Easy way to remove the sticky pages of a book caused by being wet?

Question

I have an old bible gold edition (recovery version) that has been soaked because of a leak in my ceiling during a typhoon. Now it is dry, but the pages are in poor condition and stick to each other, I can carefully separate the pages manually but it would take me a long time because it has thousands of pages. Are there any other methods of separating the pages in a much faster way?

Answer 1

According to wikiHow, there are the following 4 methods:

Method 1: Slightly damp

1. Remove as much liquid as possible from the book by taking it out of the puddle and carefully shaking off the liquid.
2. Blot the affected pages, preferably with a towel (cloth, not a paper towel).
3. Assess how much of the book has gotten wet. If a certain portion is still dry, insert something between the wet portion and the dry portion to prevent the liquid soaking the whole thing while you prepare for the next step.
4. Plug in your iron. Turn it to a very gentle setting (silk, for example) and wait for it to heat up. Turn off the steam.
5. Place your book on your ironing board and carefully single out a wet page. Be careful not to tear it.
6. Take a piece of absorbent paper like a paper towel (or a piece of toilet paper)and place it on your wet book page.
7. Place your warm iron on the tissue and move it carefully from side to side. If you can't do it without creating wrinkles in the tissue, press it down, then lift it up, set it down a little to the left or right of your original spot, and continue.
8. Check the page under the tissue to see how dry it is. Repeat the former step until you achieve your desired dryness.
9. Continue with this method until you have dried all affected pages of your book. Use new pieces of absorbent paper for every page, as needed.

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Method 2: Soaked - If your book falls into some water and it's floating.

1. Check carefully the position of the book while it floats and attempt to catch it gently. Place your hands inside the water beneath the book and lift it as not to rip up the frail paper.
2. If the book is completely soaked, trying the method above will rip the paper. If even the cover is wet you should put down the book on a warm and clean surface. Good options are a boat's deck in the sun, a balcony, a car's hood or concrete floor, if you watch it so that no one else picks it up.
3. Try to access the extent of the damage by trying to flip the pages of the book. If you can see the next page's writing through the first don't pull them apart.
4. Flip the book every so often, to ensure it dries throughout.
5. When the pages are tough enough to read as a regular book but it still feels moist, you may try the first method used above for smaller amounts of liquids.

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Method 3: Using a hairdryer. This works well for both for damp and soaked books.

1. Carefully smooth out the pages.
2. Dry on the high heat setting 10 centimeter (3.9 in) away from page on slow dry.

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Method 4: Making rabbit ears. This method helps air circulation and prevents pages from sticking together.

1. Fold each wet page corner, 2–3 centimeter (0.8–1.2 in) toward the center of the page, without pressing on the loop that formed.
2. You can skip a page every now and then.
3. Repeat for both "open" corners or just one corner, depends on the level of dampness.
4. Leave to dry.

Answer 2

Ultimately, the best course is to buy a new one, but if you must keep this one, try this:

Get the book wet again. The pages will loosen, and you can dry them out carefully as described here. If you need them flat, you can iron them after they were dry. You can do several pages at once if you want, to save time. Or you can just leave them wrinkled.

Answer 3

My BIL is the "Maytag Man". He says a wet book should be placed in the freezer, and left for weeks or months.