Are These Hinges Acceptable?

So, being new to this all I've worked with so far are 40 year old hinges left to me from my father - see glue post . I just opened what's suppose to be a 1000 hinge package of Prinz pre-folded hinges from the one and only local online supplier here - no brick and mortar only has website - and this is what I got. Are these to be considered acceptable? The ones I had from 40 years ago were nicely folded and all neat - this looks like a big pile of mush. Is this how they come nowadays?

Some hinges are better than others. I've used a few different types and there are some who have said most hinges are made by the same manufacturer. The ones I like best are made by Lindner. They are uniform, not not folded in odd places and claim to be "archival safe". The gold standard of course are the hinges of days gone by made by the Avery Dennison company. They are truly peel-able; something that even others who make the claim are not. They stopped making them years ago unfortunately. Subway Stamp Shop revived them, but the product was just not the same. As others on this forum have pointed out, new old stocks of the Dennison hinges sell on E-bay for a premium price. You can sometimes find them at stamp show as well. But, you might give the Lindner hinges a try. Even though they are not peel-able they seem to be subjected to higher quality control than some others I have tried.

I tried using a few and these are going in the trash. I hope this is not normal. They are not folded very well, tons are straight and bent together. and , when I separate 1 and lick it, it curls up into itself. Lots are bent up together too. Tks for the Linder tip.

The hinges are, as far as I know, all made by Prinz. I suppose there may be a question of whether Prinz applies higher quality control to the hinges it provides for Lindner or Lighthouse. In my experience, the incidence of scrunched-up hinges is high, but then you can have a packet that's absolutely fine.

There's always a vast range of opinions. Myself, used for these 10 years,
and yes, they do on occaisions, curl up like a cat.

There is a trick, one needs to be proficient with long nosed pointy tweezers.
Pick up a slab, lay them in between the legs of the tongs lengthwise, and crease, (non gum side inside the crease) Voila! the curl disappears.

Lay the creased bent upward on your desk, dab your finger lightly and you can pick up one by one.

NOW. The trick, and takes lots of practice, dab the gum on the hinge, with barely a tap on gum with moisture. I use my finger, but I am well practised.
The gum JUST needs to be "tacky" in one spot.
Place the hinge on the stamp, wait a few minutes and repeat for the page adhere side.

The TEST. You should (when dry 1 hour ) be able to lift the hinge off without damage to the stamp. If you can manage that, you are a hinger extraordinaire, Sir.

Lick or Use water on the hinge, and you're in for trouble, that baby will lift a small car. Expect disaster on your stamp and Album page.

Practice practice practice....on your torn definitive duplicates.

i have the same curled up hinges, and they're not a problem for me, the trick is as Rod describes, to use tweezers.

i hold the hinge together with tweezers, then lick the small end to place it on the stamp, I then turn it around and hold the hinge down on the stamp with the tweezer and I lick my finger and apply that to the hinge, so I don't lick all over the stamp.

and then just place it in the album.

give it a few goes see if it works for you.

All modern day hinges are made by Prinz. Prinz has assured me that all their hinges are produced exactly the same and packaged for various sellers. I have personally verified this information directly with Prinz located in Germany several times on behalf of SCF members.

Rod - as I understand it, your method deals with the curl of the Prinz hinge. I don't think that's much of a problem. Having a heap of scrunched-up hinges is, however.

I find the issue with these hinges (Prinz) is that they do not 'release' after being attached. Even if you wait a few days, getting these hinges back off a page or stamp can cause damage; I often have to soak them off. Rod's post cover how to use them so they do not damage the stamp/page coming back off, but the majority of user's do not follow his advice.

While this might not be an issue for some folks, I think it impacts the potential resale value of a collection which has been mounted with these modern hinges. This is because of the extra time and effort required to remove stamps hinged with these modern hinges.

That's said, I do use these hinges to mount larger pieces like cut corners (corner of cover with stamps attached). The extra holding strength works well with the larger pieces and I am not as concerned about getting them back off.

