Newbie Soaking Question From An Oldbie

i am in my 60s and feel foolish asking this but I will.

I read some old posts here regarding soaking stamps. I noted that some people do not press them until they are dried using glass for example.

When I soak stamps I pressed them when they were wet and eventually when they were completely dry they came out Ok but it took forever.

But if there was any moisture at all they curl.

So letting them dry and curl and then pressing them under weight is the better day to do it? Who knew? Can someone confirm please?
Thanks. V

Vantzy, my routine....
1. small lots max 30 stamps
2. soak in cool clean water
3. when paper releases , rinse in another bowl of cool clean water.
4, remove from water with tongs, place face up, on a brand new drying cloth, pat dry.

5. with tongs pick up each stamp, place face up on a A4 Freezer bag, that is on an old blank album page, or any A4 sturdy paper.

6. Place another sheet of clean A4 paper on top (this makes your sandwich)
7, Place sandwich in an old book, place a brick or weight on top
8, wait 4 days...bingo

Watch the fabulous dry flat as pancake Halibut stamps slide off the freezer bag, onto your desk.

PS Some stamps are ornery, and will curl like a cigarette
not often, but some do.
I gently caress the opposite side of the curl, with spade tongs
It is a tricky business.

Welcome to the Forum.

Given the commonality of soaking (as a collector activity) much has been written on the
topic. If you scan through the SCF archives believe you will note some common
(time proven) steps.

Personally, recommend focusing on small batches (say, 50 stamps) at a time. Avoid
the temptation to use hot water. (While it may speed the soaking process, it will
likely result in other problems). Use two sets of clean (at least two layer) paper
towels. (One for "blotting". The other for drying.). Never soak stamps affixed to colored
paper. (The paper will "bleed"' and damage the other stamps.). Use spade-shaped
tongs to handle the stamps. (Not fingers.). And once the stamps are almost
air dried I place in a stamp drying book. (Readily available online for c ten dollars.)

Good luck. And have fun.

I soak then lay them out on newspaper to dry, just make sure there's no colored ink on the newspaper pages. The newspaper helps to pull the moisture from the stamps. Once dry I just lay them out in my old catalogs and pile them up.

Vantzy - Welcome to this forum.




Letting them "almost" dry is the key. They still need to have a little bit of moisture in them before you press them with heavy weight.




"There are no foolish questions and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions."

A quote by the genius of electrical engineering, Charles Proteus Steinmetz.







Linus

A dozen collectors will have a dozen methods. I have mine too!

One trick I have used for soaking stamps on colored paper is to soak each separately. Using a muffin tin lets me do 8 or 12 at a time. Soak face down with only the stamp immersed and leaving the colored paper mostly dry. Peel as soon as they come loose and transfer the stamp to a rinse bath. Not all can be saved, but most will be successful.

I let them almost dry before flattening them. This works well for me They are usually fully dry in a day or so.

Dianne

I have never mastered the 'almost dry' method. If I put them under weights when they are slightly damp, they still are not dry completely after several days and if they are dry they stick to the paper. I am also worried about this method causing mold/mildew. So I usually wait for them to completely dry (overnight) then put them under lots of weights but it takes a very long time (months++) and some of them still have curl--especially newer issues which are more plasticky paper.

It seemed easier back in the day. I'm not sure if local environment factors (humidity, and hard/soft water) play a role. I have mostly given up soaking my own stamps and just let the experts do it.

I have never pressed a soaked stamp or used a drying book. There's no need at all. Just lay the wet stamps on a clean tea towel and leave them until they are dry. They can be patted with another part of the teatowel, or another clean one if you want to speed up a little. Sure they curl and feel crispy when dry, but they pretty soon they are back to normal. They just flatten out naturally.

I have a similar routine.

My "sandwitch" is an old 140lb album page, sheet of Yupo paper, stamps (face up with backs on Yupo), and another 140lb album page on top. Everything should be acid free. I use Yupo because 1) I have it around the house anyhow, and 2) it stays flat & crease free even when I'm clumsy.

https://www.amazon.com/Yupo-Paper-L.../B004XC7CE8/

That bit rod222 has in step 3 about a second rinse in clean water is very important. I have skipped it a couple times, and had the faces of my stamps stick to the album page because gum was in the water.

If I get a curled one, I put it on an old, curved blotter and gently mash it with another bit of paper. That usually works. For super unruly ones I carefully wrap them around a fat pencil. :)

Yep! That was my experience in my first days of soaking.
Some of the early commonwealth stamps, (Malay states) for example, had thick yellow Gum Arabic, turned the water yellow sometimes

I like your advice "around a fat pencil" not tried that.

Biggest trick I learnt, not tying to soak the world's stamps on paper. I soak only those I want to mount, and leave the rest to others.

I follow John's advice, face down for those on yellow Manila envelopes, must try the muffin tin
Red envelopes I don't even bother, 100% failure rate.

Stamps curl because they are not drying evenly. This is often due to a thin, uneven, layer of gum on the stamp. Changing the water often can help prevent this.

Personally, I soak up to 20 stamps at a time in cool water. When they separate from paper, if there is a slippery feel to them, I soak again in a separate bowl of cool water to get the residue /gum /slime off then pat dry between two paper towels and when dry put them face down on a white title page of a hardback book. Close the book and then turn book over so the bulk of pages serves as a weight. Don't touch the book for 24 hrs. By then, stamps ready to mount in album etc.

poofo, you talked about the "140lb album page" - is it made of gold or osmium? I never saw a 50 kg page. I dread to think how much the whole album weighs.

Most members said they dry on some sort of paper. Is there a disadvantage in using a tea towel or any other cloth?

Paper weight.

https://www.strathmoreartist.com/fa...it-mean.html

Soak, then lay side by side in one of those Desert Drying books that soak up a lot of the moisture. Usually dry enough to handle in a couple to 3-4 hrs max. Then into the kids old math books to flatten. I tend to leave em to flatten for a few days and they turn out really nice.

Not one to be happy and always looking for another direction, I do like the idea of glass or plexiglass/plastic and will likely try that method for pressing. Just to see if it's any better than what I do now.