Do You Use Stamp Tongs/ Tweezers?

Over the years stamp tweezers have become an extension of my arm when it comes the the finer parts of making stamps safe no matter if they are still gummed or not. It is interesting how quick a person becomes using stamp tweezers if you persist in using them.

Do you only use tweezers on gummed stamps?

Do you use stamp tweezers on used stamps?

Do you use tweezers when using mailing stamps?

Are you quick or slow when using stamp tweezers?

At this time of year and the hot humidity I would be lost without my stamp tweezers.

Jeannie has just finished cramming 15,000 stamps into a stock book by hand. But it must be said she does not perspire as much as I do. So wet stamps are not an issue for her not like me.

I've never NOT used them. I use them on every stamp, regardless of condition.

I don't use them when mailing, but I do use them when I'm soaking -- easiest way to pluck stamps out of the water and put them on a towel to dry.

I'm pretty 'quick' if you mean adept, but that comes from practice.

KirkS

I use them no matter what type/activity I'm working on. I'm not real quick with them, but then the hobby to me is nothing to rush.

Hi

I use 2 different types of stamp tongs.

When I am mounting stamps, or using manila stock cards, I prefer the spade tip bent at an angle. It helps in opening up the stock card slots. They also help when inserting the stamp in a mount. I also use the spade tip when soaking stamps, less of a chance of poking a hole in the wet stamp.

If I am looking at stamps at a dealer or show I use the pointed type. Using the pointed type one has to be careful not to poke a hole in a stamp. Been there, done that (fortunately not on a real expensive stamp).

Jerry B

I always use them. I cant honestly see how one could handle stamps with their fingers without creasing or damaging them...unless not everyone is as ham-fisted as I am.

Always. I prefer the Lighthouse long, pointed, though I occasionally use a spade-tip, too, when dealing with a wet stamp.

I was about 6 or 7 when when my grandfather first got me interested
in stamps and gave me a small stock book.
One of the first things he showed me was how to use stamp tongs.
Mine are like an extension of my hand and it would be
impossible for me to touch a stamp without one.

I primarily use the pointed one which IIRC I bought sometime in the early sixties.
The shovel type I use only when I fish soaked stamps
out of the water since wet stamps are very fragile and would
be easily punctured by the pointed tip.

Both of mine are Made in Germany from fine Solingen steel.

I use them most of the time. I don't use them on stamps I use for mailing or when I am going through a large lot in kiloware or poundage.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Sure, I use tongs on all stamps for my collection. For all those mint 60's 70's etc I use for postage I will take them out of the stock book using tongs. I am not quick at doing anything, except wanting stamps that I generally cannot afford.

KGV, with the humidity issues where you live, do you use any of the commercial moister absorbing products? In the Seattle area we too have humidity issues and I use a product called damp rid. It is a small tub of calcium chloride granules that absorbs moisture and gradually turns to water. When all the granules are gone and just the water that it absorbed is left you pour the water down the drain and get another. I will have 8 or 9 in our home at a time. I replace them about once a month.

regards, yakboomer.

I use tongs (long thin ones) for all my stamping tasks, except mailing letters. This includes pulling/puttnig things in stock pages, placing in mounts, hinging, putting stamps in the soaking bowl as well as taking them out, and even picking them up should I happen to drop one on the floor. I keep 3 pairs in my arsenal and can always find at least one....most of the time.

I hope you are using "Tongs" not "Tweezers" , unless that's the name for "Tongs" down under. TONGS have smooth, flattened spade- or shovel-shaped heads, smooth on the inside. Tweezers, on the other hand, have pointed tips.

I use five different tongs/tweezers; (1) a chemical-resistant, medium tension, small head, white Delrin tongs for watermarking & soaking; (2) a 6" chrome-plated offset general purpose, medium serrated tip tweezer for general sorting & handling anything outside a stock book, except pre-1920's issues; (3) a standard 4-5/8" nickel chrome steel stamp tongs (60+ years old!) I use for valuable & fragile stamps-- moving items into and out of stocks books that I don't want to damage; and two holding tweezers (4 ) a 6.5" Straight Reverse-Action Medium Tip Tweezer with serrated ends to hold a stamp and (5) a 4.75" Straight Reverse Action Tweezer with flat tips.

As for perspiration and hands -- I don't suggest sticking your hands in "calcium chloride granules" (as suggested above).I do suggest a bit of talcum powder - that should do the trick --that and a Fosters or VB!

I too, use stamp tongs all of the time (except when used for mailing). As ppointed out in this thread, if you use them all of the time, it becomes second nature to do so and you can get quite proficient at using them.

I use them when handling other people's stamps. It's polite.
With my own - never.

I have really BIG hands, so there's no way I could delicately handle stamps without tongs. It's tongs or I don't touch the stamps.

I use them when handling something I don't want to replace if damages, or handling any kind of mint stamps. I do not generally use them for anything more common (like searching through piles of duplicates, soaking kiloware, etc.)

Long pointed tongs, tweezers have ridges on the inside. I have used the same pair of tongs for the last 25+ years. Actually, I have 3, all of the same kind. I will spend several mins/hrs looking for them if I had missplaced them, which has happened. Won't touch a stamp, regardless of condition, without one.

Art