But the only hinges I use for stamps are vintage Dennison.
http://stampsmarter.com/learning/Gen_Dennison.html

Don

Dogs lick, cats lick, you may lick an ice cream cone but you don't lick stamp hinges, they are to be moistened very lightly on the edge of the fold (stamp side) and the lower corner (page side) the new hinges such as prinz, supersafe etc.. all work fairly well as long as you don't slobber all over them.

As far as the curling of the hinges I don't have an issue in the desert climate,some are curled but I have found that they do straighten out after applied.

fredcdobbs has it correct, trouble is that instructions are totally subjective and they require an amount of skill to use them correctly.

Consider the instructions on the god-awful Prinz hinges.




'Lightly'? 'Lightly moisten lower third of hinge'

They are being accurate, if a user does not follow the 'lightly' and 1/3 of hinge' instructions exactly right, the hinge is almost impossible to remove without damaging the stamp or unless they are soaked off.
There is no telling how many hundreds of thousands of stamp have been ruined by these hinges and their incorrect use.

This is why I either totally avoid buying any collection hinged with them or at least heavily discount what I am willing to pay.
Don

This is what I mean by "scrunch" -

So what I have been doing on my previous older batch was - 1st of all all those hinges were folded / creased nice and neat - to pick hinge up with tweezers, lightly moisten gum side of small end with tongue - no slobber, no curling at this point, and attach to stamp. I then pick up stamps with tweezers, pinch to include stamp and affixed hinge, place in hand then lightly moisten bottom 1/3rd of long gum side and affix to book. No issues.

When following that same process, as soon as I moisten the small side ( which I have had to re-crease or fold), it curls up. If I do continue to use that hinge, after affixed and when I moisten the large side, it curls. Anyhow, these dont seem right. Attached is another pic of the condition - double creases, unfolded, etc.

Supplier was nice about it and is sending a new pack.

It is dashed difficult to explain, but creasing the hinge, as explained prior, prevents (generally) the stamp curling. even after dabbing with moisture.
That said, they are, or can be, awkward fellows at time, and defy any sort of discipline.
Using your tongue is a sure way to have them curl and damage your stamp.




Yep
we all have them, they usually appear as "leftovers" in my hinge bucket,
and I use them when desperate when hinges are running low.

One thing with Prinz, as Don alluded to, is the strength of the hinge paper,
in the olden days, often, when a hinge "grabbed" it would tear at the fold when removing from the album page.
Not with Prinz, the paper is so strong, they will either create a hole in your stamp or Album page.

I have heard of collectors cutting hinges in two on occasions for budget.
I am paying $3.60 US per 1000 for my Prinz.

A good "hint" you are using too much moisture, is the evidence of the hinge
sticking to itself. (The gum has migrated around the edge when pressed onto the album page) If the stamp cannot be lifted and rotated around the hinge fold on the page, then your process is faulty.

All of my Prinz hinges end up looking like they're "scrunched." Even if they are flat when I open the package, letting more air in tends to curl them. I simply fold several at once into the shape I want, and go from there. I throw away any hinges that I can't "rehabilitate." And Fred Dobbs said the key to using these hinges; don't be a "slobber king," as I call it. Minimal moisture is the key. Since I "lick" all my hinges, I may try Q-Tips in the future for use on Prinz hinges.

For older stamps, I have 6 or 7 unopened packages of old Dennison hinges to use. I have several collections in need of remounting, as I downsize & dispose from world wide collecting, and add to my specialty areas;

Most modern hinges work OK if you moisten them only very lightly -- just touch to the tip of your tongue, or to a damp cotton ball, etc. If you moisten the whole thing they may be difficult to peel.

It is true that Dennisons you can drag across your tongue however you like and they'll still peel easily, but newer hinges just aren't that good. (If you go for the older good hinges, beware of "Dennisen" hinges, those are a knock-off product and aren't as good.)