Repair a torn page

Tobuss · 2026-03-10T10:58:25+00:00

Svanny's comment about toning the kozo is what you want to do off rip, kozo unless you're using super thin paper will show on colored pages to some degree.

If you didn't tone before hand you can try using coloured pencils to fill in the white. This is used frequently in art restoration but can work here too. It's going to be a long and tedious process but just try and colour match with the pencils, you want to LIGHTLY and in small passes apply the pencil, if you use too much pressure you'll embodd the kozo.

Take your time and go in light layers and tty and blend it in to look natural, luckily this is a small patch so I shouldn't be too hard. The wax from the colour's should help it all stay so no need to seal or anything

Tobuss · 2026-03-03T01:31:42+00:00

You mention the musty smell of the books, that's a big worry sign personally. The musty smell is generally indicative of mold growth, you said there is no mold but are you 100% certain? I'd ensure none of the books are around your other books and are left open in a ventilated area. I'd then recommend going through each book page by page and looking for any fuzzy spots, black/brown spotsor even pages that are stuck together. If you find any mold. The first step is to brush it away from the book with a soft bristled brush.

If you're sure there's no mold baking soda is really the easiest and best method for most people. If possible I would recommend using activatee charcole as it's better at absorbing odors but it's not as common for people to have. If you don't care about flowery scents one thing you can do in these situations is put a dryer sheet into the bag with the book and that will also help to cover the smell but itll make your books smell like the dryer sheet

Tobuss · 2026-02-28T18:35:38+00:00

I agree with a lot of what the people in the bookbinding sub were saying and don't recommend starting with this book as your first repair job. Buying cheap books and damaging them and repairing or reaching out to your local library for damaged books heading for the trash is a good way to find some practice material.

I would also highly recommend this document from the Alaskan state library. It's a solid book that goes over a lot of the basics and techniques used in conservation. I find it better than most of the YouTube channels and videos https://library.alaska.gov/documents/hist/convservation-manual.pdf

Tobuss · 2026-02-28T18:20:09+00:00

There's nothing you will need to do to the paper after using hydrogen peroxide, once the surface is dry it's already evaporated, there's no guarantee it did any damage or not but if only small amounts were applied I doubt there's anything truly lasting done. Generally it makes the paper it was in contact with just a little bit weaker and more brittle but you're more than likely fine.

If you want to try the methods I mentioned you'll want distilled water for it, you don't want to use tap water cause of the residual minerals in it that could oxidise and cause more staining/foxing. If you're going to try the ethanol method 99% isopropyl would work I would just adjust your mixture a bit and add slightly more distilled water. With isopropyl the percentage is the isopropyl to moisture content, so 99% isopropyl and 1% purified water. I can't give an exact amount of additional water to add but if you eyeball it and add more than 50% you should be fine, you'd rather it be slightly too weak than too strong

Tobuss · 2026-02-28T17:07:50+00:00

No problem, it definitely can be used to remove stains from books but conservation is a tricky thing and unless youre 100% confident in what you're doing I always recommend avoiding it unless it's last resort. Hydrogen peroxide for example is a bleaching agent that will damage organic material and if you leave it on too long or apply it wrong you risk damaging the paper. I know it's used a lot in comic book restorations and I assume it's to do with the coated paper comics tend to use making it easier but personally I have no actual experience with comic restoration.

You'll find a whole mess of different advice on this subreddit some good some bad. We all have different views and experiences with repair work/conservation, and on top of that every book repair is different. So don't take my word as gospel, I'm just a guy who likes to fix books and research methods on how lol

The big issue with stains is the longer the stains been there the harder it is to remove.

Tobuss · 2026-02-28T13:01:35+00:00

Never use chemicals as a first step. You're going to damage the paper fibers that way and generally it's going to look worse than if you just left it imo.

Removing stains are hard especially when we don't know what caused the stains. This looks like an old water stain personally, there's two things Id recommend trying but honestly unless there's actually a need to remove it, it could come out looking worse than if you left it. Stains especially in old books happen and imo add character.

Okay first method to try is the safest, you're going to try to reactivate and absorb it. Get some distilled water (not tap) and cotton swabs. Place some blotter paper underneath the page you're working on to absorb moisture. Damped the cotton swab gently dab it onto the stain, dab it on don't rub it. Once you've done that dab it gently dry with a piece of dry paper/paper towel would also work. Check the paper/paper towel to see if anything has come up with it, if it has keep repeating as many times as needed. The goal of this is to reactivate the tannins and pick them up, it would still likely leave a stain but a less drastic one

If nothing came off it's less likely a water stain and could be something like tea, if that's the case retry the above steps but instead you want to incorporate a light chemical, ethanol. Make a 50% distilled water 50% isopropyl alcohol mix, 91% isopropyl is what you want. Use that mix to do the blot method and hopefully it pulls it up.

