Stamps That Are Stuck To Themselves

I recently found a set of the president stamps that I believe are from the Ameripex series of years ago. Stamps run from Washington thru Lyndon Johnson.

the 4 sheets are slightly stuck together around the edges of the stamps on one side of the selvage.

Other than soaking in water and totally ruining the gum is there a way to separate the sheets without doing any damage? Thank you.

davef,
You can try freezing them breifly, and then gently trying to pull them apart.
You may get some gum losses, and you may get some adhesion in some cases still.
Another thing to consider is, it is sometimes possible to save some while sacrificing others.
If you have a stamp below that it stuck to one above, after freezing you can try to crease the stamps below so that you end up with just a small point where it is still attached. You can continue to fold this in until it comes free. This is a process I've used many times and results at least in some of the stamps coming out still near perfect.
If the other "damaged" ones are in your country, then you can at least still use them for postage, and get something out of them.

I've wondered about this also. Thanks ClassicPhilatelist.

Opinion:
I've tried everything in the past, generally with horrible results.
My mantra now, is to bite the bullet and soak.

Better to have a clean stamp, with no gum, than a manky stamp, with disturbed gum, and possibly lifted bits of the stamp design.

I have had freezing work once or twice on a few stamps (those which were subjected to humidity) but after breaking them free the gum was highly disturbed. So for me suitable stamps get soaked and with new adhesive are used for postage, cheap stamps are ignored and get given away to whomever wants them, expensive stamps get soaked and saved as 'unused'.
Don

Thank you all for the info. Dave

Yeah, it depends on your objective. So soaking is fine sometimes, other times it's less preferred.
There are also times, I just allow them to remain stuck together...

Soak 'em and get a glue stick, and use them on mail.

I've had some (limited) success using Super Safe Stamp Lift Fluid on the selvage of booklet panes, and managed to use my StampLift box when the stamps themselves have stuck together. Doesn't work every time, but I've had some success. Do other collectors still use these?

edit: fixed typo :(

I have used a sweat box on these very stamps. I had no success so I finally soaked them. I did have more success with some of the Pacific 98 souv. sheets using a sweat box.

Davef,

Soaking is generally the last resort, but it is the most effective!

Jack Kelley