Rebinding a water damaged 1920s hymnal in my garage in Reno, and the spine actually held

Dakota Ramirez · 2026-09-23T07:10:03.701104+00:00

A lady brought me her grandmother's hymnal last month, the whole bottom corner was stained black from a basement flood and the original spine had turned to dust. I was sure the signatures would crumble when I pulled the old glue, but I went slow with a dull knife and they came out clean, then resewed them on three tapes with 18/3 linen thread. The boards were warped so I dampened them just a hair and pressed them flat between wax paper for four days. It is not museum quality and I am okay with that, but does anybody have a better way to deal with mold staining on old text block edges?

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Rebinding a water damaged 1920s hymnal in my garage in Reno, and the spine actually held | Bookbinders - Rigidtalk