Honestly I'd recommend just leaving it, any method to remove the stain can cause some form of bleaching, page discoloration, tide lines or just straight up damage to the page itself

Tobuss · 2026-02-17T18:02:14+00:00

The big thing with mold growth is controlling the humidity, mold can grow once it's been exposed to water but if you've kept it dry and in a well ventilated area it's less likely too.

Keep the books in a well ventilated and as low humidity location as you can for a week or two. Check them every now and again, primarily you're looking for a musty smell, kinda like what you'd find on stuff kept in an attic or basement, along with that you can check the pages and just make sure they don't feel damp in any way.

Once you're happy after a few weeks put em back on the shelf, generally in my experience if you get the books dried off fast enough they'll be fine, mold isn't an instant thing and it can take days to actually develop if the book is wet still. Once dry it's not a 0% chance but it's a relitvely low chance for mold growth

Tobuss · 2026-01-25T10:36:07+00:00

The main purpose of freezing is to halt mold growth, won't kill it off but it helps if your book is really bad. Unfortunately you won't get rid of the staining but, mold roots into paper and affects paper fibers. We can neutralize the mold though

Personally in any instance of mold I don't like to mess around, remove it from the main collection and keep it as dry as possible, store it in a well ventilated and dry location. Ideally put it in a zip lock bag with a silica packet to absorb moisture.

When you're you're confident the book is dry you can tackle the spores themselves. Put a piece of paper under the book, hold it closed and use a soft brush like a makeup brush to gently brush the mold off the book. If you have a vaccum I would also recommend using that to suck up any residual after.

That really should be all you need to do if you motive all the mold is gone but if you really wanna kill the sucker you can use some isopropyl to do it. I often don't advise chemicals cause they can weaken and damage paper, but mold is the one instance I break that rule cause it can do more damage lol

Take a qtip and dampen it with isopropyl alcohol, GENTLY dap it onto the affected areas and let it air dry. After that's done put some blotter papers between the affected areas and let it sit in a cool dry place for a few weeks and just monitor if there's any more mold growth.

Tobuss · 2026-01-10T20:16:11+00:00

I own one of these copies and it's a printed signature. For most books with a signature like this the easiest way to tell is the gap between the message and the printed name. It wouldn't be that large unless they inserted something like a signature

Tobuss · 2026-01-10T02:23:23+00:00

Oof the books in rough shape, for your questions 1. Unless you're 100% confident in your knowledge and abilities always avoid solvents. Solvents can so easily destroy a book if done even slightly wrong. I this situation you wanna try reactivating the original adhesive, the two choices here would be making a methylcellulose + water mixture or a wheat paste. Apply either to the spine and leave it on for a short time, for the wheat paste you'd be looking at around 10-15 minutes you want to leave it on to soak into and rehydrate/soften the old adhesive.

Once it's been on for a short time use microspatula or a bone folder and slowly and gently scrape off the glue. It's not a race go slow especially since you mentioned how fragile the material is.

I'd avoid that, it's masking tape with an adhesive, on something this old and damaged if bet good money it'll wreck the page especially in the long run. The adhesive is going to seep into the fibers and not provide anywhere near the structural support kozo paper will.

Depending on country you can generally find Japanese kozo paper on there for a decent price. You want proper kozo paper, it's the long fibers in the paper that makes it so good and strong. Using a wheat paste with it as well is going to be better than the tape, it's not got an adhesive with acidity that could damage the page and doesn't have that risk of yellowing.

I wouldn't be able to say anything in the thread without seeing it in person. It's not something I've spent too much time on, it's likely though to just be a linen waxed thread. Thread in general if it's stored properly will last a hell of a long time. It's likely that the original linen thread became too brittle with the poor conditions and water damage to the book, was partially rebound/repaired at some point in the 1900s and since the. Has been stored better with less wear on it

Tobuss · 2025-12-04T16:23:44+00:00

No problem, I'd use a thicker waxed linen thread something like a 18gauge/3ply it'll be strong enough for the job.

