I've searched the archives and there has been *some* discussion in the past about whether or not to repair a box set with blown corners or to try to do a home rebind of a book with a broken spine, but I wanted to get a consensus opinion. Currently, if I get a box set with blown corners or a dished top, I do everything I can to repair it. I've got a technique that works well and looks very unobtrusive when I'm finished. I CERTAINLY notify any prospective buyer that the item has been refurbished if I sell it, but how do you feel about this? Should we work to conserve old box sets by refurbishing them to make the corners stronger and thus protect the whole or should we leave it as it is and protect the "patina" and try to prevent any further damage (like with old furniture)?

If anyone wants, I am going to document the whole process that I use for repairing a box set soon. I received a Karameikos box set with a really badly damaged top cover, so I plan on starting repairs. I am going to document the whole process for a friend who is interested in repairing his own box sets. Would anyone else be interested in what is done and in the information that I've found?

I'm interested as well.

Mister Yuk wrote in Repairs, Refurbishment, or just let it be?:Someone in one of the FB Groups asked recently how to do a box repair and if they should - below in italics is my edited reply to them. I'm curious to know if you are going to add material to reinforce the corner or are doing a glue only repair like in the Youtube video I found on doing it (linked at bottom of post, it's also the video I'm referring to in my reply). Personally, I thought it would be neat to try to place a splint into the corner and I detail it reply.

I'm using pieces cut from a manila folder to splint the corners this time. I haven't in the past, but the damage to this box was so severe I had no choice. I'm working on documenting my process, but right now I'm just trying to get the dishing out of the cover by weighting it down, so it will be some time before I post photos.

Mister Yuk wrote in Repairs, Refurbishment, or just let it be?:Restoring Board Games: How to Fix Broken or Torn Box Corners - YouTube

This is the same video that I started from when I decided I wanted to do my first box set repair. I got tired of looking at a broken box on my shelf and decided to do something about it to make it look nicer.

MadCatUSA wrote in Repairs, Refurbishment, or just let it be?:

Mister Yuk wrote in Repairs, Refurbishment, or just let it be?:Someone in one of the FB Groups asked recently how to do a box repair and if they should - below in italics is my edited reply to them. I'm curious to know if you are going to add material to reinforce the corner or are doing a glue only repair like in the Youtube video I found on doing it (linked at bottom of post, it's also the video I'm referring to in my reply). Personally, I thought it would be neat to try to place a splint into the corner and I detail it reply.

I'm using pieces cut from a manila folder to splint the corners this time. I haven't in the past, but the damage to this box was so severe I had no choice. I'm working on documenting my process, but right now I'm just trying to get the dishing out of the cover by weighting it down, so it will be some time before I post photos.

The box I plan on doing first is my RISK Game from the when I was about 10 years old and it is WAAAASTED! I thought it would be good to practice on either way. The corners are not only blown out but worn down too. I'm going to experiment with making a pulp mash like Pro Restoration people do to fill in gaps and then color match a coating on top of the fill - the mash won't be a big deal to make but I'm not sure at all what kind of coating to use to cover. I do know that Pros can recreate the somewhat glossy finish on the cover graphics by carefully airbrushing a clear top coat.

Are you going to try and fill gaps? Or is your's not worn enough that it has much loss of material?

Mister Yuk wrote in Repairs, Refurbishment, or just let it be?:

MadCatUSA wrote in Repairs, Refurbishment, or just let it be?:
I'm using pieces cut from a manila folder to splint the corners this time. I haven't in the past, but the damage to this box was so severe I had no choice. I'm working on documenting my process, but right now I'm just trying to get the dishing out of the cover by weighting it down, so it will be some time before I post photos.

The box I plan on doing first is my RISK Game from the when I was about 10 years old and it is WAAAASTED! I thought it would be good to practice on either way. The corners are not only blown out but worn down too. I'm going to experiment with making a pulp mash like Pro Restoration people do to fill in gaps and then color match a coating on top of the fill - the mash won't be a big deal to make but I'm not sure at all what kind of coating to use to cover. I do know that Pros can recreate the somewhat glossy finish on the cover graphics by carefully airbrushing a clear top coat.

