Question /lit/
I got old books from my grandma, and I really want to keep them, however they have broen spotty mold on them (cover mostly).
What is the best way to sterilize it so it doesn't spread to my collection?
I have access to -80C freezer, autoclave, liquid nitrogen, and lab grade chemicals.
Thoughts?
>>8149165
*brown mold. I could identify down to family/genius if need be.
>>8149165
If you put them into a freezer for a week, the mold should die. Or at least the mold-spots on some of my beer-soaked drinking books haven't gotten bigger that way.
Here's what you do.
Put them in the liquid nitrogen tank overnight. Then take a hammer and chisel and chip off the mold. Youre going to have to put a bit of pressure on the cover because the mold is probably growing within the linen, so don't be afraid to give it a very good smack.
>>8149208
Done that to a banana, works like a charm to get the brown spots out.
>>8149175
>>8149175
>>8149175
>getting this butthurt on c/lit/
>>8149165
If it's just paper covers, it's called foxing, m8. Stick it in the freezer wrapped in plastic, in case it's mold based. This won't reduce the foxing, but it will kill the mold to stop it spreading like >>8149202 says. Not all foxing is mold based, so even this step is excessive for foxing, but it's a good step to take in case there's any bookworms in there too.
You can bleach foxing, but it's likely to eat the page or text if you're not careful, and it's really only done for aesthetic reasons. I usually just leave anything with foxing on the edges of pages to sun bleach, but that won't work as well as painting on a peroxide solution if the book is foxed throughout the pages not just on the edges or covers, obviously.
If they have cloth covers, you could be dealing with mold or bookworms, and freezing them will kill either, but you'll probably want the covers replaced.
Put them into the autoclavewhy do you have access to an autoclave if you don't even understand what it would do to your books
>>8150566
Thanks for the crash course, I'll go plastic bag in freezer as I don't care about aesthetics, just spreading
>>8150587
>implying I thought to just stick them in there and go
There are a lot of ways to autoclave, just heat, no steam, steam but then a pressured dry, pulsing and much more. Plus you can put them in Nalgene containers, foil, or a whole host of other things.
