Adding Contaminates While Hinging Stamps?

I just about always have coffee when working on my collection. As I am setting here enjoying my java a question arose. Is there any danger from the acid in my black coffee transferring to the hinges and having long term effects on the areas where the stamps are hinged?

Wheelman: when I was in college and working summers at a local utility, the regular employees used the left-over coffee to clean the tabletops in the break room at the end of the work day. It was a real good cleaning agent. If I was you, and I'm not, I'd give up coffee when hinging.

Depending on your setup, perhaps you can have a small table next to you for coffee? A little extra distance from the hinges...

Or the sugar in the coffee attracting silverfish...?
Don

Shermae: I don't think it matters where the coffee is if he's licking hinges. I sometimes have a glass of wine on a nearby table when I'm hinging. Maybe I should reconsider.

so, im no scientist, but if you are talking about acidic fumes floating from you coffee cup or breath in such quantity to impart properties into the hinges or stamps, I say nope - do not worry about it.

From what I read in this thread and if you lick your hinges while indulging a little in lifes pleasures, there may be some unintended consequences. Brown tone staining from coffee, red staining or acidic damage over time from red wine, and of course the dreaded silverfish eating the sugar and any gum remnants off the backs of the stamps. You should enjoy your vices at a seperate table as food, drinks and stamps dont mix well, and unexpected accidents will happen. Best advice is to use a Qtip with clear or distilled water to dampen your hinges and avoid the unnecessay heartache and preserve your treasures for your own enjoyment now and for others to enjoy later when they are passed on.

I don't eat or drink while doing my stamps. If you saw me, you would know that is quite a concession on my part - I am (ahem..) large. There are all kinds of enzymes and things in saliva, so even straight saliva isn't pure water. Just the same, I wouldn't add to the mix with something that stains, like coffee or tea. Even though you (I hope) swallow your coffee before licking hinges, there is leftover coffee in your mouth. I am a constant tea drinker, myself, so I understand what it is like to step away from that while I step forward to do stamps. If I am working on my stamps, but that work does NOT include hinging, I will have a cup of tea nearby. Then the danger, as others have alluded, is that I will knock it over or drop something into it. I am willing to take that risk - so far, so good. Knock on wood.

I never eat or drink anything other than maybe water or some clear soda when I'm hinging stamps. Food or other products licked onto a hinge which then get transferred onto the back of stamps cannot be good for the stamps. I have no proof of that, but maybe some of those old stamps we all have that have strange stains and other mysterious marks were damaged that way?

I only have water when hinging stamps. If I feel I need a coffee I will take a break and drink water once I am done

Dianne

All great comments. Guess I will have my coffee elsewhere before tackling the stamps.
Thanks

It's probably for the best not to be drinking anything other than water. Still, the one thing that I have found to be obvious over the years is brown hinge staining caused by smokers and tobacco chewers. The resultant staining is pretty permanent.

From Day One I was taught by my father, No hinges ever. If a stamp is worth having, it's worth using a mount. So with respect, if you're already going to hinge the stamps, literally gluing it to a piece of paper and sticking it onto a page unprotected, what do you care about theoretical or actual damage from coffee?

A couple of years ago I ended up with a collection in a large lot that had all hinged stamps and probably 50% had dark staining on the stamp right where the hinges were placed. It was like oil. I thought of tobacco. Could have been a food or beverage. It does happen.