How to Erase Ink, Crayon, Hard Pencil...and More | Book Repair and Care 101

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

DISCLAIMER: If you have particularly valuable, collectible, or sentimental books, I highly recommend taking them to a professional bookbinder for restoration rather than attempting any of these techniques yourself. Not every technique will be appropriate for every book, and I am not an expert in book conservation or restoration, although I do use these techniques myself frequently and have been taught by people with decades of experience in the secondhand book industry. These tutorials are aimed at helping out with average books which aren’t worth the cost of being taken to a specialist, and as such, I hope you find them useful. That said, by all means check out the comments for others’ results, experience, and criticism before deciding whether to try a repair technique yourself. If you like my content and would like to support me with a small tip, please use this link (1% of all donations are being donated to help the environment): ko-fi.com/squirrellynerdyjess

[@CatWildwoodWildwood]

I’ve always loved when older books have names or messages in them, especially in my books from the mid to late 1800s. It’s like the previous owner left a part of themselves behind.

[@bookfantastic]

I have sold books for many years and I deal with lots of older books. I find your lessons absolutely fantastic. I just revived a bunch of spine lean books using your methods and this lesson offers many possibilities. I subscribed, of course, and I can't wait to watch more of your videos. Thank you.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Thank you for the kind feedback! I do have more lessons in mind to film.

[@BallerineMimi]

Saving this to my research playlist for when I finally clean up my book collection!

[@sclogse1]

Very pro upload. Subbed. On the ball point paper where you can see the dented in paper on the back (13:48) it might be worthwhile to try to push the dents out with the eraser or other object on the back side before trying to erase on the ink side.

[@traciebecker6669]

Very well done. Thank you 😊

[@c123bthunderpig]

This was so much deja vu, thank you for the many examples. Two ideas that have given me a little success are an eraser shield, typical used in mechanical drawing, it can help shield some of the area by shielding the area being impacted by the eraser. Another technique, mechanical eraser. The " expensive direct power" ones have disappeared, not too mention very expensive, However, Amazon has some very inexpensive battery powered ones. You can keep the eraser at a slightly higher elevation, limiting contact with paper and letting vibration instead of rubbing a broad area. Just a few thoughts. Great video on validation of when to try and not to try.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Those are fantastic suggestions! I’ll have to look into them. Thank you.

[@RichardJBarbalace]

Any tips for removing a sticker, like the one at 15:00?

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Someone else just asked that, too. That is shortly to come! I have two videos planned before that, so hopefully within the next month or two. 😊

[@Beery1962]

I have found that a very fine sandpaper works better than an ink eraser. It also has the advantage that if you choose the right grit of sandpaper, you can simulate and therefore maintain the sheen of the paper. I use a heavier grit at first, and then go finer if the erased portion looks too rough. If it looks too smooth, go with a heavier grit. I've found that, in many cases, as long as you don't go too deep into the paper, you cannot tell that any erasure was made.

[@benmaracich4974]

I have a large dictionary very thin paper near perfect condition. But the hard boards are totally square and flat but the pages have a wave to them on the bottom. Any good ideas thank you?

[@Beery1962]

9:40 You can get out those rough patches by using an ultra-fine sandpaper. As long as the paper is thick enough, you can simulate a smooth texture and it will blend in with the rest of the page. However, if you have gone too deep, if you hold the page up to the light, although the texture will match, you will definitely be able to see light through the page where the erased portion was.

[@basspig]

I've got a coated soft cover book that somebody wrote out a check on top of it using it as a backing and now it left an indentation in the cover. I'm trying to figure out how to remove the indentation.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Ooh that’s tough. I’m not sure. I have ideas on what to try, but they’re just off the top of my head and I wouldn’t want to give you bad advice. If I come up with something, I’ll make a video about it.

[@basspig]

@@SquirrellyNerdyJess What sort of worked is a the back of a screwdriver rolled over the back side of the cover on a hard surface.

[@pwmel1]

Very cool. I wish you lived near me (California) because the books I really care about, I would rather have someone with your experience repairing them. Thanks for sharing!

[@KiwiExpressCream]

Looking at indentations caused by ball point pens or other hard objects, I've found using a wallpaper seam roller, the ones with a small, hard plastic roller, quite effective in pushing out the indentation (from the other side, obviously). For pencil marks, it pushes the pencil side of the paper out just flat enough that you don't have to press quite as hard with the eraser.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Ooh good thought! Thank you.

[@VictorianStudio]

Thanks so much for all your informative videos. I am a new subscriber (was inspired to finally create my own library after watching your series) and thought I would share something I stumbled upon. I had an old Disney book with a semi-glossy back outside cover totally scribbled over in brown crayon. I tried Goo Gone (great for labels btw) with a gentle scrubbing of paper towel and it completely removed the crayon! I guess it would only work on glossy covers, but I was impressed with the result.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Ooh good to know! I have a label removing video in the works, but I often use lighter fluid, which also can sometimes help with things on glossy surfaces. I wonder if they’re a similar chemical.

