt source.

I could imagine that curing the problem once and for all.

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , Adam Smith says...

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 ...

Has anyone ever considered irradiating books to scramble the mold's
genetic information? This is how they treat foods, basically just
run them under a high flux cobalt source.

I could imagine that curing the problem once and for all.

Jim


A very interesting question! I don't know the answer. Back when I did my own
bookbinding/book conservation training (about 15 years ago, and I've never
practised), it was not something that was part of the standard practise. But
now ... ? I will forward your question to a few people that need to hear the
idea, if it is not being done now. I'll let you know if your idea is a new
thought. It actually might be, since conservators are, unsurprisingly, a
very conservative lot.

BTW, I referenced formaldehyde, because that is what I was taught, but the
traditional chemical is paranitrophenol. The conservator that was training
me felt that formaldehyde was just as effective, no more toxic (both are
very, I'm afraid), and easier to source.

Also BTW, the people that have been referencing vacuum chambers, as well as
freezing, are quite correct that those are techniques that get used. I
recall reading an account of the folks that dealt with the Venice flood,
which swamped a medieval library there, and I seem to recall that both
freezing and vacuum chambers were in play (along with prodigious amounts of
labour). If I were Gunner, I'd still go with paper towel and pressing,
though, rotating out the damp towels to air dry. But if he has a high flux
cobalt source handy, and tries your idea, I definitely want to hear about
it.

Adam Smith,
Midland, ON, Canada



--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

Doesn't some cat litter use silica as an ingrediant?

Couldn't that be used in a large dessicant container?

Another thought is to build a solar low temperature oven to speed the
drying process.

TMT

On 6 Dec 2005 07:57:05 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, jim rozen
quickly quoth:

In article , Adam Smith says...

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 ...

Has anyone ever considered irradiating books to scramble the mold's
genetic information? This is how they treat foods, basically just
run them under a high flux cobalt source.

I could imagine that curing the problem once and for all.

Neighbor, could I borrow your Mr. Gamma Food Irradiator for a few
minutes, please?


--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is it such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet?

In article , Larry Jaques says...

Has anyone ever considered irradiating books to scramble the mold's
genetic information? This is how they treat foods, basically just
run them under a high flux cobalt source.

I could imagine that curing the problem once and for all.

Neighbor, could I borrow your Mr. Gamma Food Irradiator for a few
minutes, please?

Well, if you think about it, this is what the problem really
'boils' down to.

To make food safe for consumption, one needs to scramble the DNA
of whatever organisms happen to be inside the food. Bacteria,
parasites, etc.

Cooking does that, mostly.

That doesn't work for mold spores because they're heat resistant. But
they're not resistant to high energy photons though.

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

Will it kill prions? If we don't find some way to destroy them soon it
seems we have three options:
Go vegetarian
Adopt Kosher buchering techniques ie. don't open the skull or split
the spinal colume.
Have a mass epidemic of mad cow/chronic wasting desease.
Normal cooking heat wont kill them it takes over 850 degrees F.

73 Gary

On 7 Dec 2005 08:20:54 -0800, Gary wrote:
Will it kill prions? If we don't find some way to destroy them soon it
seems we have three options:

I was just wondering the same thing.

Gary wrote:
Will it kill prions?

Isn't a prion a little GM car? Or a Toyota or something?
--
HZ

The FEMA web site has a good article on wet books

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 22:24:26 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

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
Bill

www.wbnoble.com

to contact me, do not reply to this message,
instead correct this address and use it

will iam_ b_ No ble at msn daught com

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 22:24:26 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:

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


You haven't been paying attention, shame on you.

Bag 'em with desiccant. It sure works with electronic stuff. It
revived my fishing sonars and treasured HP calculators I thought were
toast with great chagrin and pitiful wailing.

Ping me if you wanna know a supplier for a whole buncha desiccant for
under $30, or google it. I'm too lazy to hunt for it unless you're
interested.

Gypsum is a pretty good desiccant. Might be that pulverized drywall
baked in an oven would do the job. The desiccant bags I use are
gypsum. I had more than a lifetime supply I got for thirtybux but
I've already given most of it away.

I think I remember hearing of putting them in a vacuum chamber.
Randy

Oops! My wife says I'm not very observant.
Randy