How to spot restoration....? 17 17

[FFB]

I've looked through this thread and the info is amazing. But, I do have a question that I did not find an answer for.

 

Can someone tell me the proper way and procedure to disassemble a book?

I can't tell you the proper way but I can tell you what I've tried and how it worked.

 

I've played with bending the staples straight using my fingers and a set of micro jewler pliers that I found at the flee market. I used my fingers to ply the staples open and then used the pliers to staighten the stable out. I then played with taking each page out individually. I found that unless I was extremely careful I would sometimes endup making little tears near the stables. I then tried puling the staple slowly out with all the pages still intact. I used a flat thin pocket knife blade that I would place between the staple and the back of the book. I would then slowly "rock" the staple out. I ended up prefering this method as in my case in mnimized or eliminated the damage I was causing using the other method.

 

Putting the book back together was another problem. I have never found a method that I felt comfortable with in doing this.

Hope this helps in some small way.

 

Taking the book apart is easy. Putting it back together without making a mess of the staples and surrounding paper is the tough part.

[Zanarkand]

People are loathe to give disassembly advice. It's extemely easy to cause damage, right there at the critical structural points of the comic. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being 'an amateur could probably pull it off' and a 10 being 'it's far easier to screw it up than to do it right', disassembly/reassembly is about an 8. Plus, people don't want a bunch of amateurs cleaning and pressing their own stuff.

 

There are several keys to the process:

 

1) Use the right tools. A micro-spatula, available at most craft stores in the art/scrapbooking section, is best. This is a little stainless steel spade-shaped thingy with smooth edges that you'll use to pry up the staple tines. I do not recommend just any old object that looks about the right size to jam under the tines. Also get a pair of plastic tweezers, or metal tweezers with plastic tips.

 

2) Avoid contact with the actual comic. Even the slightest scratch or scuff on the paper will be extremely obvious and will look like hell. Get some release paper, since you'll need it to press the book anyway. Keep a piece of release paper under the staple tines so your spatula never touches comic paper.

 

3) Don't bother with low paper quality. It'll crack and split at the staple area no matter what you do. Just don't bother. Also forget rusty staples unless you plan to replace them. You'll break them.

 

4) Don't bend the staples any more than you have to. Metal doesn't like to be flexed, and you're just going to have to bend the damn things back anyway. Bend the outer staple tines (nearest the top/bottom edges) about 45 degrees, and the inner ones nearly straight. Remember that the staple can rotate as you're working the tine, so use your tweezers to hold it still. I recommended plastic because metal can scratch the staple.

Curl the page off the outer tines and lift off the inner ones. One staple at a time, and don't let the staple tines scratch the other side of the page after you've freed it. Put some release paper under it after you've freed a side.

 

5) PATIENCE. It takes awhile. You can't use a lot of pressure or go very fast because it is ridiculously easy to damage your comic or break a staple. If you can completely disassemble a comic in under about 15 minutes you're a speed demon.

[Zanarkand]

Having offered probably ill-advised disassembly advice, which will probably inspire many a well-meaning collector to shred their books and earn me the ire of dedicated conservationists, let me add the caveat that a comic should never be disassembled for any reason unless as part of a process that can significantly add to the life of the book.

 

If you're looking to press a 9.2 into a 9.6, like some dealers are rumored to do regularly, you can do that without disassembling the book. If you're looking to wash out a persistent stain, you can do that without disassembly too, depending on the location of the stain.

 

I disassemble only for a) practice, and b) to remove a spine roll significant enough that the book won't fit in a bag or mylar right.

[KingOfRulers]

Thanks a lot for the advice guys! Helps a lot. I'll have to get some of those tweezers and try it out for myself sometime soon.

[Zanarkand]

Reassembling the book is now the trick. I don't think there's a good way to do this. There aren't even really any proper tools or techniques to use. It just takes a steady hand and patience.

 

There are two ways I've experimented with doing this: One is disassembly in reverse - put the cover and pages over the staples one page at a time. The other way is to sort of mimic the way the comic was bound in the first place - line up all the pages and the cover and put the staple back in its original holes all in one go. I can't say which way works best, it depends on the book.

 

Sometimes when paper is stapled, the tines punch a hole in the paper. So when you take the staple out, you literally have a hole there, i.e. paper loss. Sometimes the staple tines just push the paper out of the way. When you remove the staple in this case, the hole can fill in because the paper is still there. Not all staple holes will be the same way on every comic. Not all staple holes may be the same way on the same comic.

 

More often than not, I go one page at a time for the first staple, then insert the other staple all in one go. I find that with one staple in, the other staple holes are easier to line up. Doesn't matter where you start. Stack up all you pages first and just eyeball it. Which staple looks harder to get in all in one go? Look at the quality of the holes. Which seem like you'd better be careful getting the staple through them?

