Is there ANYONE who enjoy this part of our hobby?

It does oxidize, like hydrogen peroxide ( peroxyde in french) but chlorhexidine is a better anti-microbial/disinfectant and would have (on stamps ) some anti-fungus properties as mentioned. I do not like Hydrogen Peroxyde and a lot of people do not use it anymore....very light antiseptic properties and lots of bubbles !!

I was also unable to find any info regarding chlorhexidine soaking stamps.
I heard kalium permanganate is used to remove foxing and mold. Don't know how would it be on old stamps, haven't tried yet.

That is indeed the case - embarrassing !! My appologies, I mixed up my translation...hydrogen peroxide it is!! If anybody actually tried chlorhexidine, I do hope it didn't make any harm.... If so, please ask the doctor renden , he knows his medical substances


..thanks, but also a bit too quick at times...

Chris you are absolutely "right", reading again that thread - we must suffer from "memory problems" and it is surely valuable to have you around 

René

While I have never tried Bestine, I recently began using Pure Citrus and it flat out works and it smells good too.

I enjoy soaking stamps and, there seems to be more of it to do these days.  When I receive mail from sellers, I only keep the covers if the stamps are in period and cancelled; otherwise into the water they go.  I like the result; nice clean stamps, most of which don't have a place in my collection, but someday, some collector will get a lot of enjoyment from them.

I have not soaked stamps in years as I have been buying mostly collections. I have a box full of stamps from incoming mail that need to be soaked.

I just discovered this thread.....very enlightening!

Being rather split over my fondness / antipathy towards stamp-baths,  I tend to procrastinate the necessary dirty deed until the desk drawer in which stamps are shoved (carefully, of course) protests and threatens to damage the next philatelic "arrival".  Then I always have to allot time (in rather short supply these days) for the tedious task.  I've damaged too many stamps in the past, admittedly usually cheaper or common stamps, by rushing or taking less care than I should. Flies on the wall throughout the stamp collecting/stamp soaking world undoubtably have nearly fallen off their perch upon hearing the damned cursing of collectors as their sodden treasures silently yet quickly tear asunder as human fingers flippantly flinch and flail about in the lukewarm, soupy stampy mess...

(fast forward through the often exceedingly boring details of my "stamp baths" and no, I don't join them in my tub, mainly because I'm afraid I might hit the jet buttons, lol)

...but when the stamps come out of the drying book, two days or two weeks later, I am happy to have done it, and it's like finding a shiny penny on the ground as I sort, stack, and eventually re-home these little wonders!!  

--Jim


* I may be dating myself, but aren't we almost all, being stamp collectors!

Sometimes I find the whole process of soaking, drying and flattening of stamps to be cathartic. I just wish there were more hours in the day to be able to get to the huge pile of soaking I have to get to.

I don't mind it. I only get into problems if I become too ambitious and do a few hundred in ten days; I won't even want to look at an on-paper stamp for a while after that. If I've spent time doing something truly mind-numbing, like trying to decipher Hungarian watermarks, soaking a bunch of stamps makes me feel like at least I got something accomplished. (Italian watermarks are OK. Hungarian watermarks are bad. Either I have no pre-WWI Romanian stamps with watermarks - which would defy statistical probability - or, more likely, Romanian watermarks are evil.)

Yeah, soaking recent stamps can be boring. Soaking earlier stamps and getting rid of accumulated dust, 80-year-old hinges that have become disturbing shades of yellow/orange/brown, and traces of cigarette smoke can be fun and rewarding. And if I save a relic of history, somebody might even give me the full 50¢ catalogue value for it! Hey, that's what dreams are made of.

The music idea is a good one, but our floors have the world's worst insulation, so I really can't play anything loud enough to make it worthwhile. And I often have my faithful dog with me and wearing headphones isn't exactly companionable, which is what dogs are all about.