Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2013 9:58:25 GMT
My Desert Magic drying books are near there very end. One side of the page that the stamps are put on are no longer useable as the coating has come off and the other side is near to being in the same condition. They also have a lot of fungus stains on all pages. Four new books are on order.
We now use 4 single, loose pages of blotting paper before the moisture can reach the books blotting paper page. So the book remains dry at all times. All that we have to dry are the loose blotting paper pages. It is just so much easier.
We can use the books every day with this method. I am sorting 10kgs of very recent kiloware on paper that arrived today and looks a treat with a kilo of high values. January and two weeks of February is our take stamps off paper time. We have been doing this for many years now. It has turned into a great family time.
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tomiseksj
Moderator 
Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
Posts: 6,385 
What I collect: Worldwide stamps/covers, Cinderellas, Ohio Prepaid Sales Tax Receipts, U.S. WWII Ration ephemera
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Post by tomiseksj on Nov 6, 2013 13:02:24 GMT
I use an APAK Stamp Drying Book and am so grateful that I moved away from my previous practice of laying the soaked stamps on paper towels to dry and then pressing them in a book for several days to flatten them out.
As long as I blot the excess moisture from the stamps using paper towels before placing them in the book, the stamps will dry in less than 24 hours.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2013 2:35:03 GMT
We are using Desert Magic drying books and an extra 3 or 4 pages of blotting paper in between the stamp page and the books blotting paper and taking the stamps straight out of the soaking water onto the page. We also have dry stamps in 24hrs plus a dry, drying book. It is really nice to be able to not stress about where are we going to put that 1,000 wet stamps each day and have nice dry books.
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Ryan
Moderator
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Nov 12, 2013 12:09:58 GMT
When I'm soaking stamps, they go on to a small towel after I take them out of the sink, and once all the stamps are out of the sink I move them from the towel into the drying book. Calgary has a dry enough climate that I need to soak the towel in water and ring it out so that the towel is damp, otherwise the stamps dry out too quickly. They need to go into the drying book a bit damp - if I let them dry out completely before being flattened in the drying book, they end up all wavy and wrinkled.
Ryan
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Post by stampgeezer on Jan 19, 2014 22:25:27 GMT
Ok, here is a question for all you soaking experts. I do not do too much soaking and drying of stamps, but I am bored today and the wife is out of town. I use distilled water for soaking (it makes my cheap stamps feel important) and do about 15 or so at a time. I put about a quart of water in a bowl for the soaking. Should I dump the water after each group or does anyone think the water could be used for a second bunch?
Thanks, Theron.
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tomiseksj
Moderator
Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
Posts: 6,385
What I collect: Worldwide stamps/covers, Cinderellas, Ohio Prepaid Sales Tax Receipts, U.S. WWII Ration ephemera
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Post by tomiseksj on Jan 19, 2014 22:46:04 GMT
I use tap water and dump/refill before removing the stamps. I start each new batch with fresh water. If the stamps are soiled and have gum, the water can get pretty dirty.
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Ryan
Moderator
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Jan 19, 2014 23:15:48 GMT
I use two sinks - one sink holds the stamps being soaked for a long enough time to allow the paper to be easily removed, the other sink is where I wash off any remaining gum. The clarity of the water in that second sink depends a lot on what type of stamps you are soaking. Old US & Canada stamps from the 1950s and 1960s with dextrose gum could probably be soaked in very large quantities since those don't do too much to make the water cloudy. Newer Canadian stamps with PVA gum make the water much more cloudy. And if I'm soaking recent German stamps, I need to refresh the water half-way through - it gets so cloudy that if I drop a stamp while rubbing off the extra gum, I can't see it in the bottom of the sink!
I think you'll just end up making decisions based on how your soaking water looks, and it will also depend on how much effort you put into removing the gum off the back of the stamps.
Ryan
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rod222
Member 
Posts: 11,047
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Jan 20, 2014 2:29:48 GMT
I use the sink, I clean the sink prior, use lots of cold water, inspect the stamps first for fugitive ink (the ones I am aware of)
and use a tiny bit of dish liquid to remove the water surface tension.
I have a bowl nearby with clean cold water, I leave my stamps in for about 10-15 minutes
then take them out one at a time, and feel for gum between thumb and finger, if OK then into the bowl.
Some of my stamps are grungy, and the ones with thick yellow acacia gum (Malaya etc) I have a very sharp
paring knife, I put the stamp on the fleshy part of the base of the thumb and lightly scrape off the goo.
This is good for early Austria where the gum is recalcitrant.
I do 40 a day, one soak before brekky, put in my drying sandwich books, about 5 high, place at the bottom of the stack,
take off the top sandwich book, which gives me 40 dry, flat as a halibut stamps, to work on during the day.
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lokos
Member
Inactive
Ontario, Canada
Posts: 167
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Post by lokos on Jan 20, 2014 11:54:00 GMT
I use two dishpans from the dollar store. The first pan is for the on paper and once the paper and stamp separate the stamp goes into the second pan for a final rinse. When I finish a batch the first pan gets dumped and refilled and the second pan gets rotated to the first position and we start the process again. A long time ago I purchased from the local newspaper an "end-roll" of newsprint the size of your weekly flyers. I think I paid maybe $7.00 or $8.00 and I've been using it for years and there is still lots left on it. I rip a length off and lay the stamps out from the second pan. Once the stamps are dry I put them into manilla stocksheets and then finally get some use out of those 50 year old Scott's catalogs I've been lugging around for pressing them flat.
