Hey everyone,

I recently acquired a copy of 6080 King's Castle with the original box in pretty decent condition, but it has a little bit of mold (or maybe mildew?) on it. It's not black. There are a few spots that are a little darker than the rest. Visually, it isn't bad, but the mold spores get into my nose and linger for more than 24 hours after I hold it.

Has anyone had success in removing mold or mildew from boxes and instructions?

Thanks!

Josh

What about deepfreezing for some time? I've heard it should help against bad smell.

6 hours ago, The Reader said:

What about deepfreezing for some time? I've heard it should help against bad smell.

I've been considering that. I'll have to buy some extra large ziploc bags to do that, so I thought I'd ask for suggestions first in case I can do it without spending money. I've read that chest freezers don't get cold enough to kill mold, but it brushes away easier when it's cold. I could try freezing it in a bag full of baking soda.

I just came across this page about cleaning mold and mildew from books: https://www.biblio.com/book-collecting/care-preservation/prevent-remove-mold-mildew/

In professional book restoration they use gas chambers to kill this stuff and then gently wipe it off with their specialized liquids. For home use it would probably be good to put the instructions in a vacuum sealed bag and indeed freeze them as cold as possible. I'd go easy on the baking soda, though. Cellulose is, after all, just a complex hydrocarbon that would respond to alkaline materials. Exposing the paper too long could make it brittle and cause additional gilding. If at all I would use such a process only in the open like covering the pages for a few minutes to draw out moisture and then brushing away the magic dust. Wearing a filter mask is of course advised.

Mylenium

This seems like a lot of trouble. Wouldn't it be easier to replace it, reprint it or just get a digital copy? Don't risk getting sick from it!

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?I=6080-1#T=S&O={"rpp":"100","iconly":0}

https://www.brickfactory.info/set/index.html No mold or mildew here.

https://lego.brickinstructions.com/lego_instructions/set/6080/King's_Castle

https://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-king-s-castle-set-6080-instructions

12 hours ago, Mylenium said:

In professional book restoration they use gas chambers to kill this stuff and then gently wipe it off with their specialized liquids.

Yes, they use gases, but not so much specialized liquids (other than highly volatile liquids = be careful). As far as I can tell, they don't like chemicals at all (as you already pointed out) but much so (very) dry conditions. It is not the low temperature killing mold (they more so fall asleep), but "no water" available. At low temperatures, generally, the water content in the surrounding >air< is low (but upon freezing it condenses, on surfaces, which could be the affected paper as well). If the freezer is not tightly sealed, more water enters and condenses on surfaces - and upon defrosting the "object" may get wet again.

Dry conditions are thus pivotal, as "molds" hate that, but it is not that easy to get there if no suitable environment is available.

Does not help much, I know, but the "freezer" was catching my attention ...

Best,
Thorsten     

10 hours ago, Toastie said:

Yes, they use gases, but not so much specialized liquids (other than highly volatile liquids = be careful).

Not sure about that. When we were visiting Deutsche Bücherei here in Leipzig, which also has one of the largest book restoration facilities, we were told it would contain some special ingredients. Might be some mild tensides to "soften" the water, a bit of glycol or even certain alcohols. Might also use complex salts to stop the stuff from re-growing. Anyway, barring deeper research I can only repeat what we were told. They definitely use a lot of purified water for sure, but also other stuff depending on the use case.

Mylenium

On 9/28/2024 at 3:38 AM, Mylenium said:

In professional book restoration they use gas chambers to kill this stuff and then gently wipe it off with their specialized liquids. For home use it would probably be good to put the instructions in a vacuum sealed bag and indeed freeze them as cold as possible. I'd go easy on the baking soda, though. Cellulose is, after all, just a complex hydrocarbon that would respond to alkaline materials. Exposing the paper too long could make it brittle and cause additional gilding. If at all I would use such a process only in the open like covering the pages for a few minutes to draw out moisture and then brushing away the magic dust. Wearing a filter mask is of course advised.

Mylenium

 

On 9/28/2024 at 8:02 AM, 1963maniac said:

This seems like a lot of trouble. Wouldn't it be easier to replace it, reprint it or just get a digital copy? Don't risk getting sick from it!

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?I=6080-1#T=S&amp;O={"rpp":"100","iconly":0}

https://www.brickfactory.info/set/index.html No mold or mildew here.

https://lego.brickinstructions.com/lego_instructions/set/6080/King's_Castle

https://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-king-s-castle-set-6080-instructions

It's not just the instructions, but a pretty decent looking box also.

On 9/28/2024 at 4:35 PM, Toastie said:

Yes, they use gases, but not so much specialized liquids (other than highly volatile liquids = be careful). As far as I can tell, they don't like chemicals at all (as you already pointed out) but much so (very) dry conditions. It is not the low temperature killing mold (they more so fall asleep), but "no water" available. At low temperatures, generally, the water content in the surrounding >air< is low (but upon freezing it condenses, on surfaces, which could be the affected paper as well). If the freezer is not tightly sealed, more water enters and condenses on surfaces - and upon defrosting the "object" may get wet again.

Dry conditions are thus pivotal, as "molds" hate that, but it is not that easy to get there if no suitable environment is available.

Does not help much, I know, but the "freezer" was catching my attention ...

Best,
Thorsten     

I do have an ozone generator. I'd forgotten about it until I read your comment about using gases. I'll stick it in a tub outside with the ozone generator for a couple hours and see if that kills the mold. That would probably be the safest approach. I've seen a lot of people recommend using alcohol, but I think that would smear the ink.

On 9/29/2024 at 3:09 AM, Mylenium said:

Not sure about that. When we were visiting Deutsche Bücherei here in Leipzig, which also has one of the largest book restoration facilities, we were told it would contain some special ingredients. Might be some mild tensides to "soften" the water, a bit of glycol or even certain alcohols. Might also use complex salts to stop the stuff from re-growing. Anyway, barring deeper research I can only repeat what we were told. They definitely use a lot of purified water for sure, but also other stuff depending on the use case.

Mylenium

Using anything wet sounds risky to me. But I'll keep that in mind if everything else fails.