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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2022
- pocket83's suggested procedure for treating musty books~
0) Risk.
This is not a professional restoration procedure. The following should be applied only after cost/benefit considerations. Damage may be incurred to books of extreme age and/or rarity through this method. As such, apply these steps only to those books that might otherwise be destroyed.
1) Dry.
Remove all moisture from the book first. Don't try to heal the wound without removing the bullet. Drying a damp book will require splaying the pages out and exposing them to airflow. In bad weather, a dehumidifier's output fan is one source for warm, dry air. Keep temperature moderate and consistent if possible. Just as fresh-cut wood must not be cured too quickly, so too with a wet book; with wet paper, a slow steady moisture reduction will best preserve the original shape of the wood pulp. Sunlight dries quickly, but it is also dramatic: for this reason, it is better to apply sun at step #5.
2) Clean.
Physically remove all visible mildew from the book by using baking soda as an abrasive. Yank the bullet. Throw away the used powder. Next, put the book into a bucket and splay out its pages. Sprinkle an entire box of baking soda over the top, gently knocking the pile down and into the spaces between the pages. Try to have some small amount between each page. Don't cover the bucket. Though airflow will be limited inside of a bucket, it's best if air circulation can still continue above it. Allow book to remain this way for as long as you can tolerate.
3) Sawdust.
Now we treat the smell. Steps 1 & 2 were mostly about stopping the decomposition process, but exposing a musty book to sawdust is about making it once again waft of fresh wood pulp. Be sure that your sawdust is dry. That might sound obvious, but lumber can really contain lots of moisture. If you haven't already stored away a bucket of clean sawdust a few weeks ago, then I suggest you air out a fresh pile in the sunlight now, before you proceed. If you're reading this lab procedure before starting (like you're supposed to), then you have the time to dry out some sawdust as your book is being dried and cleaned. Oh, yeah-step 3. Simply put the book in the bucket again, splay the pages, and cover it all with sawdust. Allow book to remain this way for as long as you can tolerate.
4) Air.
Remove all baking soda and sawdust from the book. To get the insides, position the book so that its spine faces up, and then gently agitate the pages with air. The pages face down, so direct the air down too, just like a comb is while you're combing your hair. Compressed air will work quickly, but it will also be aggressive on the pages. For this reason, limit how often you use compressed air over this entire process; try to remember that small amounts of damage are cumulative. For a more cautious approach, apply a gentle fan to the top edge of the book, and just allow any remaining powder to fall out over the course of time. One last time, allow book to remain this way for as long as you can tolerate.
5) Sun.
Expose the book to sunlight. Again, splayed pages will maximize the surface area of exposure. Remember, sunlight is a source of heat, so apply it with caution. Too much exposure to the sun will end up causing its own damage, so use moderation. Think of this step as being like baking brownies: you can't bake them any faster by turning up the oven without sooner scorching them.
6) Scent.
Covering up an odor is not an elimination of the odor. But it's still nice, and it does chase off any pesky remnant. Baby powder is mild and pleasant, and the corn starch variety has the added benefit of further smell-removal.
7) Rinse and repeat.
Don't actually rinse the book. That was a metaphor. Sure, I know by the nature of the fact that you're reading this that you're probably literate enough to've realized it, but I have to say it anyway. Just repeat the above steps (especially the sawdust and air treatments) until you're satisfied with the result. At some point, there will be a diminished return, sure. But with enough sawdust and patience, even the most stubborn, smelliest book is going to eventually smell like fresh-cut wood again. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Musty book? For my best attempt at a working procedure to fix it:
⭐⭐⭐Please read the description.⭐⭐⭐
Any thoughts on an ozone generator?
@@benjaminbrewer2154 My thoughts:
1) Mildew penetrates paper, but air-strewn O₃ does not.
2) I don't want a breathable combustion floating in the air around me.
Actually, there is a silver bullet. What's the flash point of paper? Fahrenheit 451. What temperature kill mildew? 220-250F. Ah ha. Cook your books. I'm not joking, I've been doing this for years. I put the oven on 250F and put my old used books in there. Turn many pages every few minutes (only takes a few seconds to kill mildew but oven loses temperature when you open the door). You will find that your books smell new afterwards. Only risk is sometimes the binding glue melts and you have to reglue the book. And your kitchen smells while the mildew is cooking, so open a window, start a fan.
