Paper tapes+rubber bands+30 yrs = mess

[Chris Elmquist]

Thanks for all the replies on this topic.  I'll look into some of the
solvents mentioned...  certainly acetone is still available at hardware
stores.

Then one followup comment:

On Wednesday (09/03/2008 at 11:52AM -0500), james wrote:
> 
> How much data is in the exposed tape that was damaged? Don't
> they have leaders with no data on them? Did the damage
> extend into the layers beneath the surface? I'm assuming
> that the tapes were rolled up and only the first few inches
> were damaged.

Unfortunately, in many cases, the rubber band melted into a pool which
then flowed across the rolled up tape EDGE.  ie, the roll was sitting
flat in a box and the rubber pool flowed across the flat bottom of the
box and managed to contact the tape from the outside diameter to the
inner...  touching the whole thing!!   geez.

Thanks again for all the replies.

Chris

-- 
Chris Elmquist
mailto:chrise at pobox.com