Rick
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antoniusra
Member
Inactive
Actively pursuing every stamp I do not have and continuing to expand my site.
Posts: 416
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Post by antoniusra on Jan 20, 2014 17:42:10 GMT
I hardly ever soak stamps from envelopes or cut outs. Instead my primary reason for soaking is to remove hinge remnants or other crud. My father enjoys soaking stamps and if I ever have a large batch to soak I give them to him. He has a large cylindrical photographic drying machine that he uses to dry them, which is the best thing I've seen for doing large amounts. I have been needing to buy some new blotter sheets for quite some time. I have a couple of the Desert magic books but I actually prefer blotter sheets and waxed paper in the standard letter size 8 1/2 X 11 to do my drying. Does anyone know where one can pick up sheets of any size locally? Would photographic supply shops carry these?
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therealwesty
Member
Inactive
Sorting my Small Queens
Posts: 331
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Post by therealwesty on Jan 23, 2014 13:29:51 GMT
I use waxed paper and normal paper towels. I start with two sheets of paper towels, and then a similarly sized bit of wax paper. Fold the two over so the waxed paper is on the inside. The stamps are laid out between the wax paper layers, with the paper towel as the outside layers. I press the bundle under a Scott calatogue over night to ensure they are dry. The result is dried and pressed stamps in one step.
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Ryan
Moderator
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,749
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Jan 28, 2014 1:08:14 GMT
I have a couple of the Desert magic books but I actually prefer blotter sheets and waxed paper in the standard letter size 8 1/2 X 11 to do my drying. Does anyone know where one can pick up sheets of any size locally? Would photographic supply shops carry these? I snooped around a little bit but I wasn't able to find blotting paper in book-sized sheets. (That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but it does mean I didn't find them in the first 10 minutes!) It seems that this paper is mostly sold in sheets that are very large, meant to cover desktop blotting pads. 24" x 38" is a common size, large enough to create 9 sheets of 8" x 11" with a bit of scrap left over. Not exactly letter size, but close. I've mostly found listings for this in art supply or office supply businesses. Here's a typical listing, this company has stores in Kansas City, MO and Omaha, plus they sell online. Amazon.com lists this same brand and in the comments section, a stamp collector says that he uses the sheets for soaking & drying stamps. Ryan |
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lokos
Member
Inactive
Ontario, Canada
Posts: 167
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Post by lokos on Jan 28, 2014 1:42:14 GMT
I actually prefer blotter sheets and waxed paper in the standard letter size 8 1/2 X 11 to do my drying. Does anyone know where one can pick up sheets of any size locally? Would photographic supply shops carry these? I think you would probably have better luck looking in an art store that caters to watercolor painting and/or calligraphy or also scrap-booking supply stores rather than photograph stores (I'm thinking probably cheaper). Looking online I see blotting paper offered in packs ranging from 20sheets to 250sheets but the actual dimensions vary. Here's one for 200g worth of paper pretty cheap ( no ideal how many sheets that is) that can be ordered online under scrap-booking supplies. www.deserres.ca/en-ca/products/collimage/invitations/papiers/white-200g-blotting-paper-50x65cm-/329/91464/ |
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Post by ChrisW on Jan 30, 2014 17:22:19 GMT
I use the sink, I clean the sink prior, use lots of cold water, inspect the stamps first for fugitive ink (the ones I am aware of) and use a tiny bit of dish liquid to remove the water surface tension. I have a bowl nearby with clean cold water, I leave my stamps in for about 10-15 minutes then take them out one at a time, and feel for gum between thumb and finger, if OK then into the bowl. Some of my stamps are grungy, and the ones with thick yellow acacia gum (Malaya etc) I have a very sharp paring knife, I put the stamp on the fleshy part of the base of the thumb and lightly scrape off the goo. This is good for early Austria where the gum is recalcitrant. I do 40 a day, one soak before brekky, put in my drying sandwich books, about 5 high, place at the bottom of the stack, take off the top sandwich book, which gives me 40 dry, flat as a halibut stamps, to work on during the day. I do a similar thing. I use clean bowls instead of the sink, however. I soak in rather warm water until the paper/hinge comes off, rub the stamp between my thumb and finger to remove any remaining gum, glue, etc.. If you don't do this I find the stamp will curl pretty badly as they dry. Then, I move the stamps into a bowl of cold water for about 15 min. I read to do this somewhere, but don't remember why  but I just keep doing it that way  . Then, I blot the excess water off on a towel and put them in a drying book and let that sit overnight (without any weights on top). Then, I sandwich them between sheets of parchment paper (similar to wax paper) in a notebook and pile on several large books on top of that as a weight. I let that sit for several days and they come out dry and flat as a pancake  |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 11,047
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Jan 31, 2014 1:45:39 GMT
Yes very similar drying routes.
I use the "sandwich" method, because recalcitrant gum, or more currently, self stick stamps that have not been cleaned 100%
will stick to the drying surface.
I use a freezer bag in the sandwich, which I lie the stamps gum side, to prevent any mishaps.
When dry you simply pick up the sandwich and the stamps float gently off, ready to be mounted or stored.
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but I just keep doing it that way 
. Then, I blot the excess water off on a towel and put them in a drying book and let that sit overnight (without any weights on top). Then, I sandwich them between sheets of parchment paper (similar to wax paper) in a notebook and pile on several large books on top of that as a weight. 