I did something I never thought I would do……

[Monstro]

i have this nice VF or so issue of ASM 129 but both staples had begun to

rust. it was driving me crazy thinking that slowly but surly those rusted

staples we’re killing the book.

 

so with 2 pair of tweezers and 2 clean staples from another comic from

that era i preformed surgery and successfully replaced them.

 

wish i had taken the before pics, but you can still see where the rust started

to stain the book. of course if i ever thought i was going to sell the book i

probably wouldn’t have done it. or i would just let the buyer know.

 

what do you guy’s think? did i do a good job?

 

 

[osborn_fr]

Good job i think.

This kind of restoration is one of the few i'll accept, the one necessary to avoid more damage on the book.

 

[OrangeNemesis]

id be willing to look the other way,...............

[Mr. Zipper]

The proof of the pudding is how it looks in the center spread.

[MK Ultra]

Sure. Reminds me of a comic I had bought back in the mid 1980's. It had some ink on the cover, I had read that Naptha would remove it, so I bent back the staples, removed the cover, washed it, and like magic the ink came out. Put it back together carefully and it looked fine. The book went with my whole collection a couple years later, and I never disclosed it either. Couldn't tell you what book, but I believe it went to Robert Bell, there or Tropic Comics. It was the only issue I did it with as I had more fun with the combustible properties of Naptha than with restoring any more books.

[Mac Man]

Yeah, it's obvious resto in that you can spot the rust that was migrating onto the book from the previous staple, but these don't show any signs of oxidation. The work you put into it, however, is really nicely done.

 

That said, with a comic of 1. this importance and 2. condition, you did what needed to be done. To allow further rust migration would have been an absolute shame. I'm assuming that this is for your own collection? Nice work, and prudent thinking Monstro!

[benz]

All I could say is good job! that's not an easy thing to do. i remember buying the gold speckle variant of witchblade#25 which was a uncut cover.

 

Finding nothing to do one day, I cut it to its size, bought a witchblade #25, removed the cover and inserted the speckle variant cover i cut off. I remember putting the staples took some time.

 

I still have the book. anyone interested? I was not so happy with what I did that I went to ebay and bought the variant comic book.

 

Looking back, I should have kept the uncut cover.

[skypinkblu]

I think it looks nice:) I've never played with staples...but since a lot of the books I get are falling apart, I do, on occasion, use a piece of archival tape to tape back on pieces that have come off...I really don't see the point in leaving them in the bag to get lost...

 

The books are mine and I'm not trying to improve them to sell, I just don't want them to be further damaged... and I know I'll lose the pieces if I don't put them back on...I know some people hate tape, but...they don't have to visit my books..

 

I don't like the clear stuff, myself, it leaves awful stains.

[Mac Man]

I would be afraid to try it myself. Not sure what sort of damage my poor books would get as a result of my well-intentioned efforts.

[Jeffro.]

i have this nice VF or so issue of ASM 129 but both staples had begun to

rust. it was driving me crazy thinking that slowly but surly those rusted

staples we’re killing the book.

 

 

I'm not an expert but I'm pretty sure with proper storage conditions the rust would not have gotten any worse.

[burntboy]

Good job i think.

This kind of restoration is one of the few i'll accept, the one necessary to avoid more damage on the book.

 

I agree with our french friend........... (thumbs u

 

the work looks very nice to me.................

 

as an aside, (as a member of the liason committee) i called Steve Borock to ask how this book would be graded and to share his response on the boards.

 

basically, it would get a Green Qualified label, as they do not consider the replacement of the staples to be restoration. in fact, if they ever do get to a point where there will be a differentiation between resto and conservation, the book would be labled as being "Conserved". (and, i for one, agree with this line of thinking).

 

the grade given would consider the degree to which rust had already migrated to the paper and the quality of the replacement effort...............hope this helps.

[Fan4Fan]

The proof of the pudding is how it looks in the center spread.

 

Which is true of a few other things as well...

[esquirecomics]

basically, it would get a Green Qualified label, as they do not consider the replacement of the staples to be restoration. in fact, if they ever do get to a point where there will be a differentiation between resto and conservation, the book would be labled as being "Conserved". (and, i for one, agree with this line of thinking).

 

I agree 100%. If anything is true conservation, it is the removal and replacement of rusted staples with, preferably, vintage staples. I, for one, would unquestionably purchase such a book and don't believe it should have any impact on value. It should, of course, be disclosed.

[Monstro]

thanks for all the nice comments guys!!

 

what Mac Man said, because it’s a fairly important book as well as being

in nice shape other then the staples, i felt it would have been a shame to let

it go any longer without doing something.

 

i was pretty nervous about it so i took baby steps and if it didn’t look

i was going to pull it off right from the start i would have backed out.

 

but it was actually very easy and would have been much easier if i had two

small pairs of needle nose pliers instead of the tweezers. of course you need

two because you need one to hold the staple firmly and the other to bend the

staple. the hardest part was bending the staples back down and making it tight.

 

 

 

 

 

[Monstro]

The proof of the pudding is how it looks in the center spread.

 

it looks pretty good. i'd take a pic but i don't want to mess with it anymore.

 

 

[Monstro]

i have this nice VF or so issue of ASM 129 but both staples had begun to

rust. it was driving me crazy thinking that slowly but surly those rusted

staples we’re killing the book.

 

 

I'm not an expert but I'm pretty sure with proper storage conditions the rust would not have gotten any worse.

 

you may be right but i wasn't sure. in fact does anyone know if the rust residue on paper

can spread at all? is that possible?

[Jeffro.]

I despise rusty staples and always have. However, I think I'd rather have the rusty staple than the GLOD it would get from CGC if I replaced the staples. But that's just me.

[drewincanada]

I wasn't clear on Steve's response. Would it get the GLOD due to the staple replacement, or due to the rust migration to the paper (in which case, it should get the GLOD regardless of whether or not the staple had been replaced)? I thought a GLOD was for a book that had one serious defect, but that otherwise was a much higher grade, and where it would do the book a disservice to downgrade it due to the one defect. Doesn't rust migration fall into this category?

[Dale Roberts]

For iron to become iron oxide(rust), three things are required: iron, water and oxygen. Here's what happens when the three get together:

 

When a drop of water hits an iron object, two things begin to happen almost immediately. First, the water, a good electrolyte, combines with carbon dioxide in the air to form a weak carbonic acid, an even better electrolyte. As the acid is formed and the iron dissolved, some of the water will begin to break down into its component pieces -- hydrogen and oxygen. The free oxygen and dissolved iron bond into iron oxide or rust.

 

Unless you can completely remove the moisture from the air, the rusting can continue to the point that it will completely disintegrate the metal and can effect anything touching it. The staining on the paper is caused by the water, not the rust itself.

 

 

[trmoore54]

basically, it would get a Green Qualified label, as they do not consider the replacement of the staples to be restoration. in fact, if they ever do get to a point where there will be a differentiation between resto and conservation, the book would be labled as being "Conserved". (and, i for one, agree with this line of thinking).

 

I agree 100%. If anything is true conservation, it is the removal and replacement of rusted staples with, preferably, vintage staples. I, for one, would unquestionably purchase such a book and don't believe it should have any impact on value. It should, of course, be disclosed.

 

Nice job...and I concur, if sold disclosure would be the proper thing...