 

Once the staples are in, what you'll have is a bunch of loose fitting pages. You'll need to tighten them up before you can bend the tines back in place. Using a piece of release paper and your spatula, press gently on the area between the upright staple tines. Make sure those pages are stacked tight, push out the air between them. If you did a good job pressing the pages, this will be pretty easy.

 

Now bend the staple tines back in place. Slowly and carefully, just like you pried them up. You can tap them down, push with you thumb, or whatever works. Remember to hold the other tine still with your tweezers so the staple doesn't rotate. You won't always have to worry about lining them up with the original indentations, because if you pressed the pages right there won't be any.

 

Check your work, just like you're grading the comic. Centerfold tight? Cover secure? Staples tight, with no wiggle room? Good. If this was a press job, the final step is usually to fold the book and give it a final press to ensure that the spine is defined.

[FFB]

Thanks a lot for the advice guys! Helps a lot. I'll have to get some of those tweezers and try it out for myself sometime soon.

[KingOfRulers]

...on a $.50 bin book of course.

[Jayman]

Thanks a lot for the advice guys! Helps a lot. I'll have to get some of those tweezers and try it out for myself sometime soon.

 

At least he didn't say his Fantastic Four # 3!

[Zanarkand]

Thanks a lot for the advice guys! Helps a lot. I'll have to get some of those tweezers and try it out for myself sometime soon.

 

...on a $.50 bin book of course.

 

There are piles are garbage books for sale on Ebay all the time. All types, all ages. Good practice books are SA cartoon comics, BA Marvel reprints, and GA westerns. Very plentiful in low grades.

[KingOfRulers]

Thanks a lot for the advice guys! Helps a lot. I'll have to get some of those tweezers and try it out for myself sometime soon.

 

At least he didn't say his Fantastic Four # 3!

 

I actually tried it out a couple days ago on my Tales of Suspense #57 which looked like [embarrassing lack of self control] before. It actually worked though. I got the spine roll much better than it was. Now it's just a nice piece of [embarrassing lack of self control].

[Hobo]

Could someone define leaf-forming?

[Arty]

Could someone define leaf-forming?

 

This will get you started...

 

Leaf casting

 

another link

[Hobo]

Thank you. Another question: Is this how they 'marry' pages? If not, how can I detect if marrying has occurred?

[FFB]

Thank you. Another question: Is this how they 'marry' pages? If not, how can I detect if marrying has occurred?

 

Married pages and covers means that you take a wrap or a cover from another comic book and use it to replace a missing or damaged wrap from the comic you're restoring. A wrap is a piece of paper with four comic pages on it. If you took apart a 32 page comic, you'd have eight wraps plus the cover.

 

There can be different ways to spot married wraps. If the married wrap is either noticeably darker or lighter than the other wraps, that can be clear evidence of marrying. The cut of the married wrap might also be different than the cut of the other pages, and/or the staple holes might be slightly off on the married page in comparison to the other pages, such that the restorer had to create new staple holes. If only a half of a wrap needs to be married (like when someone cuts out a pin-up and the person restoring the book elects to keep the original half wrap that remains) then the married half-wrap can be detected by the presence of Japan paper where the married half-wrap is joined with the original half wrap.

 

A married cover can be spotted when the cover looks fresher than the interior pages, or when the interior pages have edge wear inconsistent with the pristine edges of the cover, or when the edges appear to be trimmed a certain way along with the other signs I noted.

[divad]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Scott- I've never seen an example of one . . .

[Comicdey]

Sounds like a bad movie title....I married a ......

 

I married a centerfold to a Sgt Fury issue below #20 when I was about 21 as I had a nice copy missing centerfold and another nice coverless copy. Cut was the same, paper color was the same, staple placement was the same. I couldn't tell that it didn't belong when I was done. I was so proud when completed. I'm sure it's still in the collection somewhere. My only example of known undisclosed restoration in my collection. It's good to get that off my chest. I was once a closet comic restorer. (I might even do it again someday.......)

[marvelcollector]

I was once a closet comic restorer. (I might even do it again someday.......)

 

"Are you now or have you ever been...?"

 

There are 57 commun- er - restorers in the Collector's Society!

[Comicdey]

I guess. 1 comic in 38 years. Not really prolific. Maybe a few pressed under books too.

[KingOfRulers]

I couldn't find this anywhere in the thread either; cover re-enforcement. Can someone explain how it is done and how to detect it?

[B-Smooth]

Not to sound ignorant, but i am not sure exactly what Pressing is and what benefits it serves? I figure youll give me the low down as you normally do!