GA Comics Smell of Mildew

[divad]

I'm not sure if it's acid, mold or mildew. I think mold, because it's pretty irritating to the nose. Makes me want to sneeze.

 

The books are from about 1950. The pages are OW and not brittle at all. Is there anything that can be done to reduce or eliminate the smell?

 

If the odor is indeed fungal in nature, it won't go away. You may be able to temporarily suppress it, however.

 

I now suspect that the smell is from the comics being stored in a cedar chest. I know that doesn't sound that bad, but I don't find it all that pleasant.

 

The cedar alone would be a good smell. Unfortunately, many older folk (like my parents for example) would put mothballs in with their blankets in the cedar chest (kind of belt and suspenders if you ask me, as cedar on its own repels moths). Older mothballs contained naphthalene, newer ones contain dichlorobenzene. Both chemicals have a strong, petrochemical odor.

[Hero Restoration]

I'm not sure if it's acid, mold or mildew. I think mold, because it's pretty irritating to the nose. Makes me want to sneeze.

 

The books are from about 1950. The pages are OW and not brittle at all. Is there anything that can be done to reduce or eliminate the smell?

 

If the odor is indeed fungal in nature, it won't go away. You may be able to temporarily suppress it, however.

 

I now suspect that the smell is from the comics being stored in a cedar chest. I know that doesn't sound that bad, but I don't find it all that pleasant.

 

The cedar alone would be a good smell. Unfortunately, many older folk (like my parents for example) would put mothballs in with their blankets in the cedar chest (kind of belt and suspenders if you ask me, as cedar on its own repels moths). Older mothballs contained naphthalene, newer ones contain dichlorobenzene. Both chemicals have a strong, petrochemical odor.

 

I love the smell of cedar, if a book smelled of cedar I would be a happy camper.

[CycleGirl]

I'm not sure if it's acid, mold or mildew. I think mold, because it's pretty irritating to the nose. Makes me want to sneeze.

 

The books are from about 1950. The pages are OW and not brittle at all. Is there anything that can be done to reduce or eliminate the smell?

 

If the odor is indeed fungal in nature, it won't go away. You may be able to temporarily suppress it, however.

 

I now suspect that the smell is from the comics being stored in a cedar chest. I know that doesn't sound that bad, but I don't find it all that pleasant.

 

The cedar alone would be a good smell. Unfortunately, many older folk (like my parents for example) would put mothballs in with their blankets in the cedar chest (kind of belt and suspenders if you ask me, as cedar on its own repels moths). Older mothballs contained naphthalene, newer ones contain dichlorobenzene. Both chemicals have a strong, petrochemical odor.

 

You might be on to it. It could be a cedar and moth balls combination. I have a few books from the collection - one of them here on my desk that I can pick up and smell as I type here.

 

In any case, the book in the box with clay litter has now been sealed for 3.5 days and I decided to test to see if there was a reduction in odor. I took off the top and checked. I would judge that the odor has gone from moderately strong to moderately faint. I should also note that I took a 3x5 card and cut it up into bits and placed the bits between the pages of the book in order to open up just a bit of space between the pages to help the comic "breath" between pages.

 

I plan to continue for at least a couple of weeks.

[NYNick]

Any evidence this worked?

[CycleGirl]

Yes, it did a pretty good job. I left two books in the box for about two weeks. At the end of that time, the odor was barely noticeable. One of the books has since been sent to CGC for grading.

[nocutename]

I have used baking soda with some success. I am wondering if the kitty litter works better. The book deodorizer product seems interesting although expensive.