Soaking Newer Sel-Adhesive Stamps

Can anyone give me some tips on how to soak newer stamps off envelopes? My current method is simply to leave them in room temp. water for about 12 hours, then air dry and place between paper towels beneath a heavy book to flatten.

The problems I am encountering are:
1. Not all of the glue dissolves in the water and the stamp sticks to whatever it touches, be it my album page or another stamp.
2. Sometimes not all of the paper will come off the back of the stamp, which makes it very thick and pieces of the paper are visible from the front of the stamp.
3. Sometimes the stamps themselves are damaged by the water. This is especially true for the flag & fireworks stamp issued last year.

I've bought newer stamps on ebay that are glue free and in good condition, so I figure that I am obviously doing it wrong. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks, Barry

Good article (PDF) here:

http://stamps.org/userfiles/file/Ho...dhesives.pdf

Yep. Pure Citrus. That's the ticket. You can get it at Home Depot. Once the stamp is lifted off, you can clean up the back with another application. Just spray on and remove using a scraper.

Jack Kelley

A very informative article, I can't wait to give it a try. Thanks.

Is this the thread where I rail against self-adhesives?

(Oh, what's the point...)

Just got back from grocery shopping, where I picked up a can of Pure Citrus Orange ($5.59 a Krogers). The article didn't say how to use it, so I sprayed 3 stamps on the envelope side, and 2 on the face of the stamp. Since the spray soaks all the way through the paper, I don't think it matters which side. All 5 stamps pealed off without any problem after a few seconds, but 1 had paper stick to it (one that I sprayed on the stamp side). They dried in minutes, but 3 of the 5 have glue residue, so I'll have to find something to remove the glue, too.

Jack Kelly - What "other application" do you use to remove residue?

KGB - Rant all you want. I does no good, but it might make you feel better to get it out. (Rant about my poor typing skills, too. I just noticed the typo in the title.)

Well, I feel better already knowing that you're having success with the citrus spray.

A good article which I'll try.
Tom

BKing (and others),

The "other application" is merely a second application of Pure Citrus. Just spray it on and carefully scrape away the liquified glue. Comes right off!

Jack Kelley

By the way. the article cited by bicjr is the very article of how I discovered Pure Citrus.

Thanks, Jack.

BKing -

I like to gently scrape the sticky gooey residue off with an old credit card. Works great!

Has anyone used goo be gone. I use it for old labels at the store but have never tried on stamps.

Sdtom,

I've tried it, and the pure citrus works better.

Anyone ever tried Goo Gone?

I'll continue to use it in the store