The Acaeum Dungeons & Dragons
Collecting Forums

Rusted staples on old modules
Post new topic Reply to topic Page 1 of 1
Author


Prolific Collector

Posts: 603
Joined: Jul 22, 2010
Last Visit: Jul 15, 2025
Location: Hong Kong

Post Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 1:34 am 
 

Hello all,

I wasn't sure if this topic had been covered or not.
I won some old modules on Ebay for a relatively inexpensive price.

I saw that for some of them the staples had a lot of rust on them.

The essays section in the Acaeum Library of this website mainly concentrated on mold and mold prevention.

Do any of you have any advice on dealing with rusted staples?
I guess this would in regards to replacement of the staples, and removing the rust from the pages of the modules.

Thank you.
Ronald

  

User avatar

Long-Winded Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 3865
Joined: Feb 21, 2004
Last Visit: Jul 20, 2023
Location: Milford, Michigan

Post Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:11 am 
 

You can remove them and replace with similar staple. I have never done this, but it should not be too hard.
The most important thing is to then keep them in a very dry enviroment.


And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

New modules for your Old School game http://pacesettergames.com/

Everything Pacesetter at http://pacesettergames.blog.com/

 WWW  

User avatar

Verbose Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 1787
Joined: Apr 26, 2005
Last Visit: Aug 04, 2020
Location: Indianapolis

Post Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:48 am 
 

rhynne,

I do not know of any way to remove the rust stains from the paper.

However rusted staples can be replaced.  Most modules use standard staples.  Just like the ones in your stapler.  Get some tweezers and gently lift the curled ends of the rusted staples upright.  Most of the time they break right off - which is no problem at all.  Remove only one staple at a time.  Once you have one staple removed replace it immediately.  It is much easier when the other staple is left in to hold the pages together.  Use the back end of the tweezers to curl the new staple tines into place.  Repeat for the other staple(s).

Ideally you want to replace staples when they just begin to show rust.  That way you avoid the stains.  I have been very successful in replacing staple on most modules.  Some Mod series use different sized staples (Islandian Games) just check the size before starting.

Martin

  


Prolific Collector

Posts: 603
Joined: Jul 22, 2010
Last Visit: Jul 15, 2025
Location: Hong Kong

Post Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 10:22 pm 
 

Hello Prufrock and bbarsh,

Thank you for the replies. I pretty much had a similar idea with regards to the staples themselves. For the rust stains I thought there might be some Antiquarian method for removal?

I was concerned that the rust stains on the pages might affect any new staples that you put in.

I worked at the Royal Ontario Museum in my youth and saw some restoration done on some interesting artifacts. Thought there might be some chemical solution that could be used for the rust stains.

Maybe the cost/benefit isn't worth it to go to that extent.

Thank you again.

Best regards,
Ronald

  


Prolific Collector

Posts: 603
Joined: Jul 22, 2010
Last Visit: Jul 15, 2025
Location: Hong Kong

Post Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:34 am 
 

Hey everyone,

I wanted to add one more point on this subject.

I just found an old forum thread about the very same question I brought up but it was discussed about 7 years ago.

about151.html

Interesting viewpoints with regards to rusty staple replacement.

Best regards,
Ronald

  
Post new topic Reply to topic Page 1 of 1