Capn’s Reviews > A Walk Out of the World > Status Update
Capn
is on page 11 of 192
...anyone got any solution for VERY musty old books? Bob Villa says cornstarch overnight. I'm compelled to try this, because the microbes that eat paper might prefer to much much starch than cellulose, and also because the kitty litter and baking soda and newspaper (and dryer sheets, urgh - I don't want to ADD more stink!) methods are all week-long endeavours.
Are there odor-absorbing bookmarks?
— Dec 01, 2022 08:51AM
Are there odor-absorbing bookmarks?
2 likes · Like flag
Capn’s Previous Updates
Capn
is on page 191 of 192
Finished, but will have to sleep on it to decide what to say about it. ;)
— Dec 06, 2022 02:44PM
Capn
is on page 120 of 192
Might review this as "Tolkien-lite", alongside the Alderley books of Garner: warm-up to the big show of LotR when attention spans can cope.
A White City with usurper ruler in place of the exiled king, sentient forests, dwarves under mtns (& kobolds), bird spies, a council called, a party of diverse characters against poor odds, Lady Iorwen is white and ancient yet young (sees images in fire), Angwen is her decendant
— Dec 05, 2022 12:48PM
A White City with usurper ruler in place of the exiled king, sentient forests, dwarves under mtns (& kobolds), bird spies, a council called, a party of diverse characters against poor odds, Lady Iorwen is white and ancient yet young (sees images in fire), Angwen is her decendant
Capn
is on page 29 of 192
Cornstarch WORKED! Back to acceptable levels of mustiness! Forgot to put starch between a single pair of pages, and those pages did smell more strongly. So you have to powder each and every page, which = a lot of clean-up (water soluble, at least - kitchen sink!). Not efficient, though. For a whole box, I'd try rice as per Hilary, or dehumidifiers (hoard and repurpose all those little silicon drying packets?)
— Dec 03, 2022 07:00AM
Capn
is on page 28 of 192
(Temp. disruption: in cornstarch. Didn't fit in the rice container. Will update on efficacy of the cornstarch vs. musty old book smell technique!)
— Dec 02, 2022 07:41AM
Capn
is on page 27 of 192
It's available for free on OpenLibrary!!! :D
So the question now is: do I lob this dank and musty book into a jar of rice, and then follow-up with Bob Villa's cornstarch trick (dude has NEVER let me down..!) and read the online version? Or do I stick the stink out? (It's either getting better with use, or I'm going nose-blind).
— Dec 02, 2022 05:58AM
So the question now is: do I lob this dank and musty book into a jar of rice, and then follow-up with Bob Villa's cornstarch trick (dude has NEVER let me down..!) and read the online version? Or do I stick the stink out? (It's either getting better with use, or I'm going nose-blind).
Capn
is starting
Thank you, SEM, for this recommendation. :) Book one of the FANTASY READATHON at Middle Grade Madness: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
— Dec 01, 2022 07:49AM
Comments Showing 1-14 of 14 (14 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Sem
(new)
-
rated it 4 stars
Dec 01, 2022 11:26AM
I wish I did. I have a very large collection of vintage sci-fi that I sort of inherited and I can't display most of it. Baking soda works to some degree but takes forever. The only added stink that I can tolerate is Nilodor and it doesn't remove the smell so much as disguise it. There's no active mildew; it's just the smell in the paper. I doubt if even a good airing would get rid of it.
reply
|
flag
I can tolerate it. It might mean intentionally sitting in a draught to lessen it, but I shall soldier on! It does have that rust-coloured 'foxing' going on (does that equate to mildew?! I'm lacking specific knowledge on the Library-sciences front!). :)After I finish, I'll try this cornstarch trick and see if there's any merit to it! I don't want to mess with the pH of the paper (scared to!).
Putting in a container with some rice is meant to be good for drawing out moisture!
Foxing is a bit of a mystery. In older books I think it's most likely from oxidation. I don't mind reading a book with a mildew odour - at least I'm not allergic to it as I am to ink - but a shelf full of mildewed books stinks up the room.
Hilary wrote: "Putting in a container with some rice is meant to be good for drawing out moisture!"Oh good idea, Hilary! Thanks! :) I have a jar of rice of unknown provenance that will come in very handy, too! XD Sweet deal - solving a pantry problem at the same time. :)
Sem wrote: "Foxing is a bit of a mystery. In older books I think it's most likely from oxidation. I don't mind reading a book with a mildew odour - at least I'm not allergic to it as I am to ink - but a shelf ..."Ink allergy? One of the VOCs involved with transferring ink to paper? :S Sounds unpleasant. Though a good excuse to avoid the Xerox machine! :D
The ink used in newspapers and new mass market paperbacks. They may have changed inks by now and eliminated whatever it was although, in my experience, eliminating one allergen/irritant often means introducing a new one. I'll be interested to see how your cornstarch trick works but I'm pretty sure that Bob Vila wasn't envisioning using it on hundreds of books at a time. Right now, my inherited musty books are in plastic storage containers with tight lids,
Oh man, what a drag. I'm sorry to hear about that allergy (contact dermatitis, or respiratory? I guess either way the only solution is avoidance and corticosteroids. Bummer). :S A nice reason to invest in the luxury editions though, right?! :D Just going to vacuum off the cornstarch. Terribly messy business - already have the feeling that it might be quite a lot of trouble...
Good for the cornstarch manufacturers. :) Not sure what it was. It made the inside of my mouth and nose feel as if they'd been sucked dry of moisture and I could taste the ink. Yuck. Just had to be in the same room with a newspaper. A VOC seems likely since whatever it is wears off after a while. My mass market paperback phase is long gone. Those are the books I buy for Kindle now. My shelf space is saved for better things. :D
Ah excellent! Yes, that's a great use for Kindle! Makes total sense. :)Oh, that does sound unpleasant. There's at least one perfume additive/constituent that does that for me. I don't know what it is, but it's not super common (only some scents seem to have it), and of course it's indescribable (a carrier or base note or something? Can't tell).. but if someone's wearing it downtown or on the bus or train, or if I walk by the outflow of a perfumery, I TASTE that stupid nauseating smell for hours! :S It's seriously disgusting! Very happy that it doesn't happen too often. And thankful it's not newspaper or books - those would be tougher to avoid, for sure!
There were upsides to Covid. Face masks seemed to eliminate that problem! Only recurring now. ;)
I still wear a mask. I've always wanted to and now it doesn't look weird. Or not as weird. Great for allergens. Perfumes.... Don't get me started. According to DermNet there are dozens of potential allergens in perfume.
(can't link, but a Michael Prince dot ca link says:)Apparently cat litter (separate container, but enclosed in same greater system.. for a MONTH) deodorizes and dehumidifies to an appreciable extent. Worth a shot if you're not wanting to read the old sci-fi collection in the near future anyway.
As for perfumes, well - NO SCENTS MAKE SENSE, as the hospital signs say! :)
I've thought of cat litter but I didn't want to fork out for it unless I was sure that baking soda wasn't good enough. The first batch I did worked quite well. The current batch, not so much. I need an industrial operation here. XD The books vary in their whiffiness. I feel bad for them because it would be a valuable collection if it didn't smell.
