The Process pt. III-spine lining
Progress on the repair of Ben's Home Gardening, is still underway. While we are still debating the type of cloth for the new cover, I have gotten permission to begin work on some of the structural elements to move this job along. This part of the job is one that most people don't get to see in the finished product, but it is this work that allows the book to operate well and become structurally sound. As a refresher, the decision we made on this project was to completely re-do the cover with a brand new one. Step one in this process involves carefully removing the old cover from the text block. This is done by pulling back the cover carefully, usually pulling off the endsheets in the process as seen below.
With a little luck, a good portion of the old adhesive will pull off, as the spine linings pop off the book as well. Here you can see the old adhesive, linings, and endsheets that have come off with the boards. Sometimes this is a really easy job, and everything pops off nice and clean as in this case, and other times this can be a lot more complicated. Care must be taken not to damage the parts of the text that you want to save. It can take a little muscle to pull this stuff apart, and the temptation must be avoided not to just rip into the book carelessly, leaving more repair to be done than is needed.
After mechanically removing as much of the old spine material as possible, the next task is to clean the spine before adding new material. You can see from the image below that bits of old adhesive still remain on the spine. If left there, these remnants will not allow for a good adhesion of the new adhesives and spine linings that I want to add. Old adhesives are often brittle, and flake off easily, which is responsible for their failure in the first place. Adding new adhesive on top of the old will not combat this flaking, and can result in a bad repair job.
In removing these adhesive bits, it is important to take care not to do any further damage to the text. The adhesive can be scraped off, but first it is necessary to apply a poultice material to try to soften the adhesive, and encourage it to release its bond from the paper surface of the text. A common compound used for such a poultice is methyl cellulose.
Methyl cellulose is part of a family of compounds knows as cellulose ethers. Sold in powder form, it is prepared with water to form a clear gel that is hydrophillic in nature. The hydrophillic (water loving) quality of methyl cellulose makes it a good choice as a poultice material. Methyl cellulose can hold a very large percentage of water, keeping it close to the surface of the adhesive to be removed. The water acts as a solvent breaking down the old adhesives. As the methyl cellulose begins to dry out, the old adhesive is pulled up into it through capillary action with the moisture, thus loosening and breaking down the old adhesives. Once loosened, the old material can be easily scraped away with a dull knife or spatula, with minimal damage to the book. Thus ends your chemistry lesson for the day.
prepared methyl cellulose applying methyl cell to the spine
mechanical removal of loosened adhesive voila! squeaky clean spine!
Once left with a clean spine, the next step is to apply a layer of Japanese tissue with wheat starch paste as the first layer, consolidating the spine. Japanese tissues are just pieces of thin, yet very strong paper that do not add extra bulk, but provide some needed strength as the first layer of the spine. This layer is applied with wheat starch paste, which is an adhesive that is easily reversible in water. The idea behind this step is that by using a reversible adhesive as the contact to the original book material, the repair can be reversed at a later date, should further repairs need to be done. Also, the wheat starch paste is a weak adhesive, and very flexible. It is a good choice as it will age well over time, and allow the spine to flex and move as the book is read. This is one situation where over-engineering by choosing a very strong, but stiff adhesive would be a poor choice. While the inclination may be to go for a heavy glue job, often a stiff layer of heavy glue can be prone to split or crack, where as a thinner layer of flexible adhesive will allow the spine to flex as it needs to.
mixed wheat starch paste Japanese tissue
applying tissue with a tamping brush tissue is adhered to spine, and left to dry
As seen above the tissue is very thin, and translucent. It is weak when wet, but surprisingly strong when dry. After applying a thin layer of paste to the tissue, it is carefully laid onto the spine. A tamping brush is used to help macerate the fibers of the tissue into the spine, and to eliminate air bubbles. The finished lining should be smooth, and evenly applied.
Continue to tune in for more linings to come, and will we ever find that perfect bookcloth?
With a little luck, a good portion of the old adhesive will pull off, as the spine linings pop off the book as well. Here you can see the old adhesive, linings, and endsheets that have come off with the boards. Sometimes this is a really easy job, and everything pops off nice and clean as in this case, and other times this can be a lot more complicated. Care must be taken not to damage the parts of the text that you want to save. It can take a little muscle to pull this stuff apart, and the temptation must be avoided not to just rip into the book carelessly, leaving more repair to be done than is needed.
After mechanically removing as much of the old spine material as possible, the next task is to clean the spine before adding new material. You can see from the image below that bits of old adhesive still remain on the spine. If left there, these remnants will not allow for a good adhesion of the new adhesives and spine linings that I want to add. Old adhesives are often brittle, and flake off easily, which is responsible for their failure in the first place. Adding new adhesive on top of the old will not combat this flaking, and can result in a bad repair job.
In removing these adhesive bits, it is important to take care not to do any further damage to the text. The adhesive can be scraped off, but first it is necessary to apply a poultice material to try to soften the adhesive, and encourage it to release its bond from the paper surface of the text. A common compound used for such a poultice is methyl cellulose.
Methyl cellulose is part of a family of compounds knows as cellulose ethers. Sold in powder form, it is prepared with water to form a clear gel that is hydrophillic in nature. The hydrophillic (water loving) quality of methyl cellulose makes it a good choice as a poultice material. Methyl cellulose can hold a very large percentage of water, keeping it close to the surface of the adhesive to be removed. The water acts as a solvent breaking down the old adhesives. As the methyl cellulose begins to dry out, the old adhesive is pulled up into it through capillary action with the moisture, thus loosening and breaking down the old adhesives. Once loosened, the old material can be easily scraped away with a dull knife or spatula, with minimal damage to the book. Thus ends your chemistry lesson for the day.
prepared methyl cellulose applying methyl cell to the spine
mechanical removal of loosened adhesive voila! squeaky clean spine!
Once left with a clean spine, the next step is to apply a layer of Japanese tissue with wheat starch paste as the first layer, consolidating the spine. Japanese tissues are just pieces of thin, yet very strong paper that do not add extra bulk, but provide some needed strength as the first layer of the spine. This layer is applied with wheat starch paste, which is an adhesive that is easily reversible in water. The idea behind this step is that by using a reversible adhesive as the contact to the original book material, the repair can be reversed at a later date, should further repairs need to be done. Also, the wheat starch paste is a weak adhesive, and very flexible. It is a good choice as it will age well over time, and allow the spine to flex and move as the book is read. This is one situation where over-engineering by choosing a very strong, but stiff adhesive would be a poor choice. While the inclination may be to go for a heavy glue job, often a stiff layer of heavy glue can be prone to split or crack, where as a thinner layer of flexible adhesive will allow the spine to flex as it needs to.
mixed wheat starch paste Japanese tissue
As seen above the tissue is very thin, and translucent. It is weak when wet, but surprisingly strong when dry. After applying a thin layer of paste to the tissue, it is carefully laid onto the spine. A tamping brush is used to help macerate the fibers of the tissue into the spine, and to eliminate air bubbles. The finished lining should be smooth, and evenly applied.
Continue to tune in for more linings to come, and will we ever find that perfect bookcloth?
Posted by Jen at 2/5/2010 11:17 AM 
Categories: Conservation, Binding and book repair at Red Letter
Tags: the repair process book repair spine lining Ben's books conservation
Categories: Conservation, Binding and book repair at Red Letter
Tags: the repair process book repair spine lining Ben's books conservation
Comments