Another First Kiloware Purchase

I've been having fun with my first kiloware purchase lately. It is about two pounds of recent Norway stamps and... it is a lot of stamps. Soaking has been more fun than I thought it would be. Here's a shot of my first page of soaked/dried stamps. I picked them first because if I messed them up, who cares? I have 30-40 more... lol. Anyone care to guess what the most common stamp (by far) in this mix is? (primarily 2004-2008 stamps)

By the way, what is an appropriate drying time? I've been letting them sit for about 20-24 hrs under a few Scott catalogs. I suppose the books need drying time, too.. (I need more drying books)

Clark


Sorry about the dark pic, camera flash and sun glare badly off the page!

Clark:

I let them soak on a sheet of newspaper, a second sheet on top, and the Scott catalogs on top of the upper sheet. I let them dry for about an hour. I find that the weight of the catalogs helps stop the stamps from curling.

Hm, I'm finding that even after 20 hours or so with three catalogs that curling is still somewhat an issue as many of the stamps curl a little bit and a few still curl fairly significantly (need even more weight?). Also, the stamps still seem just slightly damp still, but they are definitely not 'wet', as they are firm and hold their shape easily upon lifting with tongs. Does a little residual moisture matter or is this normal?

Clark

I think the trick is to be patient and make certain that they are totally dry. I have left mine in the drying books up to 3 days.

Dianne

I've found that in the newer US issues that even after 24 hours of being weighted, many still want to curl. My solution to this was to weight them again for a couple hours in an envelope (Glassine works better than paper). Dry stamps seem to flatten out quickly this way.

I think the time spent on drying and flattening depends on method and tools used.

Here's my soaking method: http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/...e-basics.php (with step-by-step instructions + pictures). Normally I let the stamps dry 10-30 minutes and flatten 12-24 hours; and it works like a charm... If I had to work with kiloware on daily basis, then I'd definitely buy (SaFe) electric stamp drying press; I know few collectors who soak loads of kiloware each day and are very happy with the device.

I'm just wondering if a photo dryer would be faster.

Way back when in school, I was a member of the photo club. We had this thing to dry prints on. It plugged in and the metal parts under the cloth overlay would heat up; you pulled the cloth down over top and used a roller in an up and down fashion to flatten the prints and press them against the metal. They used to dry thoroughly in about two minutes. Stamps being thinner would probably dry faster, and rolling them flat would ensure they wouldn't curl.



I'm pretty sure the thing had a temperature setting on it, so you could probably use the lowest setting, stamps being much thinner than photo prints.

Something to check into, maybe?