Badly Wrinkled Stamps

When I remove stamps from the backing paper they often come out bent and wrinkled. I tried soaking them and then drying under pressure, but that didn't work. They reverted to their bent shape after drying.
How does one fix this ?

As a normal practice when I soak my stamps I put them between drying papers and clamp them up in my vice. Flattens em good. I've also ironed stamps when they've curled. If they're mint and you're using a steam iron you have to be very careful not to screw up the gum.

CanadaStamp,

It would seem to me that heat alone would disturb the gum?

Jack Kelley

Back in the day people used to have book presses, or rather libraries did. These are huge iron screw presses with an iron plate attached on the screw end and a fixed plate on which your rest your item. They are usually able to handle most books in size. I have seen them at auctions in various conditions. A good one sells for $70 or so and retail for over $200. I don't have room for one and my wife is against it. What I use instead is my "Little Thor" sold by White Ace. Works great for most size stamps. Just place the damp stamp between plotter paper and tighten it down. Downside...at most you can only do a couple stamps at a time.