Soaking The Right Way?

Aside from the caution about some stamps and in general; use clean, cool, water. Change the water often. And while some in the thread have mentioned they use them, avoid using soaps and detergents or other chemicals.

Soaps and detergents manufacturers are not required to list the ingredients so for example, they may use whitening chemicals (to make your dishes look cleaner). Adding a drop or two to the soak water will then cause your stamps to glow under a UV light like a neon light, forever ruining any chance at IDing any original tagging varieties.
Don

I now do it the old-school way.
Soaking just in plain fresh tap-water.
After it came off, putting them on just a piece of newspaper, not too coloured.
Also putting them face down on the newspaper.
And then waiting to dry.

If they are completely dry, putting a lot under some heavy books to de-curl them.
Works awesome.

For the last couple years I've been soaking about 1-2 pounds per week - about 15,000 stamps per month or thereabouts, sometimes even more. I've since refined the method I earlier described and I have 3 or more rinse bowls in addition to the main soaking bowl, sorting the stamps by size into the rinse bowls after they come off paper. Doing this enables a more efficient use of space and a quicker transfer of stamps from the rinse bowl into the drying book. It's much easier to maximize space and to move quickly when you're placing same-sized stamps in rows as opposed to trying to fit large and small in close proximity. I can do up to 500-600 stamps per hour this way and I can soak off a couple thousand stamps in an afternoon pretty easily. Doing a batch of all large (300 or so) can take as little as 35-40 minutes, depending on how quickly they come loose.

Most of our stamps that come off paper are in summer room temperature water.

Drying books are a no brainer if you are taking a lot of stamps off paper to dry. It just saves so space and you do not have to have all the windows and doors closed.

Each week we take around kg or 4,500 stamps off paper. Am sorting around 5 kg per week.

Each different stamp era like 50c compared to 60c stamps have different needs to get them off paper.

Even $1 issues will come off paper in room temp. But personalised stamp from the $1 issues just will not come off paper.

Hello,

I am pretty new to collecting and I have been trying many different methods of pressing stamps for about a month now and for some reason I can't get the stamps to dry flat. My most recent method that I have tried is after soaking the stamps, I have been letting them dry on a paper towel until they are damp. Then I put them on another paper towel inside a book with a piece of parchment paper on top. I put heavy books on top and waited 24 hours and when I took them off they were a little bit curled. Does anyone have any suggestions? I considered buying the Manual Stamp Press from SAFE but not sure if it is worth it

XC,
the solution is rather simple really.........patience !
Lifting them after 1 day, they still retain moisture.
Leave for a week.

I use the drying sandwich style, with freezer bags, and stack the books.
I can look over now to my pile, and I see some stamps still in the books
I soaked 3 months ago.
If you regularly soak this way, it is fun,
you take a book from the bottom of the pile, and you have no idea what dry, flat stamps await you.

24 hours usually isn't enough time to press them, particularly for larger stamps. I usually figure a minimum of 2 days, but 3 or 4 is even better.

I will try letting them press for a couple of days and see if I get better results. I was looking into getting a manual stamp press such as the one from SAFE but not sure if it is worth it.

Personally, I would not use heavy books or a press. Any undetected remnants, or debris could become embedded in the stamp paper and either cause damage, or be difficult/impossible to remove, IMO.

@bookbndrbob, if you don't use heavy books or a press how do you flatten them?

XC Runner18, the stamps stain the drying book for a day or two, and curling has not been a problem. Face side of stamps is covered with blotting paper, and backside is on waxed paper over blotting paper. Sometimes a book (not heavy) is put on the drying book.

For me, the most important thing is to make sure that all gum has been removed, so stamps might go through several baths and checking before drying.

Ok, for me almost every stamp will curl if I don't flatten it with a heavy book.

I usually don't have a problem with curling. I let the stamps air-dry for an hour or so. If any start to curl, I wait until they are almost dry and place my watermark tray or magnifying glass on top. Voila! No curl and no need for heavy books. I've never understood the need for drying books or to let dry for a week(!). My soaked stamps are ready for identification and inventory two hours (or less) after leaving the bath.

Robert

This seems to depend quite a bit on the size of the stamp and the type of paper the stamp is printed on. Larger stamps tend to need more time under pressure than small stamps as there's usually only so much a small stamp can curl. Certain types of paper curl worse than others as well. As certain countries tend to use the same type of paper for all (or at least most) of their stamps over a given period of time, enough experience will tell you which stamps need to be pressed longer than others.

Another factor seems to be how humid or dry the air is in your household as the stamps dry. I find that stamps curl worse for me in the winter when the air is drier.

If you're placing them directly into a stock book or into a mount, you can do so as soon as they are completely dry as they will flatten on their own over time. This of course assumes they aren't curled so badly that you'll damage them trying to insert them into a mount. If you're going to store them via another method for a time (such as in glassine envelopes) it's definitely best to give them a good pressing.

Here in a sub tropical climate the humidity keeps the stamps from curling and they are easy to put into stock cards. The effect of humidity on the stamps does not seem to worry them.But because of the long term effect humidity has on stamps made me sell all my Aus KGV side face definitive issues. A sad day!

But when it in dry be it summer or winter the stamps curl to the max. Really hard to get the stamps straight enough to work with. A 10 min job can take hours when the stamps start curling.