diff --git a/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/SDFWriter.java b/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/SDFWriter.java
index 118cebf3bf..9e2f278bed 100644
--- a/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/SDFWriter.java
+++ b/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/SDFWriter.java
@@ -71,9 +71,7 @@ public class SDFWriter extends DefaultChemObjectWriter {
 
 
     private BufferedWriter   writer;
-    private BooleanIOSetting paramWriteData;
     private BooleanIOSetting paramWriteV3000;
-    private BooleanIOSetting truncateData;
     private Set<String> acceptedSdTags;
 
     /**
@@ -255,10 +253,6 @@ private void writeChemModel(IChemModel model) throws Exception {
         }
     }
 
-    private static String replaceInvalidHeaderChars(String headerKey) {
-        return headerKey.replaceAll("[-<>.=% ]", "_");
-    }
-
     private void writeMolecule(IAtomContainer container) throws CDKException {
         try {
             // write the MDL molfile bits
@@ -335,15 +329,15 @@ private void initIOSettings() {
             addSettings(mdlv3.getSettings());
         } catch (IOException ignored) {
         }
-        paramWriteData = addSetting(new BooleanIOSetting(OptWriteData,
-                                                         IOSetting.Importance.LOW,
-                                                         "Should molecule properties be written as non-structural data", "true"));
+        addSetting(new BooleanIOSetting(OptWriteData,
+                                        IOSetting.Importance.LOW,
+                                        "Should molecule properties be written as non-structural data", "true"));
+        addSetting(new BooleanIOSetting(OptTruncateLongData,
+                                        IOSetting.Importance.LOW,
+                                        "Truncate long data files >200 characters", "false"));
         paramWriteV3000 = addSetting(new BooleanIOSetting(OptAlwaysV3000,
                                                           IOSetting.Importance.LOW,
                                                           "Write all records as V3000", "false"));
-        truncateData = addSetting(new BooleanIOSetting(OptTruncateLongData,
-                                                       IOSetting.Importance.LOW,
-                                                       "Truncate long data files >200 characters", "false"));
     }
 
     public void setAlwaysV3000(boolean val) {
diff --git a/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/iterator/IteratingSDFReader.java b/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/iterator/IteratingSDFReader.java
index 66d7d802bd..8723baa1ad 100644
--- a/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/iterator/IteratingSDFReader.java
+++ b/storage/ctab/src/main/java/org/openscience/cdk/io/iterator/IteratingSDFReader.java
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ public class IteratingSDFReader extends DefaultIteratingChemObjectReader<IAtomCo
 
     // patterns to match
     private static final Pattern MDL_VERSION          = Pattern.compile("[vV](2000|3000)");
-    private static final String  M_END                = "M  END";
     private static final String  SDF_RECORD_SEPARATOR = "$$$$";
     private static final String  SDF_DATA_HEADER      = "> ";
 
@@ -294,44 +293,6 @@ public void setSkip(boolean skip) {
         this.skip = skip;
     }
 
-    private String extractFieldData(StringBuilder data) throws IOException {
-        data.setLength(0);
-        while (currentLine != null && !currentLine.startsWith(SDF_RECORD_SEPARATOR)) {
-            if (currentLine.startsWith(SDF_DATA_HEADER))
-                break;
-            logger.debug("data line: ", currentLine);
-            if (data.length() > 0)
-                data.append('\n');
-            data.append(currentLine);
-            currentLine = input.readLine();
-        }
-        // trim trailing newline
-        int len = data.length();
-        if (len > 1 && data.charAt(len-1) == '\n')
-            data.setLength(len-1);
-        return data.toString();
-    }
-
-    private String skipOtherFieldHeaderLines(String str) throws IOException {
-        while (str.startsWith(SDF_DATA_HEADER)) {
-            logger.debug("data header line: ", currentLine);
-            currentLine = input.readLine();
-            str = currentLine;
-        }
-        return str;
-    }
-
-    private String extractFieldName(String str) {
-        int index = str.indexOf('<');
-        if (index != -1) {
-            int index2 = str.indexOf('>', index);
-            if (index2 != -1) {
-                return str.substring(index + 1, index2);
-            }
-        }
-        return null;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Returns the next {@link IAtomContainer}.
      */