The light box is such a brilliant idea. And you’re right that we all struggle with staples. I tend to insert the pages one at a time and works well for me but sometimes I use needles and threads to guide the staples in. Never thought of a light box. Well done, Dr Paul, enjoying the series.
Great idea with the light box and I like how you mention you poke the hole in the direction that the staple would naturally puncture it the paper. Well done! 👏
Nice job putting it back together. Because you were aligning on the old staple holes (and not the page edges), you could do the first six inner of the book as you did. Then take the first four inner pages away from the bottom of the stack, and add the next unpunched page to the stack and align the holes so you can see them better. Then the next page, then the cover. Over all a great job. The light table was a great idea. The book looks great.
Thanks Michael! Agree splitting the stack into two stacks might be helpful. I could see the light from the light box better than was evident from the video, so I was seeing it better than you were, but that may not always be the case. 👍🏽
@@DrPaulKosnik Still a very nice job. KollectingKaos also uses a needle for alignment. He pokes the eye end into a pencil's eraser and then uses the pencil as a handle. Thank you for showing us your process.
Love the staple hack. Who doesn't have trouble with staples😂 Have you used the rapid drying method on covers also or just interior wraps.i have a couple seals and was considering trying a cover. Wanted to get your expert advice before I went rogue.
Thanks Travis! Yes, I did the same heated press of the slightly damp cover. Changed blotting paper towels at 30 min, 1hour, and 2hours, then pressed between Bristol paper for 10 min at 155F.
excuse me for being a complete novice , Dr. Paul , but , what about only doing say the cover and the first 3 wraps and then slowly adding more wraps to the staples until the book is complete ? is there a drawback to doing it this way ? i thought using a lightbox was a genius idea , btw !
Hi Rick thanks for the kind words and the question. I also thought this would be a good idea--but in practice i haven't been able to get it to work. Two issues i have not been able to overcome: First, the staples do not want to stay upright. I have tried various ways of trying to get them to stay pointed up so you can lay the pages on them, including using some surgical hemostats, and have not had success. Second, if you do get the staples aligned and a few pages started, eventually you run into a page in which all 4 of the staple puncture holes are closed, and you can't see through the paper to align it with the staple prongs. If you get it figured out, please share! I am always looking for better ways to accomplish the various comic book conservation tasks.
