Rusty staples 0

[Shadow Images]

Is it a bad idea to remove rusty staples? I know it would be considered restoration but it would also save the book from further damage.

[AJD]

It depends. From a conservation point of view it is right to remove them, and either clean them or replace them with others. When I got this book the staples were in a pretty poor state:

The staples had rusted, and the rust had migrated onto the paper and started destroying it. I opened the staples gently, removed them, dunked them in rust remover for a little while, cleaned them with fine steel wool, washed and dried them, put a coat of clear acrylic varnish on them and reinserted them. Here's how the centre of the book looked. Now the paper is still damaged, but the staples are not making it worse. (You can just see the clean top staple on the outside of the scan above.) I have no regrets about taking this conservation step.

My wife has worked as a curator at national institutions. When they get rusty staples, they will sometimes remove them and sew the document together with an archival thread, rather than put metal back in against damaged paper.

But this hobby has some stupid attitudes to conservation and restoration. From a financial point of view you would probably be better off letting the staples trash the book, as long as you got a blue label.

 

[1950's war comics]

Agree,... rusty staples are the #1 deal breaker to me ,.. it's nice that you have learned a good way to fix them !

[Lucky Baru]

2 hours ago, AJD said:

But this hobby has some stupid attitudes to conservation and restoration. From a financial point of view you would probably be better off letting the staples trash the book, as long as you got a blue label.

 

It is too bad that most people would go the blue label route.