That old bookbinder told me to "always wet the paper first" - worst advice I ever got

Took his word for it on a restoration project in Denver last month and the pages ended up all wavy and ruined. Has anyone else had a "pro" tip backfire like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

colethomas17d ago

Huh, that's a bummer. I've messed around with paper restoration as a side hobby and I think that guy maybe meant something different than what you did. He probably meant to wet the paper with a sponge or a brush, not soak it. In my experience, you gotta really control how much moisture you're adding, especially with old, brittle pages. That wavy effect is from uneven drying and too much water all at once. Your mileage may vary, but I've had better luck using a spray bottle to barely mist the paper before pressing it flat.

nathankim17d ago

Ngl, is it really that deep though? lol. Like yeah it sucks the pages got wavy but it's not like you ruined a priceless manuscript or anything.

phoenixk6417d ago

Three projects ago I had a guy in Portland tell me to use distilled water for everything, so I spent forty bucks on five gallons for a single book. Turns out tap water was fine and the distilled actually pulled some weird minerals out of the paper that made it crinkle. @nathankim I wish it was just wavy pages man, but when you're working with hundred year old ledgers the damage adds up fast. Cole got it right on the spray bottle method, I started using one of those fine mist plant sprayers after the distilled disaster and it helped a ton.