• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2013

Since its development in the United Kingdom, the stapler has been used extensively to bind books. Staples comprising almost entirely of iron, first made in the early 1900s, are used to staple the cores of books. These staples change the colour of paper to brown and this browned paper ultimately crumbles. Basic research is being performed on solutions to prevent the deterioration in the quality of paper in the area around the staples. In this study, the cause of this browning of paper in the area was investigated. SEM-EDS, optical microscopy and FT-IR were used to analyze a browned area of three paper samples. It was found that the browned area had shortened fibres. In addition, iron was detected in this area. The corrosion of this iron led to this area of the paper being partially covered by iron(III) oxide, the product of the corrosion, as determined by FT-IR spectroscopy.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2014

The sample book was printed in 1935. Since the books in the early twentieth century were printed using acidic paper, the color of the paper would change to brown over time due to iron corrosion. In addition to corroding iron cores, the acidity of the paper (pH 3.2) also made the paper brown and fragile, as was true in the case of the sample book. To clean the paper of the sample book and to make it strong, we replaced the iron core and performed wet cleaning on the paper to remove contaminants. Then we pressed the sample book dry, and subsequently linening every page with Minoshi($4g/m^2$). Generally, book conservator rebinding the book using wires or threads: however we have devised a new method to rebind the book using colored iron cores. To color the iron core brown, they were dipped in an aqueous coloring solution ($H_2O$, $C_2H_5OH$, $CuSO_4{\cdot}5H_2O$, $FeCl_3{\cdot}6H_2O$); subsequently, a 20% paraloid B-72 was applied to protect the colored iron cores from corrosion.