[Publib] Gum, gunk, stuff

[Backwage at aol.com]

I buy a lot of books at thrift stores.  Many of them are  'rooned.'  That's 
'ruined,' only worser.  Rooned as in:  good  enough to use but for the damage.  
 
Every library should keep on hand some acetone, benzene, naphtha, and  
butanone (MEK).  These are industrial solvents, some of them flammable as  heck, and 
poisonous as well, but they are very valuable for use in cleaning up  books, 
tools, and the like.  You can get them at any hardware store.   I suggest that 
you buy a pint each and see which works on what stains,  understanding that 
you should experiment first--these solvents will also make  books come apart, 
dyes run, print disappear, et cetera, if not used  sparingly.
 
Put a small amount in a glass (not plastic!) eyedropper and keep that for  
use.  A good practice is to make a list of successful uses for your various  
solvents.  Start with naphtha (cigarette lighter fluid), go thence to  benzene 
(cleaning fluid), then acetone and MEK.  If you're really  worried, start with 
ordinary rubbing alcohol, or cut the above fluids with  that.  
 
Use these fluids out of doors, or in a well-ventilated place, and only a  
drop at a time.  Most of these are carcinogens--but then, so is the  gasoline you 
pump every week, and the wine you drink qualifies also.  These  are also 
mutagens--which explains a lot about me.
 
Another nice item is Freeze Spray.  It will turn gum to a hard  substance 
that can be chipped off.  
 
Here's a tough case:  I recently got hold of a book about  wildflowers.  It 
was rooned all right--the previous owner had smoked the  thing to the point 
where it was impossible to read without retching.  The  cover was cloth and 
couldn't be cleaned.  I removed the cover to use the  pages and illustrations for 
stationery; these also reeked, and had to be  de-reeked.  I trimmed each page 
(yes, I'm that crazy) and then set the  pages in a mix of baking soda and dry 
laundry detergent (unscented) for two  weeks.  After this I set the pages on 
end and blew a fan through them  for two days.  They smelt much less after 
that--as some of you who have  received the cards made from these might have 
discovered.  The glue I used  to make the cards also masks the odor somewhat.  If 
you ask, I might send  you one of the cards.
 
I think that treatment would also do well for that other stink bugaboo, the  
musty smell of mildew.  
 
One of my friends is a paramedic.  I must write him soon to see if he  has a 
recipe for removing the smell of dead people from books.  I'm not  
kidding--one occasionally comes across estate sale items which were obviously in  the 
vicinity of some person whose earthly remains went undiscovered near their  
personal library.  Any ideas, please write.
 
M. McGrorty
 
 
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