Curled Stamps After Soaking

I've read the various recommendations from a search here on flattening curled stamps after soaking. All are great procedures - and here's the but, Won't the curled stamps flatten out over time after mounting in an album? I'm about to begin soaking about 20-25,000 and guess I'm looking for the lazy way out.

Stamps reset back to their original state easier when damp and since nobody will place them in their album in that state I guess it was never a thought.

Thought I would share a shortcut that I just figured out.
Soak - I do about 10 pages at a time.
Transfer face down to paper towel on one side of book for initial blot.
Cover for back side blot with the other half of the paper towel.
Uncover and turn shiny side of drying book to paper towel side.
Flip using the blot side of the book.
Lift paper towel.
Voila! Close book and let dry overnight.

I've never used a drying book. I find them a bit gimmicky to be honest.

For me, I soak them, dry them on a tea towel, and when they're dry I place them in a zip lock bag, press out the air, leave them under a couple of heavy books overnight, and place them where they need to be the following day.

Drying books are great. Over time though the pages will warp and you will want to buy a nice perfect new one. The one I have has much thicker pages than pictured here. That looks like a LOT of warping. I only soak stamps that I would call special. Doing hundreds of common stamps - never.

25000! My poor back just reacted in pain. Only soak now if I really have to, and really need the stamp off paper. Otherwise avoid like the plague.

P/S - my drying books are peppered with ones I forgot and put wrong side down.

Good luck to you,
Pat

I have never attempted to flatten soaked stamps.

They curl when dry but given a day or two they recover. I just make sure they are laid on the towel so that the curl is 'downwards', ie so the shape looks like a bridge rather than a bowl. That's all you really need to do. Maybe transfer to a stock book when bone dry (and still a bit curly) and they return to flat naturally.

Best thing is to take small numbers of stamps to soak.(to keep control and save your back)

Be carefull with coloured paper.

To dry, I use a tea towel.

After you put the stamps on the towl, have a bit of patience untill they start to dry. Then carefully flip them over. This will prevent them from sticking to the towl and helps to keep the curl out.

Afterwards when they are dry, use a thick book to put them in to, to flatten.

From Experinece this will take only one or two days.

Yes, there are stamps that what ever you do will look like a curly fry, but even those will flatten in a thick book,given time.

Tip: Use one book to keep track. Use certain page numbers.

I use every 5th page, this to spread out the stamps and know how to easily find them back again.

Am I the only one who uses a cast iron book press for stamps?

Here is one I got a few months back. It has since been cleaned up and repainted. The small press in front is my homemade one I'd been using for years. With the larger press I've been able to more than double my pressing capacity. I will, at some point in time, build a custom table/stand for this. I'm thinking Craftsman style.


My usual drying/pressing process is:

Place wet stamps face down on paper towels.
Blot the back just so they are no longer shiny with water.
Let sit until almost dry.

Transfer stamps to my press stacks, or "stamp sandwich" if you will.

The "stack" is built in layers using pieces of engineered flooring and artists Bristol board, and are arranged in a specific order:

1 - Piece of flooring
2 - Stamps lined up, face up on the flooring (they won't stick to the flooring).
3 - Piece of Bristol board.
4 - More stamps lined up on the Bristol board, but face down.
5 - Another piece of flooring
6 - Start back at #1 and repeat.

The stack is then placed in the press for a couple days and the stamps are dry, smooth and flat. Some will have a slight, natural curl to them but seem to flatten out over time.

Never had a drying book. I always take the "why be normal?" approach.

Similar to Spain's post, I place the clean stamps on foot-square sheets of corrugated board for about half an hour to wick-away most of the moisture, then transfer them to an artist sketch book (about every 4th or 5th page), then into the antique 1890s book press for a day or two.




Although this does not show scale very well, the 9" x 12" artist pad fits exactly in the press. Quite a horse!

I have the Desert Magic drying book, but I do find that it leaves this 'plasticky' shine on the back of the stamp that is supposed to be leftover gum residue, but I still have my suspicions it's something transferring from the page!

John Becker, great idea with the sketch paper book - I didn't think to use them for that purpose.

As for the book press, I made my own for about $20 using two flat bamboo cutting boards I picked up at Home Depot. Drilled some holes, then bought 4x carriage bolts, wing nuts, and washers. Works great!

John Becker - I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of this. I figured it's not much different than people who press flowers, and use a similar press.

And with that said, I think I'll have myself a bit of a soaking/pressing session tonight.

Having a book press is handy for lots of hobby reasons. I know of two others also.

Growing up, I often soaked stamps late on Thanksgiving afternoon. After the big meal was over and the leftovers put away I could take over the kitchen, thoroughly scour the double stainless steel sinks and soak hundreds of stamps. One sink to soak, then into the next sink for a rinsing. Mother never complained. She know it is only time I ever left the kitchen cleaner than I found it! I may have to soak some stamps this weekend in her memory.

The important part of the process I follow is letting the stamps rest a short while on corrugated to get most of the water out. When they are being pressed (in a book press or a stack of books), there is really no air circulation to actually dry the stamps- just the remaining moisture shifting around into the pages. So when I remove the art pad from the press and take out the "dry" stamps I still let the stamps and art book sit out for a day or two complete the process of the water going back to the air.