Kodachrome vinegar mold syndrome BAD!

[vidwerk]

I recently aquired a few rolls of kodachrome 8mm from a friends mom that are dated around the late fifties and early sixties. A couple of them seem to be in pretty bad shape. I don't want to even unravel them. Can they be restored?
Can I do this myself with some household ingredients? Thanks.

[Davideo]

This is serious damage. If it's important material, send it to Color Lab. This is not something you can do yourself.

[Davideo]

After looking at the photo again, the leader looks fine and does not display acetate decomposition (also known as Vinegar Syndrome). The white stuff may just be build-up from storage in a metal cellophane can. Try to shake it off or lightly scrape it off the reel and see if the film underneath is smooth rather than buckled or warped like you would find with films with Vinegar Syndrome. I've seen this once before.

[Davideo]

If the film underneath looks fine, then scrape off that build-up and clean it with either Film Renew from Urbanski Film or VitaFilm.

[vidwerk]

Thanks for the info Davideo. The film underneath looks uniform. I contacted Urbanski. Judging by the photo, he believes that the white stuff is mold and not vinegar. And says that Filmrenew should take care of it. I think I'll give it a try.

Cheers.

[David M. Leugers]

Filmrenew is the ticket. I restored a shoe box full of 50ft reels like that (not quite as bad) with it. Transfer the film slowly from the plastic reel onto a metal reel with a soft cotton wipe (Webril Wipes are good, there are others. Check out Christy's editing supplies on the web) soaked with Filmrenew. Change area being used on the wipe often and keep it soaked. Place the metal reel In a metal can
and fill the can with Filmrenew until the reel is completely submerged. Put the lid on the can and let soak for at least two weeks. When you remove the reel from the can, let the excess fluid drain off. Use a fresh wipe and reclean the film between your fingers as you rewind like before. Let the film air dry so the Filmrenew evaporates. Great stuff. Good luck.

[Andreas Wideroe]

Here's a link to a site that has some info on cleaning solvents:

http://www.film-center.com/clean.html

[BAC]

Read this article on the BBC website. The picture looks a lot like the one posted above.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11202019