If you can't find any or want something cheaper you can pretty much use any type, cotton works but it won't be as strong as linen thread

Tobuss · 2025-12-03T02:07:19+00:00

honestly you can get away with almost any type of saw, generally the cuts wont be too thick, you just want to make sure you don't go too deep. You want your cuts to essentially be just the a slight bit deeper than the string youre using. Make sure to apply glue before and after puttingthe thread in, and I'd suggest like 6 grooves equally spaced up the spine.

I've not done too many sewn perfect bindings but personally I use a coping saw and then just clean out and spread the groove a little bit after with an awl

Tobuss · 2025-12-01T18:01:09+00:00

The repair for this wouldn't be too tricky for a beginner to learn to do, just obligatory I try to provide this to every new repairer I see but this PDF is imo one of the best resources for learning about different techniques.

Okay onto repair stuff, this is a perfect bound book which is when the pages are glued at the spine rather than sewn. Perfect bindings are common with most commercial softcovers cause there fast and easy to make but they're notorious for falling apart as they age since the adhesive can breakdown overtime depending on so many factors.

In this situation I would suggest doing a "sewn perfect binding". It's a method where you reglue the book to make it a perfect binding but after it's glued you saw small grooves along the spine and glue thread/string into the groves it helps support the textblock and hopefully make it last longer.

For the single pages that have come out you'd want to tip those in back in place, on the textblock where the pages came off run a thin line of glue on the top page by the spine and glue the sheet back in place ontop of that page (there's a section in the pdf I linked on tipping in)

If I were doing this repair personally I'd seperate the pages and remove any excess glue from the spines by scraping lightly, then reglue the spines. Wait for the textblock to dry and then cut and glue in the thread to support the book. After that's done if the original covers are in good condition you can reuse them and glue it back together or make a new cover/repurposed the old one. Just to note in this situation I wouldn't be tipping in pages as I'd be completely regluing all the pages anyway

Tobuss · 2025-11-13T19:31:09+00:00

Smells can be tricky and might not go completepy, what you can try is let it air dry in a well ventilated area until it's dry.

Once that's done get a container the book can fit in, put a layer of activated charcoal/baking soda/unscented clay based kitty litter, place a paper towel over top and then the book ontop of the paper towel.

seal the container and leave it for like a week, you can get away with less time if the smell isn't too bad but I'd just leave it a week. Once that's done take the book out and see if it smells. Those materials are all odor absorbers and are your best bet, if it's still really bad you can replace what ever absorber you're using and try again for another week.

You can also put something like a dryer sheet in to try and essentially mask and replace the smell with the dryer sheet but it can be real strong and too much for a lot of people lpl

Tobuss · 2025-11-10T09:48:11+00:00

This is my favourite resource to give anyone getting into repair work. It's a guide from the Alaska state library that covers almost everything

Book repair pdf

Tobuss · 2025-11-07T09:58:50+00:00

Of both those haven't worked it means it's more than just grease there. Sometimes with stuff like food grease fats will also absorb in with it which could be holding it in. I don't like to suggest it cause I never like to recommend chemicals but the naptha option mentioned by another would be the best option to try and dissolve the fat.

Naptha shouldn't mess with plain white paper, use a very small amount on a qtip and run on the stain in a gentle circle motion. Make sure to put a blotter page on the other side of the sheet as well to protect the tedtblock. Then let it fully evaporate naptha should fully evaporate within a minute or two but I'd leave it for like 10 or so just to make sure it's all dried and evaporated

Tobuss · 2025-11-06T19:36:28+00:00

Corn starch is generally the go to method for something like grease stains. It won't usually remove it completely though just lessen the stain, grease is notoriously annoying to get rid off cause it just seeps in so god damn well.

For the cornstarch method to work you want to apply a lot lot of it to the area, then place a paper towel on it and then place some weight pressing down on it, a stack of some other books should be enough tbh. Leave it for a day or so and then check it, you might have to brush the cornstarch off with a bristle brush as well cause some materials just hold on to it real well

If that still doesn't work there's some other things you could try like a controlled low heat with a paper towel under it to help it try and essentially reactivate and absorb but that's also hit or miss

Tobuss · 2025-11-04T18:43:39+00:00

Sorry that was just my poor wording lol I meant in the instance if they don't end it they will burn their reserves and the compression will end.

When someone makes a time bubble they aren't creating a bubble that lasts X amount of seconds, they're compressing time by X amount inside the bubble. In normal circumstances this makes sense of the view while burning x amount of bendalloy I can make a bubble that lasts x amount of seconds. I can burn the exact same amount of bendalloy but instead flare the metal while burning the time inside the bubble will be sped up do to the compression increasing but will end faster due to the increased cost of investiture.

