Wet Book Rescue

How to rescue a book that has been water damaged.

UPDATE: Music had to be changed due to copyright reasons. We apologize for any inconvenience!

[ThethOne]

Very few people know that paper is a "living" material that is easily affected by the outside conditions. As a printing press techinian, I can say this is a great way to save a book. Good job.

[krazykrisia]

My son just spilled water all over my book. I used a blow dryer turning the pages one by one. Then I used a flatiron, for straightening hair, to smooth out the pages in bunches, then one by one. Now the book with warm, ironed pages is under my mattress between two thin hardcover books. It looks great and it took about 45 minutes.

[MachaSavageBunny]

The level of the love these people put for the book is amazing.

[OoniCrafts]

This was such a weirdly heart warming video. I loved the care you chose to offer to a wet and frazzled book instead of just writing it off. My favourite bit was the wrapped up bricks. Gold!

[lesapprentispianistes]

Thanks a lot for your help ! My piano teacher lent me a music training book. A water bottle spilled where it was sitting. It had a cap but I didn't know it wasn't waterproof. The bottle "dripped" onto some papers that were on the book, but by capillary action the water reached the book. All the pages were damp, not enough to put the blotters on, but thanks to you I thought about putting a fan. It is dry, all that remains is to put it under the press to put the pages back into shape. I will be able to return a book in good condition to my teacher who is so kind.

[okiden.mefineyt]

Thank you so much! My drawing book got wet with my most prized drawings and now i can stop crying over a wrinkled book

[lamargot]

The photography in this video is excellent! The way the patient was handed off to the next caregiver!! Loved it

[hexF]

I came here to learn how to repair my wet books not to start crying 😭😭😭 beautiful video, ty!

[hedgehogz]

So far, these methods do not work on Kobo or Kindle. Next I'll try a Nook and PocketBook

[notachance]

Thank you for showing such a great way to repair a wet book. After seeing this video I repaired my antique book. I had to do it twice but amazingly it came out great. I'll browse your other videos to see if you have one in removing mold or foxing. Thanks

[andrewfoster]

Nice and Practical. We don't realize at times that all paper is born in water and can recover if managed well.

[robertphillips]

If your book has shiny paper pages, it's likely coated with clays which cohere strongly upon drying. Voila -- glued together until rewetted. Uncoated paper is usually only affected by swelling/wrinkling. But if the back of the text block, underneath the spine, absorbed much water, you can help it and the spine too by poking a paper towel in there when the book is (carefully) open.

[katie-jvhe]

Girl: put a paper between every 10 or 20 pages..

Me: *puts toilet paper between every 2 pages..*

[Fubspackz]

Got three books from a professor, then walked through the rain. I really hope this works.

[iamlalapalooza]

thank you so much, this is great, well presented and lovely with the music!!! my librarian was very uptight and not smiling so all the smiles in this are wonderful : )

[emilyolkkola]

Thank you for this video. I like to buy used books, and while I am unsure if they are water damaged (no wavy pages), they are definitely bent out of shape lol. I guess I didnt think about pressing a book to the extent of a book presser. Seeing the water damaged book being flattened out made me realize I never put enough weights on my books when I pressed them. Now I have a book with random other things on top of it pressing it down as much as the book presser did to that book (or at least close enough!). Thank you!!

[ashblack]

Thanks. I used a hairdryer with a concentrator attachment to smooth out each page and it went well and and dried each page quickly. The freezer idea could be really good for situations when you really don't have the time.

[allaboutart]

I feel so happy for the book as a bibliophile and as a librarian

[amylashorty]

Thank you for this video! Everywhere I searched I only found the steps up until leave over night to dry, but what I really wanted to know was what to do after all of that.

[JD-tgib]

Very nice video. Glad to see book restoration is still a thing. 👍