@@artisteileen5478 yep. You are doing things to remove symptoms. Heat will solve the problem. Then use your other methods to clean up.
I worked in shipping years ago. And we had a ship that had transported fish, the fish smell was IN the paint of the holds. An old salty ship inspector (after everything else tried) got us to seal the holds and slowly burn/smolder coffee beans in the hold. It was miraculous. I've used coffee beans and course ground coffee many times since. I'd try putting it in that bucket of yours with a couple of cups of coffee grounds for a few days to get rid of lingering smell.
Question: How long did you leave your book under the sun? I was told it needs to be under it for 2 to 3 days.
speculation: car guys use ozone machines to remove bad smell. Sealed environment is required. Do not do it in the house, as you really don't want to breathe that in.
Yeah plus one for ozone. It's used in hotel industry to remove strong odors left behind by smokers and other bad smelling hotel guests.
Big Clive might have a good suggestion for an ozone generation unit.
Posted a question on the Society of Bookbinders site asking for any suggestions pocket. In the meantime I did find one tip for getting rid of the smell on their site:
If you have a book which is dry but has a strong smell of damp then you
can sort it out cheaply by using what the irreverent call a ‘stinky box’.
Take a large plastic box and put a layer of fresh cat litter in the bottom.
On top of the 1 st layer put a piece of large mesh. Stand the book on top
of the mesh with the pages fanned out is possible. Put the lid on the box
and leave it for a couple of weeks. Most of the smell should have gone
but you can repeat this as needed without changing the cat litter.
I'll post any more that come my way.
Get the thing all the way dry - Leave it somewhere warm and dry like an attic during a warm dry part of the year like end of summer, not for too long as to damage it, just to zap any moisture. Close the book in a good Ziploc bag, or better yet vacuum seal it, then leave it in the freezer for a couple days. It won't be able to take on any moisture as it warms back up coming out of the freezer because it stays in the plastic until it's completely room temperature. The cold will completely kill any mildew that's still alive in the book. The same process works well for old clothing items worth restoring. Then you can go about everything else you were already doing making sure to expose as much surface area to as much sunlight and as much air as possible. I've saved a couple first edition Frank Lloyd Wrights and a Robert Frost in this manner.
Ozone generator would be my suggestion. Like the ones they recommend for moldy/smelly car interiors. Would need to place the splayed book in an enclosure with the generator running.
Seconded. Not on books but as a carpet cleaner back in the day it was well known as a water damage recovery method.
I’ve not tried this for mildew, but I work at a wastewater treatment plant and I can attest to at least a marginal effectiveness of ozone at eliminating noxious odors. I would imagine it to be more effective with mildew than it is for hydrogen sulfide which is primarily what we’re seeking to neutralize at the plant; nothing seems to work terribly well for that.
Literally, I needed this video!!! Bought some books from eBay and they have a mild smell and mildew on them, so THANK YOU!!!
Great. This video was sorta on-the-fly, so use the method in the description. Let me know if it worked ;)
Man. I almost spit out my coke when you added a clip (The air caught to it) from my favorite movie Cast Away. 😆😆😆
I recently bought some books online that had quite a musty smell. Like yourself I tried the baking soda with little success. However, I set them fanned out behind a standing dehumider, where it draws the air in and had great effect on removing the smell.
Air flow is definitely the secret. Sunlight and will sawdust help, but air is 90% of the solution. Baking soda is worthless.
Just be careful with the UV for sunlight… it can fade the ink.
Fully agree with the smell. One idea is to open it in this fashion and let smoke (campfire or your wood stove) impregnate the pages. Has the same disinfectant properties without the fading and adds a neutral carbon “filter” and smell. I can only speculate as to why, but the tiny carbon particles likely absorb any odour like a Mini charcoal filter.
Yes, I have done this once with success (albeit inadvertently at the time) to a paperback. If nothing else Thoreau would have approved.
That is a really clever idea. Smoke is so simple, but it hadn't occurred to me. Hmmm. How to watch the moisture, though? Smoke is mostly vapor.
Ha! Thoreau _definitely_ would have approved!
