Soaking The Right Way?

Thanks for the advice, I did soak off some modern GB stamp with cold water to give it a try, I think it turned out decent, they are drying right now :)

The big problem with the new Australia $1 self adhesives issues is most of them the print is coming off or part of coming off when soaking.
+ the print of the stamp is also found on some $1 to crack. This can be found in a few 60c issues as well and one is the 60c definitive farming and another is the 60c trees.

There is also some 70c that the print cracks on as well when soaking the self adhesives.

There is good reason to treat just about all Australia self adhesives slightly differently. They are far from all being the same.

Then there is the horror 55c issues where the paper peels in half and not the self adhesive gum. Micro monsters,Corrugated landscapes,Species at risk And classic toys being the worst.

For your consideration:

The drying "sandwich"......

1 sheet of white copy paper, then add on top 1 freezer bag, place damp stamps on the freezer bag, face up. (tamp wet stamps with new tea towel)
Then add another sheet of copy paper.

Place sandwich in a hefty cheap book .

Wait 5 days, then slide the stamps off the freezer bag, flat as a Halibut, and ready to mount.

In soak mode I use up to 12 books, as I add a new sandwich book at the bottom, I use the top book (now 5 days old) to sort and mount.

Good Luck

This is a great bit of info from Rod.

My wife now gets me to sort stamps into issued sets and soaks the stamp one set at a time.

Just for the record Rod's method failed badly for us here. The stamps stuck to the paper and formed fungus.

Why? Is I believe it is because we soak so many at one time that the paper never dries out because it gets so thick and fungus starts to grow etc.

The goo be gone leaves a oily film on the stamps, also disolves the printing ink on some stamps, you end up with a blank piece of paper. Besides the toxic issues already mentioned. The citus orange works the best.

That doesn't compute John
My method, you place the stamps face up on Freezer bags,
Stamps are impossible to adhere, when dry they just float off.

Unless you are talking self adhesive. In which case I do not soak in water at all.
My self adhesives come off in 3 seconds.

Just noticed the thread. I could write a chapter on the subject, but will be brief enough.

For singles: The best bowl for rinsing I have used is a 2L plastic soda bottle cut in two - transparent, good hemispherical shape, has deep sides, and the stamps roll around without slipping out as I rinse them.

Cold water is always safest.

If you rinse with aerated tap water, the air bubbles will float some hinges to the top and you can skim them off. Change the water several times. The turbulence of tap water will coax off the hinges. Even if the stamps look clean, I leave them soak overnight (but not stamps printed in fugitive inks).

I find faulty stamps tend to float, this is a good way to check and cull the worthless stuff.

For drying I sandwich soaked stamps in copier paper, then sandwich these in more paper. Both B&W newspaper and paper towels work well as the "bread of the sandwich" to wick out moisture. Press under unwanted auction catalogue / paperweight.

Clean stamps will lift off easily. Faulty stamps adhere more.

For multiples, I soak using a Tupperware dish and sandwich the multiple between two sheets of Mylar cut a bit oversize. Surface tension keeps the plastic stuck together, but there is still enough osmosis going on to draw out all the soluble gum. Frequent rinsing is good, as is an overnight soak. When your multiple is rinsed, peel off ONE of the Mylar sheets and begin blotting as above - once dry the second plastic sheet pops off effortlessly as Rod suggests.

Try a freezer bag ....1c each? stamps never stick to your sandwich, even when they have gum left on them, they float off.

I used my sandwich method for 10 years.

Freezer bags work a treat, I 100% agree. I use them often. Once dry on a slippery plastic surface, I do find the slightest puff / breeze sends the stamps into flight; I have had occasion to chase down an escapee or two.

When stamps are stuck to my "paper sandwich", I just cut them out and resoak, knowing to check them for thins and hidden repairs.

Amongst older GB stamps there are some stamps that have very fugitive ink (water soluble ink) I get the old hinges off by soaking a piece of kitchen towel and putting the stamps plain side down on the paper.
My favourite dealer occasionally has genuine kiloware but can't always get stock. in 2009 I asked the post room of a big financial organisations national HQ about their stamps, they got an average of 16 letters a day with postage stamps.

And not just GB; there are a whole lot of Commonwealth stamps and others on chalky paper that can lose the printing.

Austrian stamps had varnish lines under the printing and the varnish can dissolve. This is actually what it was intended to do to prevent washing off postmarks and re-use of stamps

There were lots of experimental colours used as well, mainly pinks and purples seem to be prone to this - I have found some bad ones when trying to soak or clean stamps from Brasil where virtually the whole design can vanish before your horrified eyes!

Some (but not all of these) are noted in catalogues or you can do a bit of internet research before you take the plunge (pun intended)

I also do add a drop of detergent to the water very often as it will improve the final appearance of the stamps and does not seem to have a bad effect on colours (except those I mention above - they still vanish if they're going to)

I have a couple of Desert Magic drying books which make it easy to flatten stamps. Each book will hold hundreds of stamps (depending on the size) They work on the same principal as what Rod has described, but they're already made for you. There's an impervious page to put the stamps on (even if you don't get all the glue off they will ping off if you bend the page) interleaved with thick blotting paper to do the drying.

I find you can take the stamps out after about twelve hours or so and they're generally nice and flat, but even if they want to curl a bit you can put them in an envelope and they'll be flat next time you look. Before I put the blotting paper page on top of them I dry them with kitchen towel so they're pretty dry before I close the book and put them aside

One last issue with soaking - some stamps for example Austria between about 1890 and 1910 and some stamps from Iran - can roll up into little tubes which are very tricky to flatten out! Infuriatingly it's very hard to work out which ones are going to do it and it is only some papers, not the whole lot.

Is there a fugitive ink list that anyone knows of. Im about to soak early paraguay and russia?
to be followed in late may with early sweden.

I will try the sandwich bag method of rods as living in lockdown level 4 I have excess sandwich bags at present.

Also one other irrelevant (probably) question
Does it ruin a grill?

I have not had a stamp with a grill before. I plan on purchasing some one day soon

Yes Rod. The "sandwich" method works. I save the paper towels. Good thing given the situation these days!

Jack Kelley

Nice to see people using the "drying sandwich" method
Very pleasing.
Been using it for 10 years now without a problem.

Used all the money saved on "drying books" and purchased more stamps.

Caution with soaking
1. Netherlands Indies early (Never Soak)
2. Early revenue stamps, with "Magenta or Purple colours"
3. Any stamps of Magenta or purple, they do fade in warm water
4. I always use cold water
5. I leave "chalky paper" stamps alone

Grills?
No experience there, you need to ask the Americans.

I have used the sandwich method with "embossed" examples, works well, but just use 1 book with no weight on top.

hmm bugger am I allowed to say that?

i do have a large lot of early ned indies on paper.. So thankyou for the heads up there.

Would it be best if I carefully remove using a scalpel to slice the hinge or should I just cut the paper oh heck maude! what a choice?

I have trouble just touching stamps without gloves. lucky I have tons of gloves for lockdown!!