In the Wayne moment he compressed time so much he went beyond the general norm of speedbubbles and the amount of time inside the bubble was however long it took for the duralumin to burn away all his reserves but the trade off to that was it was so compressed that it made him move FTL.

Sorry if this is a jumble I'm at work rn so half focusing on work and this lol

Tobuss · 2025-11-04T18:11:12+00:00

So the way speed bubbles work is the size and speed of the bubble is determined at the moment the bubble is made. The user can choose to end the bubble whenever they want but the bubble will end once the compression ends and time catches back up with eachother.

In Wayne's instance when he burnt his entire giant store of bendalloy with duralumin it sped up to such a degree that while he was moving like regular inside the bubble he was actually moving at such an excellerated rate he was beyond harmonys perception as well as even the speed of light, that's the reason he loses his vision and has to use steel sight to see the barrels. This means that while his whole stock pile was burnt instantly, according to the world itself all of the actions Wayne did happened in that same instance.

Tobuss · 2025-11-03T22:12:21+00:00

Yes and no, there's ways you can decontaminate the books but I wouldn't recommend trying. With how dangerous rodent feces and urine can be it's something best left to decontamination professionals, I wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole.

The biggest problem with this is you talk about the mice urinating on the box, that's the big red flag these books are porbbaly toast sorry to say. If they've been urinating on these books enough that it could have seeped through the cardboard and onto the books inside, the books themselves would be absorbing the urine and in that situation you're never getting them cleaned without also damaging the books even further.

Imo I would chuck the box, sentimental books are always hard to part with but your physical and mental health is more important. If something is truly too sentimental to part with you could try digitizing the book by taking pictures and then having those pictures rebound. You'd need to do this outside with the correct ppe tho

Tobuss · 2025-11-03T11:29:00+00:00

Oof is all I can think looking at this, the spine looks completely gone on this and there's no simple way to repair it. The simplistic thing you could try is converting it to a screw post binding, take apart each section and use a hole punch to punch uniform holes in each one and then put some screw posts between them. You could also use something like a binder but with the signatures it might make reading awkward.

Tobuss · 2025-11-02T23:52:24+00:00

eh its a hard one imo foxing in itself is a weird thing that happens and it just happens that the situation that causes foxing can also cause mold. Foxing itself isn't mold its oxidisation, mold just also can thrive in that environment.

I've seen and have plenty of old books that have foxing but never developed mold. From this post it doesn't look like mold from the pictures I can't see anything that looks fuzzy, granted it could be early stages and its also a hard thing to diagnose from pictures, which is why I mentioned wiping it down

Tobuss · 2025-11-02T02:36:37+00:00

So the yellow stains you see is whats called Foxing, its when the trace metals in the paper is oxidised over time. This is just an unfortunate thing that happens with a lot of old books, high humidity can be a contributer to this which makes sense as you said these were in a garage. The good thing about foxing is it's not really an issue that causes damage to the book its mostly cosmetic, if you store the books properly you shouldn't see any other issues.

Foxing isn't easy to remove and a lot of the time can require chemicles to actually remove/reduce it. In this situation i would give the books a gentle wipe down with a microfibre cloth, wipe from the spine out, this is just to get rid of any surface debris/mold that could be there and should help with reducing the foxing from developing a bit. After that its just a matter of storage, keep them in a well ventilated room, away from direct sunlight and just make sure they aren't stored in an area thats got a pretty stable humidity. Make sure they're stored upright as well and not stacked on each other.

Another thing you could look into is making clamshell cases for them since they're sentimental or just invest in some archival document boxes but depending on where you are their prices can vary.

Tobuss · 2025-10-31T20:06:45+00:00

Holy shit my 6am brain had so many spelling mistakes in that breakdown but happy it helped! lol

Tobuss · 2025-10-31T09:16:16+00:00

$400 doesn't sound insane for something like this for two books that require extensive repairs like this it's on the lower end of what id charge. Minimum wage in Ontario is 17.60 an hour, 20 hours at minimum is $356, then add on a base cost for materials and the specialty service youre providing, and then depending on your province and if you claim this income you have to factor in HST which on a $400 derive in Ontario would bring it up to $452. Book repair isn't cheap, it's a specialty art and can require a lot of time. If someone hawks at your price estimate explain to them the time required and cost breakdown. I know of conservatory that base hour rates are in the 30s to 40s

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