FCWesel said:
Hi All.
I have a few RPG books where the binding went bad, and I decided to go to Kinkos and get them re-bound with a spiral binding, which is very cool and makes the book very easy to work with. For ease of binding and use, I simply had them leave the hard-covers off of the new bound books.
Now my question is, there are two maps on the inside of the covers, each are 2-page maps, one side of each being stuck to the front/back covers of the book.
The maps are good enough that I would like to save them.
Anyone know a way that I can get the maps off the inside covers witout destroying them? They are glues quite well...unlike most of the rest of the binding of the books to my chagrin.
Thanks all.
OK. This is both easier and harder than it seems. There are two ways to do it (or, at least, two ways we did it when i was doing book conservation for a living). Luckily, the covers are already separate from the books, which makes your life easier. The first way is to simply peel them off. You need a flat, blunt, small metal tool. [blunt is the important part--you do *not* want a knife blade of any sort.] At work we used microspatulas--you might be able to snag one from a lab supply place, or possibly an art supply store, otherwise you'd have to order a box of 20 or 50 or something from someplace like Demco. With the microspatula, work around the edges until you find a loose spot where you can slip the microspatula under the endpaper. In your case, this should be easy--it's almost certainly loose where the covers were cut off. Gently slide the microspatula back and forth, until you can get a finger tip under the endpaper without creasing it. Lift slightly, and widen the loosened part, until you've done an entire edge. Now, lift gently so you can see what you're doing, and work a little bit further under. Repeat until you've got it off. You can also work from all 4 edges, in turn. The important parts are to never push hard with the microspatula, nad try not to push forward at all. Instead, stroke back and forth, sideways, with just enough pressure to let it work it's way forward. Think of it a bit like sawing--you don't really push down on the saw, you just provide enough weight so that the real work (back and forth) will stay in contact with teh wood. The other trick is to not lift the paper any more than you have to, and try and always keep the paper taught. If you lift too much, you'll give the paper a roll, which is tricky to get rid of. Mostly, it takes lots of patience, and a gentle hand.
The other technique is both riskier, and easier. You need a solvent. I forget what it was called, but what we used in the conservation lab was actually the same stuff as the glue. It softened and released most book glues, but if left for too long, adhered and hardened itself. Anyway, you need the right stuff, and then you just smear a heavy layer over the entire endpaper, wait a day, scrape it clean, and then it'll peel right off. If this were an old book, that'd be the way to go (because no risk of tearing the endpaper). However, with a modern book, i'd be worried about the ink smearing, and washing out.
So, mostly, it just takes a very thin blunt implement, and lots of patience. If you don't trust your hand, i'd go to a book repairer--if you don't know where one is, any decent used bookstore should know of one (if they don't do it themselves).
Oh, and steaming has the same risks as a solvent--if you don't know what you're doing, and know what the inks and papers and glues are, i wouldn't do it. You might end up ruining the image in the process.
