A recent incident here at State Records has prompted me to write about how to remove blood from paper documents. Metal fasteners can be dangerous, and even a sheet of paper can produce a nasty wound. If you find yourself bleeding all over your precious documents or family heirlooms, do not despair, speedy action will probably result in little or no permanent damage occurring.
Instructions
• Blood is best removed when it is still wet and fresh. If possible do not allow it to dry, and certainly do not allow it to set to the brown colouration that indicates old blood, as it then becomes very difficult to remove.
• Never use warm or hot water on blood stains as it will set them. This applies as much to fabrics as it does to paper – so it’s a good one to remember if you bleed on your clothing too.
• Use a clean cotton bud and some clean cold water and gently dab the blood stain enough to moisten and dilute it slightly. Use a dry cotton bud to roll over the surface and ‘mop’ up the blood. Do not allow the paper to become too wet as it will distort.
Ice can be useful for fabrics stained with blood – the extra cold water helps to solubilise the stain.
I’m impressed i was under the impression that removing blood in blood stained document was near to impossible.This is really very helpful i had the same incident and was force to make to a notarized copy of the document.
William D. Gaston
Webmaster, etycoonhq.com
Are there any solvents or commercially produced products that will removed dried (not fresh) blood? I have some old family documents that have what appears to be blood stains on them.
The timing of finding this is perfect as I’m in the midst of cataloguing our families documents that go back until the early 1800′s. I’m trying to scan and digitize everything for a backup, but know the original is the one of value.
I’ll be better prepared if I do drop some blood on something now – thanks
Bruce
In answer to Tony’s question about the solvents to use for dried or old blood – the answer is the same as for fresh or still “wet” blood – cold water. The reason the water must be cold, rather than warm or hot, is that heat affects the proteins in the blood causing them to “set” and become less soluable. The only other “solvent” I would try using is saliva – yes, spit. This is because saliva has enzymes in it that may assist in the solubilisation of the blood proteins. You would then need to clean the area with cold deionised or distilled water to remove the saliva. You must also be mindful of not affecting inks, paints, or other media in the area of the stain. For items of significance with stains on decorated or information areas I would recommend you taking your documents to a professional conservator – a list is provided on the AICCM website – http://www.aiccm.org.au
i got a old collection of stamps from my grand father and some i think were from his own father back almost 80 years… unfortunately some are showing what i think is blood, maybe someone got cuted when stamping them. off course this is dry like a stone, and my concern is te ameas Tony, and beeing stamps ( litle area to work with ) i’m just concerned that doing so will end up completly destroying it… but i guess i will do some test on a less valuable one first :)
thanks
Hi Elizabeth. Thank you for such a helpful article. I have clumsily got blood on documents I had been working on before and ended up starting over. At least now I know it can be fixed. Also, thanks for the additional tip on using saliva in your above response.
That’s amazing. I wonder how old of a stain this method would still work on? Thanks for the tips/article