JeffS
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Posts: 2,610
What I collect: Oranges Philately, US Slogan Cancels, Cape of Good Hope Triangulars, and Texas poster stamps and cinderellas
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Post by JeffS on Dec 15, 2023 18:47:36 GMT
On another site, a suggestion was made to give a rather dingy stamp a saltwater bath to “freshen it up.”
Does anyone have experience with this technique?
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rex
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Post by rex on Dec 15, 2023 19:00:01 GMT
Try warm water and a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, then rinse with cold water,... it's an excellent degreaser/cleaner. Also useful for detaching stamps from paper.
I have never tried with salt which is also supposed to be a degreaser.
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stainlessb
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qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,648
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Dec 15, 2023 19:26:17 GMT
i have not tried this (or rex suggestion. I do know that a salt and vinegar solution is a simple fixative for anilibe dye from leather working) P will have try these! |
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Post by clivel on Dec 16, 2023 18:27:50 GMT
I do know that a salt and vinegar solution is a simple fixative for aniline dye from leather working Nice to see another leather worker on the forum  But I haven't used any aniline dyes. Clive |
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,648
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Dec 16, 2023 19:02:56 GMT
<sigh> back in the day (but I still have my tooling punches...)
why, I couldn't say....
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Beryllium Guy
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Posts: 5,661
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Dec 16, 2023 19:10:55 GMT
Coming back to the original question from JeffS, here is what I could find in a general web search about the benefits of cleaning with salt water: Source: www.homesandgardens.com/life-design/cleaning-with-saltPersonally, I have never tried using salt water with stamps, as it simply never occurred to me, and I had never heard of its being done prior to Jeff's post! I am not really sure that I see the benefits of it in this case. It seems to me that using a little dishwashing detergent, as Stan ( stainlessb) and Torbjørn ( tobben63) do, accomplishes the degreasing and cleaning quite nicely. |
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Beryllium Guy
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What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Dec 16, 2023 19:14:40 GMT
As an added thought, if salt water kills some bacteria, I wonder if that would make it effective against mold or foxing? I am not sure if bacterial contamination is really a problem with stamps....
I just did an additional search, and it seems that mold is not bacterial, and foxing is due to microorganisms, but also apparently not bacterial, so my earlier question seems answered in that respect. I am unaware of bacterial contamination for stamps, and therefore, I struggle to imagine why a salt-water bath in particular would be beneficial for cleaning stamps in a way that other, more commonly practiced methods would be. JeffS, were there any other specifics provided by the source you are citing? Why was someone recommending salt water? |
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JeffS
Member
Posts: 2,610
What I collect: Oranges Philately, US Slogan Cancels, Cape of Good Hope Triangulars, and Texas poster stamps and cinderellas
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Post by JeffS on Dec 16, 2023 23:50:06 GMT
Beryllium Guy The saltwater reference came from a poster Philatelic Friends on the rather recent Cape of Good Hope Facebook page. That's all I know about the subject.
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angore
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Dec 17, 2023 12:08:47 GMT
Salt is a reactive product and wonder if it would interact with coatings, etc. That is, it may be removing more than you want.
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