Modern Hinges- Shudder - How To Tackle The Curling Problem - One Method

Here is my "nutty" method of dealing with curling in modern stamp hinges.

Needed:

A) A pile of curling modern crap stamp hinges.
B) A stock page or pages (or stock book just laying around serving no useful purpose).

For B above, I use a Vario-Plus stock page (black) because it is stiff.
Ideally, a stiff stock book page could be used, the smaller (and tighter) the clear strip the better.

Method:

1. Uncurl the hinges, reform them, and using stamp tongs, insert the hinges, side by side,
onto the stock page/book strip. Make sure the folded lip for the hinge is facing you (i.e., gum side to front). The lip should be on top to facilitate easier removal later.

2. Put the stock book or stock page away for a couple of weeks.

3. Retrieve the hinges one by one when you use them.

They will be perfectly flat and ready to use.

The above method works with every available crap modern hinge.

It seems labor-intensive, and it is, but how many of us have just thrown away a pile of
curling hinges in disgust?

I actually add another step between #2 and #3 above.

2a. When hinges are perfectly flat after a couple of weeks, count them out (50 or 100) and place
them in a #1 glassine. Flatten the glassine and tape the back flap. Be creative with the name
you place on the glassine - I use "50 crap hinges." This is to distinguish them from vintage
good hinges. When I am ready for a mounting session, I take a glassine out of the stock book
and use it...

Note that this posting does not address how to use modern crap hinges. There are plenty
of threads here on SCF that explain how to do that. HINT: Less moisture is good.

John
The Frugal Philatelist

Thank you for the information. This makes good sense and I'll give it a try.

Yes, I shuddered.
Why deal with modern hinges at all?

Well, availability is one thing. This is the result of my search on ebay uk for vintage Rapkin hinges (no Gibbons) -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/38468367...BFBM-IHr79tf

I have a stock of these older hinges. Most don't.

Because they are cheap and readily available, perhaps? This choice is not for everyone. I prefer vintage hinges (of course), but they are not very economical to use, even when cut in half, for cheap stamps. It makes no sense to use an archival vintage hinge (or mount) for common, used stamps. The hinge (mount) costs more than the stamp is worth...

I did not intend to make this a debate about stamp hinges. The fact is, the modern crap hinges do work - to hinge stamps into a stamp album. I also suspect that for every vintage stamp hinge purchased by the stamp buying public, there are probably 5 or 10 modern crap stamp hinges bought (very conservative estimate).

John

Let me back up and rephrase then.
Why fight curled hinges? There should be plenty which are flat.

Sure, you can also adjust and fold one at a time to use - absolutely.

I prefer to mount in sessions, and it is helpful if the hinges are all flat and ready to use.

With modern crap hinges, as soon as you open the package, the curling begins in earnest. Sometimes, fully 50-75% of the hinges are curled within days of opening the package. Actually, most have severe curling while still unopened...

Is anyone aware of a modern crap hinge pack where all of the hinges are folded and flat two days after opening? A week later? A month later? I haven't seen any.

John

The main issue I have seen with modern hinges is not curling per se, but it seems like as many as half in a typical bag are crushed in some manner, and basically unusable. I think the bag is just overstuffed. I usually have the best luck with Harris (which ironically is the smallest bag--therefore the most overstuffed). Oh well at least they're cheap!

On the modern hinges I find that the low moisture method results in just as peelable hinge as vintage hinges for non-gummed stamps, but unfortunately for stamps which still have gum they can still get pretty stuck so I am more cautious about using them for gummed stamps and reserve vintage hinges or mounts for those.

A few years ago I decided that modern hinges are more trouble than they are worth. So I use Vario pages, split back mounts, or ClearBags mounts.

Would in not be easier to just put the stamps you want to hinge in the Vario page rather than seed the page with hinges one by one to flatten?

Another reason I am glad I switched to Vario pages to house my collections instead of traditional album pages that require some form of mounting.

I don't understand how these bags of glassine junk are still sold. Kind of like a bag of potato chips that is all crumbs.

What a great description - I like it!

John

John Becker wrote:


That's exactly the problem, where the great majority in a bag end up curled to some degree, often enough into something like a leaf spring. Possibly, it's any kind of humidity (30% typical around here) affecting the difference between the gum used and paper that causes curling. It might be oxidation. New modern bags are slightly waterproof and somewhat airtight so when received from a supplier, it's a flat thing. Open up a modern bag and that's when the hinges start curling. Your mileage may vary; cold temps may help. But modern hinges don't uncurl by themselves.

johnsims03's method also takes care of the other problem of separating hinges stacked up together ten or so at a time. Those coiled bricks don't break apart by dropping or smacking them against a table.

My method is to grab the top or bottom of a stack or single hinge then pinch the other end of the fold with fingernails, drawing back all the way to the opposite edge. Turn around and repeat. A dropped stack will now separate by dropping on a surface. But these will begin curling again when stored though not as severely as before. So I only process hinges as needed for immediate purposes. I also put a hard crease on each hinge fold besides.

I've found that DAVO and Fasto (Lighthouse) hinges curl the least in an opened package. Again, they may all be made by Prinze but they aren't all the same.

I simply drag the curled hinge over the edge of my tongs, against the curl. Sort of like dragging Xmas ribbon over scissors to put a curl in, only in reverse. Not something I stress over that's for sure. Just got an order of 10k in the other day. Cutting them in half allows me to mount 20k stamps, more or less.

Interesting, but I simply wouldn't enjoy or need to spend time in an "uncurling" session for my hinges. It's just not what I want to spend my time on. When I encounter hinges that have curled, I just straighten each hinge before I use it. Sometimes I can manage to straighten (or is it "flatten"?) a group of hinges all at the same time, especially when they come out of the envelope in a small stack of hinges.

How I do this is probably the same way anyone would do it:

If you fold the hinge back away from its curve, you help straighten or flatten it. If you stroke it with your fingernail or maybe the flat part at the end of your tongs, that also tends to flatten the hinge. Generally stroking fairly hard on the outer part of the curve will tend to eliminate the curving. If you stroke the inner part of the curve you'll just reinforce the curving of the hinge.

With groups of hinges, I've had luck just holding them together and bending them all backwards at the same time against the curve fairly aggressively to straighten them out.

Also note that hinges virtually all curl from top to bottom, not side to side. So I find it also helps to bend or curl the hinge along its opposite axis, meaning from side to side. You make a sort of 'tube' from the hinge, going against the curve you want to eliminate. Doing this fairly aggressively flattens the hinge out in seconds.

Once you get the knack, it's just second nature, and each hinge takes only seconds to get the curve out of it. .Since it's that quick, I don't find I need to pre-bend hinges ahead of time.

I tend to look at curling as a feature, rather than a bug. I essentially fold them lengthwise and crinkle them up a bit. The end result is that the part adhering to the stamp has maybe half, probably less, of its total surface area attached to the stamp. Given the strength of the gum on today's hinges, that's still more than adequate to hold the stamp securely. If one also moistens them very sparingly, they can actually be removed safely and cleanly from the stamp without leaving a remnant or causing any damage.

Problem is that there's precious little room for error when it comes to the correct amount of moisture to use. The difference between "peels right off" and "attached permanently to the stamp, now and forever" is vanishingly small. I moisten them as lightly as possible and then dab them on the back of my hand to remove any excess for good measure. When applied like this, the results can be surprisingly good. To me, the primary advantage of Dennison and other older hinges is that they're much more forgiving with the amount of moisture one can apply and still be peelable, not that modern hinges can't be peelable at all. Modern hinges can be peelable, it's just much trickier to get it right.