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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;verybrad, post: 9559993, member: 37&quot;]Let me start by saying that this was an amateur experiment.&nbsp; I used materials on hand after reading about paper conservation and thinking about it a bit.&nbsp; Much of what I read was pretty complex and involved chemicals that I had no ready access to.&nbsp; There was not a lot of how-to information regarding stain removal.&nbsp; A couple of things struck me overall that pertained to what I was planning.&nbsp; First was the use of some kind of alkalinizing agent to counteract the acidification of the paper. The second was the use of alcohol to prep the paper and inhibit fiber expansion. </p><p><br /></p><p>I will address the second aspect first.&nbsp; I have a little first-hand experience in using alcohol to expell water.&nbsp; I routinely use it when washing bottles, vases, etc. that are hard to dry inside.&nbsp; Once clean, I use a little alcohol to expell water and facillitate drying.&nbsp; Consequently, this made some sense to me.&nbsp; Using alcohol in the paper washing process did seem to help and I believe it facillitated drying.&nbsp; I was amazed at how flat the paper dried without using some kind of complex drying process or aparatus.&nbsp; Not being able to dry the paper and retain flatness was my greatest fear in tackling paper washing.</p><p><br /></p><p>The use of bleach came in an act of desperation.&nbsp; Nothing I was doing seemed to help the cleaning of the print.&nbsp; The alcohol or plain distilled water did not seem to do anything.&nbsp; Hydrogen peroxide (which is a weak acid) also did little.&nbsp; I knew that I needed to de-acidify the paper at some point.&nbsp; The plan was to use baking soda for this but I was making no progress.&nbsp; I considered using some other kind of cleaning agents, including amonia or sodium hydroxide (lye).&nbsp; I was concerned about residue and/or lingering effects. I had read from one source that up to a 50% solution of bleach could be used. I decided to use a 25% solution and rinse thoroughly after treatment.&nbsp; I do not know if there will be any long term problem associated with using bleach.&nbsp; With the state that this print was/is in, I don&#039;t think it matters much.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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