Don't You Hate Self Adhesives That Won't Soak

I mostly end up losing the stamp, either rips or thins out like in the picture. Any tips?

Call me old school, but I wish they still had the lick'em & stick'em stamps!

Yes, most postal administrations removed the water soluble layer at some point in time to prevent re-use. So, you have to adjust your collecting methods because soaking will only degrade the stamps.

Leave the stamps on paper, trim to look presentable.

Robert

A little Pure Citrus air freshener sprayed on the back side will allow the stamps to be peeled off paper after a couple of moments. Rub a little talc on them to negate the residual stickiness. Search the forum for more info on this. Some other solvents work the same way. Don't let them "soak" too long with this, though, as it will also make the cancellation ink run.

While that certainly 'makes sense', I wonder if if correctly reflects the basis for the change(s).

It would make sense that postal authorities would experiment with different PSAs applied in different ways.

The water-soluble layer may have been there as a matter of production methodology, and not for the convenience of stamp collectors.

Similarly, any change(s) to to production methodologies that did not include a water-soluble layer may have had more to do with cost, or with a new PSA that could be more readily applied directly to the stamp, or with considerations of shipping & storage & shelf life, etc.

Sadly, its not always about us and, moreover, when it is (can you spell D-u-n-e-s) we're none too pleased, either.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who offers five talc-less words on Pure Citrus: shpritz, scrape, re-shpritz, re-scrape, clean!)

I agree with Trainwreck.

Self sticks that won't soak in water are a major contributor to the demise of stamp collecting in the USA, and the reason I won't collect US beyond year 2000. You guys have fun!

I think trying to remove self adhesives from the backing paper is pointless. Trim neatly as trainwreck suggests or become really modern and collect everything on cover, after all the envelope and full cancellation has a story to tell.
I doubt that self adhesive stamps are "a major contributor to the demise of stamp collecting in the USA" the world has moved on and people collect other things or pursue other interests with a more rapid payback in excitement and enjoyment.

No one has actual evidence of the 'demise of the hobby'. People who espouse this opinion are inevitably relying upon pre-internet metrics. Metrics like; 'national or local club memberships are declining', 'there are fewer brick and mortar dealers' or 'prices have fallen'. These metrics have all been impacted by collectors interfacing with the hobby online. New metrics are needed, but no one has been able to develop these.
So anytime you see/hear someone opine that our hobby is dying; ask them what metrics they are using and how they are factoring in the online aspects of the hobby.
Don

I also agree with Trainwreck. If the industry changes because of customer opinion (that's the customer who uses postage stamps for actually mailing cards, payments, corresponding via letter not collectors) then those who collect need to find a way to adjust & maintain their collections. I find these 'complaints' of non-soakable somewhat tiresome. Rather than move back, moving forward to trim & place would be beneficial. I have trimmed several issues (unique postmarks) placed in my album and find that they do not detract in any way.

stampboylife,
I have had success with a couple of methods, but you have to be a lot more patient than usual.
Use only COLD water, put the stamp in the water, push it under the water line, and leave it over night.
The back will become very gumy. Carefully peal the envelope away. I have success with this about 2/3rds of the time, sometimes it still damages the stamp.
Also, instead of soaking in water, soak in lighter fluid. While water breaks down dry gum, and lighter fluid doesn't, for the same reason the opposite is true with an adhesive. Acetone breaks this down.
This is tricky also, and you need to gently wipe away the gum.

This is so funny to read now after my long hiatus (many, many decades) from collecting and recent return to the hobby. Self adhesive stamps back in my day were called "stickers" and no one dared to collect those! LOL.

The forum has a number of threads on how to remove PSA stamps. There are a number of techniques.

I use Bestine, a solvent used by artists to remove glue. It's N-Heptane.

A couple of drops on the back of the stamp and the paper turns translucent. You can then peel the stamp off the paper. The back of the stamp is still sticky. I then lay the stamp on a flat surface and add a couple more drops of Bestine and carefully scrape the remaining glue off the stamp with an old credit card.

Seems to work great for me! I've been doing this for a number of years and I haven't seen any adverse effects on my stamps.

Dan


Edit: spelling

No more frustration here for the past few years since I perfected my own skills with using the Pure Citrus air freshener spray to remove self adhesives.

The pure citrus works great. With a little practice, the results are really nice. Just spray it on, wait a couple minutes, carefully peel the paper from the stamp, and I like to scrape the gooey residue away with the edge of a credit card.

It's available at Amazon or home depot, at least.

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Pure-Citru...22/202528023

Matt

I use the pure citrus method. Been working great so far. I have some bestine that I will try, that I used to use on old Vinyl album covers to remove stickers. Its very flammable though so heed warnings.

Careful with that Pure Citrus. I've found that it removes cancellations, too.

Jack kelley