Musty Odor On Old Book

Bought an older Scott catalog with intention of using it as a checklist. It arrived and is in good shape but... it smells like an old basement.

This has been discussed on here before, has anyone tried sealing a book like this in a bag with baking soda? will my stamps be in danger of mold infection if I use this around them?

The ebay seller never said a thing about this. Thanks..

I would think a light spraying of Fabreze might help?

Jim

The baking soda thing works pretty well.

I had a similar issue a couple of years back. I placed some baking soda (bicarbonate of soda in Australia) in a tray and placed the tray and the book (stand the book up and fan the pages out) in a larger airtight container and leave it for a few days. Repeat if necessary.

Not sure if your stamps will get a mould infection from the book.

Hope this helps

Are you worried about mold in the catalog? You can buy a mold test kit from a local hardware store. Might be worth a shot.

If baking soda works for a musty basement odor I wonder if it would work for other odors?

I bought a lot of stamps off of ebay, when it arrived it smelled as though a cat had urinated on the lot. Needless to say, that particular lot of stamps is sealed and placed in a far away corner. It about knocked me out when I opened the package!

Give the stamps a hot bath Moyock13, assuming they're used examples and it's safe to do so.

Stamps 1962 - fresh, new baking soda works pretty well but make sure you add a few desicant paks in the sealed bag to pull out any moisture. A short stroll in the sunshine shouldn't hurt either as the UV rays should kill a lot of bacteria. A couple minutes on each page should help. But it has to be outdoor and not inside as the UV will not pass through glass.

Moyock13, I am sure there is not much worse than putrid cat urine. I collected old tube radio's and always had to replace the speaker cloth material if it came from a cat house. And before you say it, no, not that kind. Get your mind out of the gutter and back to stamps. Lemon juice is a good deodorizer also. It does a pretty good job of reducing and almost removing odors such as furnace oil and diesel from hands. Like Bobby says, if they are used, a nice warm bath with a couple drops of lemon juice should do the trick.