Will a dry climate + Mylar help prevent the spread of light rust on a staple? 1 1

[Venomous72]

I have a copy of ASM 300 that I noticed the top staple has very small splotches of what I assume is rust. You can barely see it, and it is only on the outside, the inner staples are flawless.

I live in Utah so it is very dry. Would storing this in Mylar + Fullback and kept in a dry environment prevent that rust from spreading?

As far as I know, rust requires oxygen and moisture, so I figured it would be fine but just wanted a second opinion.

Thanks.

[marvelmaniac]

I cannot tell you exactly what the proper archival storage protocol is to prevent "rust",  however...

Mylar Bags, Acid Free Boards, Kept Away from Sunlight/UV and a Controller Environment (Temp and Humidity) are the keys to preserving your books properly.

Mylars bags are not airtight, they protect the book from outside environmental hazards  and you need some humidity or the paper will dry out resulting in brittleness.

From what I have read 68-72 degrees and 50% humidity is recommended for paper conservation.

[Venomous72]

2 hours ago, marvelmaniac said:

I cannot tell you exactly what the proper archival storage protocol is to prevent "rust",  however...

Mylar Bags, Acid Free Boards, Kept Away from Sunlight/UV and a Controller Environment (Temp and Humidity) are the keys to preserving your books properly.

Mylars bags are not airtight, they protect the book from outside environmental hazards  and you need some humidity or the paper will dry out resulting in brittleness.

From what I have read 68-72 degrees and 50% humidity is recommended for paper conservation.

Thanks I appreciate it.

 

I am following those guidelines for storage.  For reference, here is a picture of the staple:

 

 

[Bomber-Bob]

I think you can prevent the spread of the rust with a proper environment, however, that saying 'Rust never sleeps' may come into play here. IMO, this is going to bother you, I know it would bother me. I suggest you move it and get a different copy.

[newshane]

You can't stop entropy. Nothing will stop the rust from spreading, but proper storage may slow the process down. It's a runaway train.

EDIT: That might not be rust. It might be some sort of glue, dirt, or gunk. Perhaps try to scrape it off with an Exacto knife? Just be very careful. I've seen the same sort of gunk on a few books from the early 90s.

Edited October 7, 2017 by newshane

[Venomous72]

1 hour ago, newshane said:

You can't stop entropy. Nothing will stop the rust from spreading, but proper storage may slow the process down. It's a runaway train.

EDIT: That might not be rust. It might be some sort of glue, dirt, or gunk. Perhaps try to scrape it off with an Exacto knife? Just be very careful. I've seen the same sort of gunk on a few books from the early 90s.

Huh I think you are right.  I took a small kitchen knife and gently scraped at the staple.  Here are the after pics:

 

 

Based on these, would you say that was just some gunk and not rust?

Edited October 7, 2017 by James Lawry

[Terrapin]

If you want to completely halt the rust process place the book in a glove box pump out to a good vacuum level (10-5) backfill with an inert gas (nitrogen,argon, etc) repeat a few times. That should do it.

[Venomous72]

1 minute ago, Terrapin said:

If you want to completely halt the rust process place the book in a glove box pump out to a good vacuum level (10-5) backfill with an inert gas (nitrogen,argon, etc) repeat a few times. That should do it.

Well that sounds a bit extreme but I appreciate the suggestion.  Since most of it seemed to have scraped off I am thinking it was probably dirt, based on the pics above

[Venomous72]

Here is the best pic I have of the staple after scraping the gunk off:

 

So since it did scrape off, that would indicate it was not rust right?

Edited October 7, 2017 by James Lawry

[newshane]

Yeah man, I doubt it's rust. It looks just like that gunk I was describing.

I won't pretend to have a scientific understanding of how it happens, but I saw this exact thing in many of the comics I found stashed away in unopened distributor's boxes from the early 90s. They were stored in a shed for many years. It seemed like some sort of gooey adhesive had built up on the staples and collected grime. Did it seem somewhat gooey when you scraped it off, or did it come off as a powdery substance?