@@pocket83squared My “find” was not under ideal conditions nor controlled at all, but the heat and smoke combination was enough to dry it out completely. I’ve also used this trick on a wet magazine … but sadly pages were still bowed ( too much heat vs not enough smoke). Great for towels too when no cleaning facilities are available.
Speculation: Could an incense burner have the same effect? You could hang it open with clamps and put it directly above the incense. Feels like something at church would do. Maybe, call the Vatican and see how they deal with old books. lol
@@VagabondTE I think it is the micro particles of carbon suspended in the smoke which does the cleaning. I am not sure of how the oils etc from incense would-may do to the paper, yet alone the peppermint! ✌️
I wonder if a bee smoker would help get smoke deeper into the splayed pages.
This video is a great resource, thank you!
Glad you think so. Thanks ;)
Clotrimazole dusting powder (you can get it at pharmacies, and it's cheap in my country, but I don't know about yours) is at least just as effective as baking soda, and it also has the advantage of having talc in it (if you get thw good stuff) which abaorbs the spores and smell too. Good if you don't have access to fresh dry wood shavings, as wet wood is only going to exacerbate the issue of mould.
Source: I've studied microbiology for 6 years now and am planning on continuing for some more. If your book has glossy pages, a folded sheet of tissue dampened with white distilled vinegar also works to get the surface mycelium off fast if you catch it in the initial stages of invasion.
Also, the fluff-up can be fixed by putting the book into a vice at pressure in a (very) mildly humid atmosphere.
Thank you!!
THE AIR GOT TO IT! 🤣 Had to watch the Polyurethane vid immediately afterward. Thank you for your videos. You inspire me.
I've never tried it on books, but for plants that get mildew/moldy, cinnamon is sprinkled on top, its apparently antifungal and seems to work for them, so might be worth a shot (and smells way better than mold!)
Would an ozone machine work well? I hear they are used as a disinfectant but idk
Try vinegar in an open jar next to the book - maybe i a closed container. Vinegar removes Tobacco smells and other strong odours, normally. Havent tried it against mildew, but vinegar is my go-to odour killer
I had some success with unscented dryer sheets. In a larger area, I found a desiccant to help as well. Maybe a combination of the two?
Very, very dry dirt can be hugely effective in deodorising, especially soft fabrics. The clay cat litter is great, but actual dirt put besides a dehumidifier and ground repeatedly produces a very effective cleanser, though any moisture will cause it to stick and stain, so probably not useful for books.
My understanding is that it’s a strain of bacteria doing it; we’ve used the same stuff for a few centuries in earth closet toilets.
my aunt died in her apartment. The profesional clean up crew after all there chemicals to wipe up liquids used an ionizer for days to eliminate the odor...it worked.
I love the Castaway bit lol
Interesting! Thank you! How about that scented sawdust they use as cat litter? 🙂
How bout some red cedar sawdust?
No suggestions or relevant comment about mildew, just wanted to say thanks for an interesting video.
You got it. Keep your books dry ;)
Just a thought. High chance it doesn't work but I'm throwing it out there because I'm just brainstorming here. But if you make a sort of sandwich style book press with 2 boards and 4 bolts (or more) with wing nuts to flatten the book out as a diy book press, but then throw the whole thing in the oven at 175 or 180 or whatever the lowest an oven can get to. This could potentially help with both problems as the heat should hopefully kill any mold or mildew at that temp and the heat will help to flatten the pages back out like heat bending wood (edit : you could even wrap the book in an envelope of parchment paper if you are concerned about the mildew getting into the oven) . Though if it is a rare book I can understand not wanting to try it. And yeah the paper should be fine at those temps as long as whatever glues and binders they used also don't degrade from the heat.
As always, thanks for the video pocket!
Interesting idea. My only concern would be the page is sticking together. Maybe you could give the pages a flip every so often as they dry. And you wouldn't need a full press. Just something heavy.
I like the bucket idea. How about using a hair dryer?! 🙂
Ozone! but i would also try some Organic solvent to replace all moisture, maybe baking it out afterwards.
Yes! lots of people forgot about that giant fireballs power to sterilize things.
