Soaking And Drying Kiloware

That's a shame,
soaking can be very rewarding.
Obviously your failures are clouding your judgement

Get your stash
sort out the issues on coloured envelopes (esp red)
you only attempt to soak these if a rare stamp.
sort out the self sticks (these go to the white spirits method)
soak the rest say 50-100 at a time
It's easy, enjoyable and rewarding, done a few at a time.

Solution for YELLOWISH PAPER after soaking and drying.
in approx 1 gallon of water in your sink, add 2-3 table spoon of CLOROX, soak your stamp for 3-4 minutes, dry and no more yellowish on your stamp

Thanks for a great thread...... just getting back into the hobby and buying a few bundles of stamps on paper is the best way for me to get started again. I use two bowls of water, one bowl to soak until the paper falls off and the second to wash the remaining glue away. Then I lay the stamps out to dry on some clean new shop rags and or paper towel, turning every few hours till dry. I then leave the stamps to flatten out under three or four thick Math/Elec Eng text books.

BTW I love the tea towel to dish cloth translation..... I'm a Brit living in the US, so if anyone needs any further Brit/Aussie/Kiwi to US translation, just shout out.

Well said scanstamps. I do the exact same thing. I only have 2 though. I think I will get me some more

Dianne

I tried using Pure Citrus (a product mentioned in the linked article)on a copy of USA Scott #3538, and three copies of USA Scott #955.

#3538 required two applications to get the stamp to loosen the glue so the stamp could be "rolled" off the paper, and an additional application to soften the residue on the back of the stamp it could be removed by scraping the stamp with a plastic card. It worked very well. There was no discoloration, curling, or softening of the stamp's paper.

The #955 (first US self-adhesive from 1974) came off the paper easily, but now the stamps are slightly yellowed, much the way a piece of paper would be if cooking grease had gotten on it. There is a slight curling.

I used vanilla scented Pure Citrus (the only other varieties I was able to find were cinnamon apple and lavender). I did not find the scent unpleasant (it reminds me of a Dreamcicle - an orange coating covering a pad of vanilla ice cream), but I would suggest using this product in a well-ventilated area. I feel a slight irritation in my throat, and the skin on my fingers feels a little taut. (The warning on the bottle only mentions skin irritation.)

I did not try this on gummed stamps. Maybe I'll experiment later.

I hope this is helpful.

I used to use newspaper to place the stamps between, but the new vegetable based ink in newspaper will transfer to the stamps, so I had to stop that. So far, the cheapest and best paper I have found is the stuff that Ikea uses to package wooden furniture. If you go to the customer service area, they will give you as much as you want. For pressing, I put the dried stamps between two sheets of that paper, and place it under the living room rug. I can lay out an area the size of my dining room table and press them all at once, and it makes sorting them afterwards very quick and easy.

For $7+shipping for a Desert Magic book it's a gift to kiloware soakers.

http://www.smartcart.com/gvstamps/c...em_num=SH507

Once you've used these it's hard to imagine any other way of going about this. Make sure if you go with these you must do the 8x11.

If you use the clorox suggested by koala, MAKE SURE you rinse the stamps WELL. Otherwise stamp damage from the clorox will appear after a few years. That is why stamp album paper is bleach free.
I soak off stamps on dark and air mail paper all the time. I use water at room temperature, check for staining right after removing each stamp and put the stained ones in some clear alcohol right away. Stamps are usually stain free in less than 10 minutes. You can buy the clear rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol at any drug store or Walmart cheaply.
Have removed most stains from dry stamps also with alcohol soaking. It absorbs the pigment. To be safe, I rinse the stamps after taking them out of the alcohol. The alcohol can be reused several times. When stains stop coming out, I dump it and use some fresh alcohol.
I soak off all the stamps on dark paper that I get on my kiloware purchases because I resell most of it. That helps the folks that buy from me. Of course, I have to include some of the off paper ones in my one oz lots of on paper, but I make sure that there's no thins, tears, etc, there.

I just caught the title of the thread 'Soaking and Drying Kiloware' out of the corner of my eye just now, and it looked like 'Smoking and Drying Kiloware' to me.

I said to myself, now what are they up to now, those fellows?

(I am tired and it's hot, probably need to eat good food and drink better coffee.)

Being fairly new to this fine group of people, I am soaking up all the interesting threads on this website! I must say that I have learned a lot especially about those items that I do not collect. One thing that all collectors do is soaking stamps, and I remember doing this ever since I was born, or so it seems!
Anyway, I did enjoy the talk about the "tea towel". Just to let Rod222 know, the British are not alone in this. I am Dutch, and I remember mij mother using a "thee doekje" ( tea cloth ) to dry the dishes. Where I was from, at 4PM tea was served and when there were visitors the cups would be on a serving tray with a tea towel over them to keep dust out! I dont think I ever dried stamps on a tea towel though; I used old newspapers.

Cheers,
one doesn't dry the stamps in the tea towels,
that is just to pat them dry,
Then they go in the "drying sandwich" freezer bags
I have 5000 currently drying in a stack 1 metre tall,
some have been there 12 weeks
Always a surprise when they come out, flat as a halibut
and squeaky clean.

I have a question about using talcum powder to neutralize stickiness. I've read here and in other threads on this topic that many people don't like this. The only reason I've seen is the odor. Is there any other reason people object to using baby powder? For example, does leaving some adhesive on the stamp invite damage over time?

I've been using the Pure Citrus/talc method. I was elated when I learned it, compared to many frustrating efforts with water-soaking, often resulting in damage/thinning of stamps.

I still use the lighter fluid method for those self-adhesive stamps. My US collection goes up to the year 2000. I had to put a limit because
of all the self adhesive stuff out there. I'm not a bit fan of them. They're too much like stickers to me. Still, the German self adhesives don't
seem to be much of a problem at all to soak.

Hi Yirmeyahu,

After making a few errors along the way, not sorting, soaking too many to deal with quickly, I have settled on this method.

Remove and trash all damaged, heavily obliterated, and downright ugly specimens (unless they are valuable of course). Using some largish new plastic developing trays I got cheap (no one uses them now) I soak in batches of 50 or so in hot water with a few drops of washing up liquid added. After a couple of hours lift them out, let the dirty water drain off, and put them in a second tray filled with cold water. This will toughen the paper fibres and make handling damage less likely. Carefully lay out the wet stamps between clean white fine cotton cloth. I use old pillow cases cut up to suit (do not press at this stage, but allow to dry). When they are dry put them between the pages of a large thick book and place a few others on top. Make this a daily routine and you will get through a huge amount without getting too bored. Where I have pairs, blocks and strips that aren't worth keeping on piece I usually soak these in batches of no more than 10 items so that handling with care is easier.

Do have fun
Terry