Floating Modern Adhesive Stamps

I don't really collect modern, or not yet... but I do like to squirrel up a few packs of them for future friends that may collect them.

we did a good job explaining floating and drying a few days ago, but I ran into another snag. Recently I got a package with 2010 redwood forest self ahesive stamp it would NOT float off the cardboard.

when I forced them off they peel tissue paper thin leaving what seems as 1/2 the paper on the cardboard is this really all adhesive part, or am I ruining stamps for a future collector?

This is the culprit

Squirrelling tree stamps, ha ha

I feel your pain Edwin. I haven't cracked it yet, but I think KGV Collector goes into some detail on his kiloware thread, "we close our eyes and still see stamps", I think its called. (Sorry I don't know how to post a link to another thread - must find out). Obviously his are Aussie stamps, but I would think the problems are the same.
I really like the redwood stamp, I'm into all that, John Muir and everything, nice. Maybe you can save me one if you ever crack it!
I think I'm just going to keep any nice self adhesives on paper til I am confident of a method, and have practised on some common defins.

i have been able to float US self adhesive stamps with warm(very warm) water.. also stamp lift works great.
only problem I have run into is that with the stamp lift, some adhesive still remains. So I soaked them in hot water to melt off the glue.

hmmm, so I assume I ruined them, if this type is very thin?

There was a previous post on this sort of a matter back in February 2010, I think. They provided this link to a Virtual Stamp Club site where they have used traffic signal references to show what modern U.S. issues should/should not be soaked off paper. I found it very helpful:

http://www.virtualstampclub.com/2009usnew.html

Note they used a RED light (i.e. DO NOT soak) for the Redwood Issue referred to in this post.

Edwin,

They are not thin, most likely you have pulled them asunder and rendered them backless.

Nice stamp, by the way.

Many a modern US, UK, French, Australian, ++ stamp has been lost to the modern adhesives being too, er, adhesive. I read years ago that the nature of the animal is such that the two papers become almost as one after years. Scary.

Canada stamps, so far, have a water activated layer between the gum and the paper. The gum soaks off slowly and rolls into a little ball of gooey stuff. I am not too sure on when the US started using their new adhesives.

I think this was posted here before, but it's worth mentioning again...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWMcVYgIZjM

KirkS

I watched the video, what is "Fuel Light" when I search it all I get are cell phones.

It's "Fuelite" - a kind of liquid gas for camping stoves, I think.

Ryan

It seems to be all about water based gum and oil based gum!

I have tried many things to remove difficult stamps even the freezer.

Very warm water is the best tool I have found but the water needs to kept very warm or it will not work.

Another process that I now use on the hard to remove stamps is to let them dry out in the middle of the soaking stage. I have put the stamps in the freezer for the drying time in the middle of soaking and have had some very good results as well.

I have also found that a humid environment will not allow the stamps on paper to dry out properly in the middle of soaking drying time. It still works a little but not as much as a well dried out stamp in this process.

I am only talking about modern Aust stamps. KGV

edwin, fuelite is our version of "white gas" you can find "white gas" at most camping places.

John, the guy in the video, used an NZ "alternative"
stamp by NZmail, the gum on those, prior to seeing the video
I considered, was insoluble.
They are vastly different from Austpost diecuts.
I have never seen fuelite before either.

Interesting, I know what white gas is I use to do a lot of backpacking...

interesting and note worthy procedure, I don't have any sticky stamps to justify a purchase and test in the states but when I get together enough stamps I will try this however I'll be using gloves...

Hmmm... Dad just left the stamps on their backing.
He'd use all the stamps around the one he wanted to mount,
then he'd cut the backing carefully and closely to the stamp.
Then mount it just like that. So I have been doing the same thing,
and it seems to work just fine. Are there any benefits to removing
the adhesive? Seems like a bunch of work for little/no gain.

ratio.. leaving it on the backing is a good idea in some respects, but people usually remove them from the paper because the paper can damage the stamp.

I tried the process with US Coleman fuel (e.g. 'white gas') and did not have similar results to the fuel-lite used in the NZ demo. My guess is that we can thank our EPA for the additives that reduce the effectiveness of our available product. Our version out of the can is dyed a purple so you're faced with a problem from the get-go. I've tried other methods but two mentioned here namely, the mid-way drying and the 'stamplift method'. I thus far have had no luck but keep looking.