This might be a dumb question, but would some sort of vacuum chamber do it? I know that when things that are going to be used in a medical or culinary setting are manufactured, they often get a pass in a pressure chamber to kill off various contaminants. Canning food uses vacuum to prevent mold and bacteria growth. If you're going to do this again, maybe try that bucket setup again, but instead of dunking it in sawdust, try making a top that'd let you put it under a low vacuum pressure.
I would reccommend ozone generatot. It shouldn't harm paper, but if cover is made in part from rubber (glue?), it could destroy it in longer exposure - 20 min operation, mayby 1 h exposure should be fine. O3 destroy odor (from pets in house etc.), but also kills microorganisms (bonus!). I bought one for desinfecting groseris, it is definitely worth it! I paid like 12$ for one (I'm from Poland, so price may be different). Ozone can also desinfect masks and filters (but destroy robber!), toys, car vent etc. Just dont drink it! Sollotions of O3 in water can clean mold (like weak bleach), but some "health guru's" recommend consuming it (welcome to the internet, I guess). Just put the book in the bucket, open pages, close lid, put house in small holl in the lid, turn on for 20, wait 60, if nesesserry repeat. Alternativelly garbage bag wotks too. Just try not to inhale O3, open the windows after opening container, or open it ourside.
P.S. English is my 2nd language, and I'm resting afrer work (old fasion, would reccommend, 8/10), so sorry for painfull grammar. :/
P.P.S. Love your videos and interresting sollutions for small daily problems. :)
Your like my doppelganger
...First I see your saw Mill, then your video on restoring an old book, and then you say its a Thoreau. Check, check, check. When are you buildi g a small cabin.
Fine Aromatic Cedar sawdust. You want maximum surface area. That and time.
well bummer... Wish I had seen this a few days ago. Had my basement flood earlier this week and a few of boxes of books I had sitting on the floor had the bottom layers or two soaked. I ended up just throwing away a bunch of them since I didn't think there was any coming back. But after watching this and reading some of the comments I think I could have saved some of them. Oh well, nothing major was lost, some sentimental favorites that are easily replaced, and a few old college textbooks that if I'm being honest I never would have opened again (it's just hard to get rid of something that cost $250 haha).
Speculation: How would a uv lamp compare with support?
Have you tried using ozone? I haven't tried it on a musty book but it's worked wonders for me with both smokey car interiors and pet odors in carpet.
I see some others have also suggested it. I think that by splaying the pages as you did with the fan and placing it in a sealed container with the ozone generator would give good results. The container could be left outside to avoid any concerns about ozone exposure.
Also, I seem to remember reading that museums sometimes use ozone on fabrics and paper as part of the preservation process.
baking soda is a salt and thus helps to draw out water. also, if possible a vacuum chamber with cat litter at the bottom would be the least destructive way of drying out a book.
I've made some good experience with vinegar on wallpaper.
It was recommended to be me by an antiquary.
People coming in from the street would just go through the front door and urinate in the stairwell because asking the restaurant right next to the door is just too much of a shameful experience...
Deer lord, I miss living in the city 🦌
Gently spraying the wallpaper with a 1:1 mixture of water and vinegar was enough for most of the corridor. For the corner that was apparently "used" most, we wiped it with a solution containing more vinegar than water and then applied soda.
The smell was gone after two applications (it came again after another tenant moved in and let the door open but that's off the point).
If books are anything like wallpaper, I guess there should be a way to make it work.
I would probably try putting the splayed book in a container with a bowl of vinegar and using temperature to regulate the speed of evaporation together with a (very) small opening to control the speed of volatilisation.
Drying with baking soda is probably easier and quicker but I would just forget the whole setup for a day and soak the book 😛
🦌👑🤤🏙
I have the same issue of books that wreak so badly, they are also 'making my face itch' and my throat sore... I've tried the freezer method and an ozone light, without satisfactory effectiveness. I'm afraid to use the microwave and it rains too much in England to try the sun with the large number of books I have... Trying the oven at a not-too-hot temperature next.
Probably damage the book(s) some, but when they are that bad, the only other option is to throw them away. Unfortunately for me, my entire library of books has this problem after being stored in an unheated room for several years. 😫
I wonder if a vacuum chamber would pull out the smell-producing microbes/particles.
I have used baking soda in the past after someone gave me a book stinking of forbreeze which I find detestable.
Man, Febreeze is the worst!
