Whats the best way to remove stamps from envelopes & how long do I leave them to dry before placing in albums?
My grandfather used to put them in bowls of water but how long for? Hot or cold water? He used to lay them on towels to dry - Is overnight long enough?
Steam is a terrible way to get them off. It will take forever and you are liable to get burnt--the temperature of steam is 100 degrees!
Exactly what works best depends on the type of adhesive, the paper, and whether the paper is coloured. Some stamps do not come off (like the Italian priority post self-adhesives), but most do. A lot comes with practice, so give it a go. It's not that hard.
SOAKING
The basic idea is that you clip the stamps from the envelopes, leaving about half a centimetre (quarter inch) of paper around the stamp. You soak them in water (e.g. in a shallow pan or bowl). Then there are several possibilities for getting them off the paper, which I'll explain later. Then you may want to put them in a second bowl of clean water to rinse off any remaining gum. Finally put them face down on something flat and absorbent like a clean teatowel.
As for the temperature, use cool to warm water. I find that Australian self-adhesives come out wrinkled if I put them in hot water, so I stick to cold. It might take a bit longer for ordinary gummed stamps, but overall I'm happier with the results.
Remember wet stamps are basically wet paper and are very delicate. Handle with care. Best practice on common stamps until you get experienced enough to handle the less common ones.
DRYING
After a couple of hours, they are touch dry. I find that if I move them to a dry teatowel halfway through drying they will be ready much quicker.
You will want your stamps flat, so when they're touch dry, put them between sheets of blank paper. Blotting paper is best but if they're dry enough I find plain photocopier paper works fine. Put them inside a heavy phone book or something like that for a few hours, maybe pile up a couple of books on top to help flatten them. After that, they should be ready.
ADHESIVES
If they were made with gum (water-activated adhesive), they usually float off eventually by themselves.
For self-adhesive gums from most countries these days, you have to wait a bit longer for the adhesive to soften. Then you carefully peel the stamp off the paper. Be careful not to pull when it's not ready, or you'll tear or thin the stamp. Also be careful to remove all traces of the adhesive as it can stick to other stamps later and damage them.
Some self-adhesive stamps don't come off. You have to learn which ones they are by experience and save them neatly clipped on paper.
COLOURED PAPER
If a stamp is on coloured paper, soaking it will often make the colour run and damage the stamp and other stamps that come in contact with it. What you need to do is treat each such stamp individually.
If it is gummed, then place the stamp on a plate, place boiling water on it. The gum should soften quickly. As soon as it's loose, and hopefully before the colour has had a chance to run onto the stamp, peel the stamp off the paper. Then run it under a slowly running cold tap to rinse off the remaining gum with any colouring it may have collected. Be careful with the boiling water!!
If it is self-adhesive, I personally find that soaking in cold water (separately so you don't ruing your other stamps) works best as this slows down how quickly the colour will run. I find the adhesive layer protects the paper of the stamp from staining. When ready, peel off and handle as usual.
See also:
http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/soaking_20050502/refreshercourse.asp
http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/gum_20030217/refreshercourse.asp
http://reviews.ebay.com/HOW-TO-SOAK-STAMPS-OFF-PAPER-SUCESSFULLY_W0QQugidZ10000000000127019
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