Freezing Album Pages To Remove Stamps - Results

Hi!

A couple months ago I won a Scott International Album and found it had a number of pages with stamps stuck to the edges, etc. - likely the result of high humidity or carelessness.

I posted the problem on the Forum and it was suggested I put the problem pages in the freezer and then peel them off.

Well, this morning I did just that, having 24 pages to work. Each page had 1 to 8 stamps that needed to be removed.

The results were mixed. After 15-30 minutes in the cold, some of the stamps peeled off easily, some took a layer of album paper with them, and a few needed to be taken off in pieces.

In my opinion, the better quality of album paper the better this will work, and older non mint stamps come off the easiest. Thirty minutes is probably the best time frame, and a lot of patience rolling the page is needed.

Anyway, thanks to those that suggested it, I really appreciate the advice!

Mobilman44

Interesting, I've never heard of doing this but will give it a try.

Hello, I just tried 5>{ "freezing" trick but alas it didnt work for me. I have some old Brown albums. It seems that the French and French Possessions stamps are the one most likely to be stuck.

So I tried with both Gabon and France. I rolled the Gabon and put Franc in flat. I left them in for about 40 minutes. I took the rolled stamps out first but no joy. Same with flat page.. Maybe I did something wrong?

Imay try again with some that are only stuck on a corner. Did I say that the ones I tried were totally stuck down. Since I have a lot of pages to experiment on, I am going to use the Scientific Method. I need to design some experiments to test my thesis: Is it possible to separate two dissimilar papers that are glued together while preserving as much of the glue (gum) as possible and not using solvents or water.

Question: how do antiquarian book restorers separate pages that are stuck together. However, since they are stuck by the action of humidity alone, is this a question to be answered.

Question: has the problem been solved before.

Question:does the USPS have a solution? Or do they simply destroy stuck together sheets.

Question: Does the APS have an literature or studies on this same question?

So any help on the experiments would be helpful.

Thanks, John

This brings to mind several questions that

Hi,
The "freeze" trick worked on some pages quite well, some just a bit, and others not at all. I guess it had to do with how well they were stuck, and the type of glue in question. So while it is a help to releasing stuck stamps, it is not totally dependable.

The only relatively sure way to remove them is by soaking. And that usually means destroying the page upon which they are attached. However, if you have only one or two stamps stuck on a page, you might be able to release them by "spot soaking", using a Q-tip to apply warm water. Of course the older the paper, the more likely you will damage the page.

I'm no expert on the subject, so there could be other solutions out there.

Has anyone tried removing old hinge remnants this way? Or could you tell me what a safe way to do it would be.

Use a Qtip moistened with saliva applied to the remnant only and a lot of patience. My full explanation is on the forum somewhere.