Are you going to try and fill gaps? Or is your's not worn enough that it has much loss of material?

I'm going to follow this up with photos so you can see for yourself. It was pretty blown out. I don't know what I will do to fill in gaps or if I will at all. I"m happy with just making sure it doesn't get damaged further.

Thanks for sharing those pictures. That box was really badly damaged.  

Regarding the question as to how far you should go in repairs: I would go no further than what you did here, perhaps fixing the slightly loose paper coating in the damaged section. I´m professionally involved in the restoration of historic buildings (the kind that are protected by law), this is obviously not the same thing as restoring a damaged book or box. But professional restoration of any kind aims at 1. preventing further damage and 2. making the restored thing usable or at least presentable and 3. showing that restoration has happened. The aim is never to make the restored item "as good as new", as damages, as stated by others above, are part of the history. With collectible items, restoring them "too well" might even come close to forgery, as the original state is changed. Please note that I do NOT accuse anybody here of trying to restore items to rip off unsuspecting customers. But given that the prices especially on OD&D items are rising sharply and that there are enough dealers around that would rip anybody off, this might be a problem.

Imagine someone picks up a woodgrain box in sad shape, without the booklets. Now, he restores the box to a much better state, acquires the contents separately and offers that frankenstein for sale, without declaring that background. The potential customer might think he gets a woodgrain box in, say, good or even very good condition. IMO, this would be fraudulent. Now, had the seller declared that the box is restored and shown what he did, the way MadCatUSA did here, and documented the process, which is very important on any restoration, that would be ok. And leaving some damage visible is a good and natural way of showing that an item is restored. With boxes, restoring is probably a good idea, especially to prevent further damage. With booklets, modules and magazines, I would be much more reluctant to restore anything - in a collectors item, this is probably not warranted at all. If you want to read it, get a pdf printout instead of handling the original.

Great insight stebehil. I agree with what you've said. MadCatUSA has nothing to worry about since he's not doing an invisible or near invisible repair. I'm the one that will be more worrisome, not that you've accused me of anything. I will state for the record though.

I will not do this for anyone else.

I will not be doing it for the Gaming items I plan to sell some time in the future.

The item will be permanently marked detailing what I've done. Obviously I can't keep someone from grinding out of the cardboard or otherwise removing my pen markings detailing that. But then it's going to be noticeable that something odd had happened to the item because of that.

I already am involved with antiques and the like and do some restoration, almost always it is on cheaper, unimportant items that it would be shame to see them thrown away and I still document my restorations. Expensive or important works do not get messed with by me, the exception being rewiring an old lamp and I document that on the item and put the original cord inside the base or similar. I am very aware of all the trickery that goes on in antiques and the General Disinterest of being concerned about it by too many Dealers and Auctioneers. I despise that.

Paper or cardboard box restoration is something I find interesting and would like to do for myself. I do think also that by talking about it, we can all gain insight on what to look for being possibly done by others that are not the honest, upstanding members of this Group. It's much harder to spot fakery if you are unaware of the methods used to do it.

sauromatian wrote in Repairs, Refurbishment, or just let it be?:Does anyone have experience restoring boxes with caved-in fronts?  I've tried filling a box with bubble wrap and closing it tightly in a bag to stretch it back into shape, but this seems to put too much stress on the edges, possibly ripping the box apart from the pressure.

Ironing the box flat with an Clothing Iron using some steam is what I've seen mostly used. Have a dish towel in between the Iron and the Cardboard.

Personally I use the slow method when flattening books and I would do similar for boxes. Take everything out of the box. Put the box lid face down on a flat surface. Place a hard flat item that is very close in size to the inside of the box into it. Put some weight (20-30 lbs) on top of the item.

The pressure and general humidity of the air will guide the cardboard back to a flat shape. Be careful that the surface you pick to flatten the box on is clean and out of the way. I'd check every so often to make sure the box lid isn't trying to stick to the flat surface, over time unexpected things can happen. I'd say well before 6 months have passed, your box top will be nice and flat.