HIT:Mildew problem

[Sharon Blumenstein <SHABLU@AOL.COM>]

I received a number of interesting ideas to use on my mildew-stained book.
Some were tried; others were ideas.  I still don't know which I will use.
Basically, the book is a goner, so anything short of cumbustion is an
improvement.  Thank you to all who replied.

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Is there glue in the binding? I would worry about that leaking and spoiling
your books.....what about fumes?
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You could burn up the book.  (God knows I've burned up enough meals!)
Actually, a friend was trying to hurry up a dried flower "pressing" by
putting the cardboard and flowers in the microwave and utterly destroyed
his class demo.
Maybe you should try dusting the pages with corn starch, then with sweet
smelling baby powder.
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Mildew odor:     I've been told drier sheets (Bounce etc)  will absorb it.
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  We clorox bleach ours and nearly die from the fumes so microwaving sounds
interesting to me, too.
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It's really not weird - I microwaved books that were in a box (stored during
construction) with mildew-y books,  After zapping them, I kept them isolated,
but had no problem...and it's a year later.    Came upon the idea because
local industry that was flooded retrieved documents by 1) flash-freezing, 2)
then microwaving. You need a large microwave.  We fanned the books in sort of
a V, standing like a tent, zapped them for about one minute.  My trusty
volunteer did them at home, had no fumes, no glue problems...   Now, these did
not have visible mold; we were simply killing any spores that might still be
there.
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Have you tried inserting the book and bricks of charcoal in a plastic
bag. I understand that one must leave it there for 30+ days.
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I just saw on a "handyman" show (I don't know which one it was)last
night all the wonderful things that baking soda can do. One of them was
to rub baking soda on a book with mildew. The man used quite a bit and
he said to let it sit on the page for a couple of days and the mildew
would be gone. It's worth a try and baking soda isn't going to hurt the
book.
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Verrry interesting! however, nuking the book will boil away the moisture
in the pages...thus making them more brittle
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Well, that's what came over so far; if more comes my way, I'll post another
hit.

Sharon Blumenstein, Librarian, Emek Hebrew Academy, Sherman Oaks, CA
email:    shablu@aol.com

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