The "goo" is darker and grey-colored. Rust is typically red or orange hued.

[Venomous72]

42 minutes ago, newshane said:

Yeah man, I doubt it's rust. It looks just like that gunk I was describing.

I won't pretend to have a scientific understanding of how it happens, but I saw this exact thing in many of the comics I found stashed away in unopened distributor's boxes from the early 90s. They were stored in a shed for many years. It seemed like some sort of gooey adhesive had built up on the staples and collected grime. Did it seem somewhat gooey when you scraped it off, or did it come off as a powdery substance?

The "goo" is darker and grey-colored. Rust is typically red or orange hued.

Not sure, it just sort of scraped off...?  It wasn't really orange or red, kinda brownish gray I think.  I don't think rust would have just scraped off but I don't really know

 

EDIT:  Also since I scraped the stuff off, does that count as restoration?

Edited October 7, 2017 by James Lawry

[BlowUpTheMoon]

22 minutes ago, James Lawry said:

 

EDIT:  Also since I scraped the stuff off, does that count as restoration?

Have seen "Staples Cleaned" listed on the old Restored books.

[Venomous72]

2 minutes ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Have seen "Staples Cleaned" listed on the old Restored books.

Right I have too.  I thought staples cleaned meant they were removed and such.

[newshane]

25 minutes ago, James Lawry said:

Not sure, it just sort of scraped off...?  It wasn't really orange or red, kinda brownish gray I think.  I don't think rust would have just scraped off but I don't really know

 

EDIT:  Also since I scraped the stuff off, does that count as restoration?

I doubt it.

At worst it might get a conservation label these days. But I doubt they'd even notice it, to be honest.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

1 minute ago, James Lawry said:

4 minutes ago, BlowUpTheMoon said:

Have seen "Staples Cleaned" listed on the old Restored books.

Right I have too.  I thought staples cleaned meant they were removed and such.

Well, there's also the "Staples replaced" designation.

 

 

[newshane]

I just fail to see why wiping the grime off staples would warrant such a label when dry cleaning of the pages would not...seems like the same principle.

I could be wrong, but I believe that "cleaned staples" is a more involved process...someone with more knowledge and experience, please weigh in here...

Edited October 7, 2017 by newshane

[Bomber-Bob]

2 hours ago, newshane said:

I just fail to see why wiping the grime off staples would warrant such a label when dry cleaning of the pages would not...seems like the same principle.

I could be wrong, but I believe that "cleaned staples" is a more involved process...someone with more knowledge and experience, please weigh in here...

It may depend on if the knife left any scratches ? I would have tried with a dry cloth first or maybe even an eraser.

[Venomous72]

There don't seem to be any scratches on the staple but I'm not really putting it under a microscope so who knows.  I am not planning on selling this issue anyway, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't rust

[Venomous72]

So sorry to harp on this, but regardless of if the staple is now considered 'cleaned' or not, if that stuff scraped off would that indicate it was NOT rust then?  It didn't take much to scrape it all off, came off fairly easy.

 

[Venomous72]

On 10/7/2017 at 4:05 PM, newshane said:

Yeah man, I doubt it's rust. It looks just like that gunk I was describing.

I won't pretend to have a scientific understanding of how it happens, but I saw this exact thing in many of the comics I found stashed away in unopened distributor's boxes from the early 90s. They were stored in a shed for many years. It seemed like some sort of gooey adhesive had built up on the staples and collected grime. Did it seem somewhat gooey when you scraped it off, or did it come off as a powdery substance?

The "goo" is darker and grey-colored. Rust is typically red or orange hued.

Sorry to bring this up again but I appreciated your feedback.  If that stuff was in fact rust and it was all scraped off, am I good to just leave the comic in Mylar, no need to replace staples (in other words, would the rust return after it has all been removed if stored in a dry environment)?  Do you think rust would have even scraped off at all?  

Just trying to figure out what to do with this book haha.