[@Beery1962]

With ink markings next to, or through, text, you can use a scalpel and disposable surgical blades to scratch off the offending marks without touching the printed text. There are blades with sharp points, and ones with curved edges, so you can go as detailed as you like. But it takes a lot of work.

[@nefraial]

I'm the type of person who likes finding books with names and dates written in them and even a whole lot of annotation as I like to imagine what the previous reader was thinking. However, I detest written prices and inked business stamps so this is an idea I'll use for those. I'd like to see how I can straighten up some of my curvaceous paperbacks lol. You know, the ones with round edges and spines that are fatter than they should be.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Paperbacks are much harder to straighten, but I have had that in mind in case there is anything I can offer on that front. Thank you!

[@Real_LiamOBryan]

Could you link me to both the hard and soft erasers on amazon, and without tinyurl? My adblocker is saying something is wrong with the tinyurl link.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Sure. These are the ones I use, although not the only ones that work. Hard eraser: www.amazon.co.uk/ERASER-removes-inscriptions-library-stamps/dp/B007P3J7CC/ref=sr_1_23?crid=1MWKPKUMID5M4&keywords=ink+eraser&qid=1692946445&sprefix=ink+eraser%2Caps%2C82&sr=8-23 Soft eraser: www.amazon.co.uk/Staedtler-Plastic-Pencil-Rubbers-Drawing/dp/B00JBHWOMK/ref=sr_1_20?crid=8OGIT1EH6P72&keywords=stabilo%2Bart%2Beraser&qid=1692946487&sprefix=stabilo%2Bart%2Beraser%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-20&th=1

[@Real_LiamOBryan]

@@SquirrellyNerdyJess Thank you very much! I purchased a used book with over 500 pages, out of the over 1,200 pages in the book, with pencil writing all over them.

[@SeanLamb-I-Am]

You showed some library withdrawals, but there was one bit missing for those. Some of the larger volumes in my collection (like the very thick volumes with more than 500 pages) have stamps on the edges of the pages, outside the body of the book. I imagine that the erasers might help there too, but would it be any more difficult because the eraser is working on the edge of the paper? Edit... and of course, after typing that, I read further on and saw a discussion about it. Thanks!

[@kapowmma3654]

Hi there, thanks for the tutorial on removing the ink stamps. What if you have an ink stamp on the top of the pages? Not an individual page but the ink stamp is on this part of the book. Hopefully the question makes sense. Thanks for your help!

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Do you mean on the top edges of the text block/pages? I can do a video on that, but you can either use the same ink eraser or sandpaper. It’s tricky, though and again, it depends on how heavy the ink is.

[@kapowmma3654]

@@SquirrellyNerdyJess I wish I could show in an image on here... it's stamped on the outside of the book, if you stand the book up, it's on the top part of the pages. But, yes if you did a video on this that would be awesome! I think the technical term would be the top edge of the text block, perhaps.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

@@kapowmma3654 I’ll add it to my list!

[@armandopaulo2155]

Hello I had underlined some words from with a pen and I was able to take it out but i got a little bit of text(slightly).The teacher said it is okay as is. What should I do. Is it a problem?

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

If the text is still legible/understandable, I’d leave it.

[@David-sq2en]

have you consider bleaching pen?

[@allinon1sw]

Would you consider making a video on how to remove glued labels and library card pockets from books if you hadn't already done so? Thank you for this informative series.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Thanks for watching! I do have one on labels coming up. I can bump it up the priority list.

[@franceslassiter2136]

You might use an architect's erasure shield when erasing lines between text. It is a flat metal sheet with lines and holes punched in it. It is used to limit tbe area that your eraser can touch.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Ooh! Nice suggestion. I’ll look it up! Thank you.

[@blaxk_wolf]

That was really interesting 🐿

[@gordonthomson2183]

Perhaps a artists masking tape over Text is a good Idea when erasing lines under text. The type we have in South Africa is not super sticky, so it does not adhere to the page. That way you can erase with out the risk of removing text.

[@SquirrellyNerdyJess]

Thanks for the suggestion! Another viewer suggested architect’s erasure shields, which I’ve just acquired and plan to test out as well.

[@amyrichardson6419]

Thanks for this video

[@gordonthomson2183]

Crayon on thin Bible Pages: Roll Press Stick (I think it is called Sticky Tack in the US) on the page repeatedly. Note ROLL not Dab. (Hold the page firmly downward. you can practice on the blank pages at the back of an old bible.) - To anyone with toddlers, you are welcome ;)

[@romanengelbrecht6717]

I treasure my books and it breaks my heart when i see people doing scribbles or highlights in the books and then they dont even do it neatly

[@ip3931]

MY BOOKS ARE DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIR!

[@michaelstimpson1137]

This is making me cringe somewhat, may I suggest instead of using the "ink eraser" in a fairly heavy handed way, try buying some very fine abrasive paper and going really gently with it. It's quite laborious but time taken is proportional to quality of the result.

[@dramatized1174]

What grit would you recommend for that?

[@kailynjaidyn222]

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