Making My Own Drying Books

When cutting up the blotting paper it was too large to fit into my guillotine that I used for making our packaging. To cut 50 sheets in half, separately so that they would fit the guillotine was a job that I was just not going to do!

To cut them in half there was a waste area between the needed size sheets of about 75mm or 3ins. So with a bricklayer come wood butcher background attitude out came the electric circular power saw.

After clamping the blotting paper together and getting my daughter to hang onto the half that was going to come free. Yes I cut that blotting paper in half all in one go with a power saw.

The cut was so bad that it ripped as it cut the paper so that 50mm or 2ins of the paper was a total mess. We were a bit worried that the paper was going to catch on fire as very hot pieces of paper were hitting my daughter and myself but all went well.

The guillotine trimmed up the paper so it looked like nothing so brutal had been done to it. Much to the relief of my daughter.

Don't you just love a happy ending. And they say stamping is a quite peaceful hobby and has nothing to do with the wild side of life.

Anybody want me cut a few pages for them.

The home made drying books have worked out very well but 2 sheet of blotting paper per page is needed. Best thing for drying I have ever done.

KGV the next time you decide to cut up paper with a circular saw do this. Turn the saw blade around in other words put the saw blade in backwards, this will make the saw blade cut threw the paper with out grabbing the paper
It wont cut as fast put will leave a good edge and will be safer.

Thanks irishjack. That sounds like it would be the go alright.

I wonder with the slower cut if it would burn? I am tempted to try it on heap of news paper just to see how it would go.



I even put in a cross cut blade and had a piece of very thin ply wood on the bottom.

When you pull apart your paper(whatever that is)and the stamp are stuck to the plastic in a wet condition, just let them dry properly on the plastic and you will not damage the stamps taking them off the plastic.

The stamps will curl as that dry but being put in a stock book will straighten them again.

We are using the drying books again but putting an extra 3 pages of blotting paper on top of the stamps. We are working 3 books a day and only leaving the stamps in the books 20hrs. Then drying the stamps natural and they are coming out as flat as and no fungus problems. The books are then dried by using a fan as the humidity is still as high as it can get and then we fill the books again. 60c letter rate stamps to go and we are running out of time. We have 5 more days and my workers disappear. I will need to start listing all the new stock as well. We are very happy with the amount of stock we have in stock books etc.

Got a great buy of Australia stamps. 20 each of high values from 2000 to 2010 that needed some help because of back staining and all with crinkles but not creases. Have only lost 2 stamps so far and the last batch is soaking now and all of the stamps are as flat as. I have soaked these stamps for 20hrs before putting them on a plastic bag and 4 pages of blotting paper on top of the stamps and leaving them for a day only. It has worked really well. The stamps with back staining I have cleaned with a cap full of bleach to 2 large cups of water. Let them soak for 20mins in the bleach and then soak them in lots of water for 20hrs and then dry them as per the others.

There has been a lot of challenges over the last 8 weeks but overall everything has worked out because we did not give up except for taking the 2009 micro monsters and the 2009 corrugated landscapes off paper. As a last resort I have put them in the freezer and will try putting boiling water on them. If this does not work they will be rejected and put in the bin. All other stamps have been great to take off paper with very warm water and a very small amount of detergent.

I got tired of the newspapers and paper towels draped over the back of chairs drying out while waiting to dry a new batch of stamps. It is my own fault as I have been breaking down collections and sometimes get overwhelmed by the numbers of stamps. I have read posts on here describing the various methods of drying stamps but all seemed to involve large books, plastic bags along with irons, etc. None seemed to meet my needs of drying a large quantity of stamps while not interfering with rest of the household. One of the things I noticed is that unless the drying continued for at least 3 days, the stamps would always be damp along with the paper towels and newspapers and that they must in turn be draped in the air to dry. That was unacceptable after a year of listening to the complaints. So, to eliminate the newspaper, I decided to try the cardboard from a corrugated box. My theory was that the air flow through the corrugations would help dry the paper towels and the stamps. That exercise proved fruitful but I was afraid of transfer of the brown color from the box cardboard. I then remembered they make corrugated plastic sheets. I purchased some and tried it with positive results. I then decided to eliminate the paper towels and purchased some blotting paper. Again, positive results. The only remaining problem was the stack of books required for the pressing. I have nothing against books, but felt I could come up with a better solution. I started looking around and discovered they make presses for small quantities of stamps, flowers, books and paper. All of different designs but serving the same purpose. I didn't care for the ones I examined and decided to build one of my own design.
The blotter and plastic sheets are 11" X 11". If I use two pieces of blotter paper, one on each side of the stamps and encase them in 2 sheets of corrugated plastic, I should be able load approx. 15 sets into the press. I suppose I can leave out one sheet of blotter paper or one sheet of plastic and gain more space, but I don't feel that will be necessary. Now, if I really want to fast dry the stamps, I could turn on a fan or heater and point the discharge directly down the openings of the corrugated plastic.
Talk about room for expansion! A person could insert some 11" X 24" pressing boards along with the respective sized papar and plastic and more than double the area of pressing, something the Kiloware folks might appreciate.
I understand that for a stamp press, this is probably overkill, but it certainly looks Grand sitting on top of the card catalog in our living room. Perhaps a brass plaque would furhter enhance the appearance?

Well, placing the stamps directly on the plastic and squishing them doesn't work very well. The stamps will form to the corrugations of the plastic and have lines indented. A new pressing using the blotter paper did flatten them out,however

I posted a picture of my press here. https://goscf.com/t/28554&whichpage=2#258674

Great thread guys. My drying books are approaching the end of their lifespan and I think I will use all the info provided here and make my own.

Dianne

I'm looking for Scott Specialty Pages for
Japan 1975, 1976, and 1977.
Does anyone know where I can get them?
fathermoe

After 2 years 6 months the drying book design of using extra blotting paper in between the drying book pages was a extremely great thing to do.

We are now working 12 drying books and it keeps my wife very happy because everything is neat and tidy straight after the soaking is done.

We also end up with a stamp that is as flat as!

Changing the soaking water 4x is the go to get rid of the gum. If you do not do this as the blotting paper gets old the dry stamps stick to it.