Re: [BKARTS] clay-coated paper stuck together

[William Minter <wminter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Aug 28, 2006, at 9:23 PM, Susie Lunas wrote:

> I was wondering if any new techniques have popped up regarding opening 
> or
> releasing pages that have stuck together due to water or dampness.  I 
> have
> several items that at one time got wet, and the clay-coated paper has 
> stuck
> together.
******************************
The following is not a solution for you, but certainly something that 
needs to be passed along to people who can research this further:
In Chicago, many years ago, Bill and Bob from Graphic Conservation, 
Inc. purchased a small vacuum (freeze) dryer for some disaster recovery 
work. In preparation for a talk to the Chicago Area Conservation Group 
(CACG), they wetted some clay coated encyclopedias. After freezing, the 
books were vacuum dried at various(?) pressures at various(?) 
temperatures --- as I recall, no heat was added, simply the ambient 
temperature was used. I found it very interesting that some of those 
clay coated paper test books dried without the pages sticking together 
--- contrary to what many of us had experienced. I have always wondered 
if anyone has done any more work with that idea.
As far as I know, most every company that does vacuum freeze drying 
adds heat to the process. If I understand correctly, the heat speeds up 
the process, thus shortening the time required. There may be some who 
will argue with me on this statement, and I look forward to their 
reply.

As to whether or not you could rewet the books and have them vacuum 
freeze dried, I tend to doubt that it would work as the pages have 
already bonded together.
In the above experiments, the books, if I remember correctly, were 
placed in a tank of water for a few hours and then frozen as quickly as 
possible. Since your books dried, the clay probably acted like an 
adhesive to fuse everything together. I don't think there are any magic 
bullets or magic cures?
Maybe someone else has more information, or better yet, a solution?
Bill Minter

William Minter Bookbinding & Conservation, Inc.
4364 Woodbury Pike
Woodbury, PA  16695
814-793-4020
Fax:   814-793-4045
Email:    wminter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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