I'd rather smell pure mildew than a mix of Febreeze & mildew!
"Tenacity is the solution" ..Thoreau would approve
Cedar has anti fungal properties
I wonder if a vacuum chamber will kill mold. It wouldn't clean it, but may kill whatever is there.
Speculation: I'm surprised noone has suggested cleaning vinegar. I guess they're too busy suggesting.. *checks comments *.. ozone generators?? Anyway, I would try drying the book, lightly spritzing vinegar with a spray bottle, then drying again.
I don't really like deodorizing with vinegar but we have three cats and it is effective. And if there is a vinegar smell it will eventually dissipate. And it makes a good foundation to follow up with other scents.
Further Speculation: Once the bad smell problem has been fixed, would a few drops of scented oil good idea?
Re: speculation- clove oil?
Would be nice if they'd come up with a laser cleaning method that could clean and disinfect books/pages of mildew and mold as well as stains, etc. I've searched for it on TH-cam but apparently it isn't "a thing" -- yet.?.? Apparently lasers can only clean non-paper items.
Never had to try it. But I'd imagine closing the bucket and sticking a little ozone generator in there might do something.
I thought the same!
I don't know, but I also wonder. It would have to work at least _some,_ right? That said, I can't and won't recommend it; O₃ is a poisonous airborne burn, and it's likely that it won't be able to penetrate as deeply into a book as mildew does.
Think of the way a blowtorch scorches wood on its surface, but does not burn the insides of it. Ozone might have a comparable (limited) affect.
@@pocket83squared my thought is that having it sit in the bucket with the generator, may allow time for the gas to diffuse into the pages. And one of those little battary powered generators for deodorizing the inside of cars can't introduce more ozone than there is oxygen already inside.
So the concentration can't get super high.
I've used that method to deodorize a used fridge. That worked fine
Good ventilation in the room you're doing this in is obviously a must.
The idea of closing the bucket makes me think of a butterfly killing jar. They always say not to mix your ammonia and bleach cleaners. Would slapping clorox and ammonia together in a cup in the bucket with a tight fitting lid produce fumes that would, in effect, fumigate the book? Of course, that's dangerous and might smell worse. Just spitballing.
I liked the vacuum idea but I'd think that once the vacuum is broken, unless the moisture was removed from the vicinity/surface of the book, it would return to the book when the vacuum was broken... So I am thinking a vacuum chamber with some hygroscopic dust in between the pages under vacuum. Baking soda, kitty litter, diatomaceous earth, silica gel... Off the shelf solution: food saver bags could work but I think the corners and edges of the cover would need to be protected, maybe the 10 cup container they sell might be a better vessel if making one wasn't attractive.
Baking soda saw dust sun
here is another speculative attempt at killing off stuff: perhaps you can pplace the book into a vacuum bag (preferrably after sundrying), remove air and moisture (through vacuum creation) and freeze it in a nofrost refrigerator. Test the effects of freezing on a disposable item first.
Try ozone... its a great deodorizer and will kill mold and mildew. I've never tried it on a book, but I use aqueos ozone to deodorize and disinfect surfaces in my home. Of course, I would not use aqueous form to clean a book.
Dry cleaning fluid or other non-wetting solvent?
For easy access to cedar sawdust, you can buy some hamster bedding shavings and dump a few handfuls in the blender.
If you want to flatten the book, you could iron each page flat xD
:)
SMH, hardly any epoxy or BBs
Burning the book would be an easy way to get rid of 100% of the odor. It would also make it 100% less readable. You win some you lose some.
Dog ws deep in the book
Freeze dry the book...
Many people are suggesting ozone generators, which can work but can also make smells worse. Ozone is extremely reactive, and it can react with molecules in ways you haven't considered including reacting with non-target molecules. It can neutralize the odors, it can change a bad smell to a different bad smell, it can neutralize or make the smell better, or it can 'set' the smell and make it resistant to other remediation techniques. Additionally, ozone is a horrible thing to breathe and will wreck havoc on your lungs, if not immediately then in your future.
I have some sort ocf communist UFO conspiracy book that i picked up because it seemed funny. It has like a funky damp, rotten smell to it, is it the same problem as this?
Yes. Mildew is very common in such basement-dweller books.
First? 🤣