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My own experience with acetate tapes, mainly 1/4" 1-mil mass-duped AudioTape and Scotch types, is that they don't want a bone-dry environment like is recommended for back-coated tapes. These tapes can un-curl if exposed to humidity, in my experience. And, tapes that have been stored in a cool, somewhat humid environment tend to hold up well vs. tapes stored in a hot attic. I have no science to quantify any of this, just years of experience with hundreds of tapes. If Scotch 111 or especially Kodak acetate tape gets vinegar syndrome, it shrinks not curls. That is not fixable, as far as I know. -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Biel" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, December 09, 2011 4:14 PM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Fwd: [ARSCLIST] Treatment for Acetate Tapes Back in the 30s and 40s, Kodak had a piece of blotter paper behind a grill in the center of the aluminum cans for 16mm films. I think they meant for the blotter paper to be kept damp to keep the safety film hydrated. I never saw anybody do it, however. Mike Biel [log in to unmask] -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [ARSCLIST] Fwd: [ARSCLIST] Treatment for Acetate Tapes From: "Don Tait ([log in to unmask])" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, December 09, 2011 3:42 pm To: [log in to unmask] I agree with Scott Phillips. I'd like to read everyone's comments about this on the ARSC site if everyone is willing. Because I have some acetate tapes from circa 1957 that are dried, curled, and that I want to preserve. I'll tell something that was told to me about a possible rescue method by Mitchell Heller, who's been an engineer involved in recording since the early 1950s: humidity. Mitchell said the basic problem is that acetate tape dries out, and curls as a result. He recommended putting a piece of wet cloth or paper towel in at least one corner of a tape enclosure, the more corners the better, trying to cover all openings of the enclosure with something like plastic wrap to trap the moisture inside, and letting it sit for a while. He said that would rehydrate the tape and cause it to flatten enough to be played successfully. Despite my problems with a few acetate tapes I've never had the energy to try it, so I don't know whether it works. Others probably will. In any case, that's my contribution. I hope to read others' thoughts about the topic. Don Tait It would be a shame if it wasn't on list, this is important. Perhaps Richard Hess has some information, I believe he has played this tape type before... Scott On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 5:48 PM, Simon Kunz <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Dear all, > > I would like to use camphor on a brittle acetate tape to smoothen it and > make it playable. I have recently read of this procedure for film and I > wondered if it would work in magnetic tapes as well. > Does anyone have some experiences with this kind of treatment? Are there > any published articles concerning this topic? (whether applied to film as > to magnetic tape) > > The tape I would like to treat is a Magnethophon Typ C from 1943. > > Every hint is appreciated! If you prefer you may contact me off-list. > > Simon Kunz -- Best Regards, Scott Phillips