How to soak kiloware – kitchensink philately basics
Soaking stamps is something allmost every stamp collector has to do every once and awhile. Sometimes it’s simply to remove a pile of old (and tatty) hinges on the back of stamp, most often it’s to remove backing paper. There is of course a right way and there is a wrong way of going about this…
Step 1: Choose what you soak
The first step any stamp soaker should do is to take a carefull look of the items to be soaked. At this stage, it is also wise to limit the number of stamps to soak. For example I normally soak batches of 40-60 stamps at a time. This may sound small number, but even this takes approx. 30 minutes of time from start to finish.
Would you soak this item?
If there is anything worth saving as on piece, set them a side. Some examples of such items include nice looking special cancellations, rare material and usually hologram (and other special paper) stamps.
In similar fashion, set aside any stamps with bright colored paper on back or with colored (purple) cancellations. Especially red, purple, orange and green colored paper is known to bleed easily; hence the name fugitive colors. These colors stain stamp paper very easily.
If there are any “non-soakable stamps”, place them aside as well… For a worldwide collector this is something were level of personal knowledge and experience plays a major role.
Some well known non-soakable stamps are issues of Taiwan, Red China, India and sometimes Pakistan from WWII to the mid 1960’s. With these countries it was more or less normal to issue stamps without glue and use local post offices “glue pot” (usually with water-resistant glue) to affix stamps on cover. Sadly there is not much you can do with many of these stamps besides saving them on piece.
Another wave of non-soakable stamps are the self-adhesive stamps. Most of the self-adhesives are soakable, but they require special attention. Sadly there are also cases where all hope is lost; like the very early self-adhesives from the 1960’s, French Marianne stamps from early 1990’s, Italian Priority stamps in early 2000 and many UK and US self-adhesive issues after year 2007 which should be kept on piece.
Step 2: Mix water and kiloware
Place the stamps you want to soak at the bottom of a plastic tray or bowl. Make sure that your tray is large enough to house both water and stamps. For example I use a 30 x 20 x 15cm transparent plastic tray.
Mix water and kiloware
After this, pour gently a healthy dose of lukewarm / warm water untill all stamps float freely… The hotter water you use, the faster stamps peel off from the paper. The downside is that the warmer the water, the more greater is the risk of fugitive colors.
Personally I hot tap water, but I this knowingly with my own risk.
Step 3: Wait
Let the stamps float until the glue dissolves and the stamps slide easily off the paper. Be patient, and let the water do its work!
If you use water of your body temperature (lukewarm water), soaking for about 15 minutes is usually sufficient. If you use hot water, then results start emerging after few minutes.
In general, it is a good idea to mix the stamps carefully by hand every couple of minutes while on the water. This way water gets to all possible places.
Step 4: Start working
Use tweezers to pick up all the stamps that are already floating off paper, and move them one by one to another soaking tray filled with clean cold water. This step removes the final traces of glue from the stamp as well as enhances the colors of stamps.
Put stamps into fresh cold water for a while
It is very likely that some stamps will need your help to get removed from their backing. Pick up these stamps by hand one at a time, and very gently try to peel them off the backing paper. Start from the corner and lift (or fold) the corner gently; if it doesn’t peel cleanly then put the stamp back to the water to soak some more… After you have successfully peeled the stamp off the paper, rinse the back of the stamp gently with your fingertips to make sure all the glue is off. Finally move the stamp to another soaking tray filled with clean cold water.
Please note, that the stamp paper is very weak at this phase. Even the minost use of force can cause severe damages to the stamp.
Step 5: Drying the stamps
My method for drying stamps has three stages. On the first step I pick up individual stamps from the cold water and place them face down separately (so that no stamps are on top of each other) on a newspaper. Then I usually put another newspaper (or fold the original) on top for a while. Finally I move the stamps one by one from the wet newspaper to dry newspaper for 10 minutes.
Place wet stamps to dry
Why so many steps? One of the reasons is ink used in newspapers… Though I try make sure the newspapers I use do not stain when wet, there might be exceptions to the rule. The less time stamps spent on completely wet newspaper, the less possibility of “ink damages”.
The second reason is glue… If the soaking or rinssing is not 100% success, then the stamp might still have traces of their original glue. This can cause undesired side-effects such as stamps stuck on newspaper.
The third reason is much faster drying time than with traditional methods… I normally let the stamps dry on their own for 10-15 minutes. They may curl a little or look wrinkled, but don’t worry about that.
Step 6: Flattening the stamps
When stamps are dry enough (i.e. they don’t feel at all moist or wet), pick them up with your tongs and put them inside a phone book, stamp stockbook or some other very heavy book to flatten. Place the book on solid surface and place some additional weight on top.
I use stockbook for flattening the soaked stamps
After 12-24 hours the stamps should be nice and flat, and ready to be stored for collection.
im from malaysia.
i have a lot of stamp that i want to sell from malaysia.
for sure the price will be very cheap
let me know if you intrested.
i do this not actually for money but for fun and hobbies
at this moment i have a lot stamp about bird.
hope to see u again
bye
Hi Mohamad,
It’s great that you have lots of stamps you want to sell, but THIS BLOG IS NOT FOR SELLING/BUYING (thus I have edited your message and removed some information). If you want to sell stamps, please do like most: sell via eBay, Delcampe or any other trustable online auction site. It’s the best (and safest) way for all.
best,
-keijo-
I have been reading about altered stamps, which got me to wondering. In the process of soaking stamps off paper and soaking old stamps to freshen and clean them, I usually tear off grossly irregular perforations to make them more even, so they don’t distract from the stamp’s overall design. Is this considered an acceptable practice? What is yours and your readers’ humble opinion?
Hi Carol,
I think there’s no single truth to this question, as the purpose of stamp/collection is to please it’s owner. For a serious philatelist I think it would be a sacrilege (or very close to it) as it might destroy some “philatelic evidence”; for example slot-machine stamps tend to have very irregular perforations that can help to distinguish them from sheet stamps…But for a normal stamp collector I think it’s just a matter of personal preferences.
Personally I try to leave stamps “as is”, as there’s no way to turn back time.
Thanks Keijo, your explanation makes sense.
A few years ago I found a very common Japanese stamp that seemed to be missing a color. It had been torn off an envelope, destroying the postmark, so I did not see the point in keeping it on paper.
I showed it to a “serious philatelist” who had no personal interest in it. He advised me not to soak it off paper. I ignored his advice, soaked it, and mounted it alongside a specimen with all of its colors. The difference is very subtle. Maybe it was caused by exposure to (sun) light.
Oh well, live and learn.
Any other stories/opinions about altered stamps, anyone?
Drying and flattening stamps
Keijo I have located a product that accomplishes these parts of the soaking process very well. It is a spiral bound book published by APAK, 1461 Venables Street, Vancouver BC V5L2G7 Canada.
I purchased it from Subway Stamps in Pennsylvania for appr $10 plus shipping.
The book includes pages which are blotter paper and pages which are a slick surface. the idea is that you put the wet stamps with the gum side on the slick surface and the blotter paper is facing. Then merely close the book. This product works well in my experience.
Regards
Dell from California
Hi Dell,
you’ve found a (stamp) drying book. They do work well, and for anyone that soaks randomly (and in somewhat small amounts) the books are a nice asset. But they have few issues why I avoid them:
The first one is capacity. The largest books I know are about the size of A4, and have 10 pages – meaning you can soak only few hundred stamps in one go (unless you buy several books).
My second gripe with them is drying/flattening time. Whereas my manual method completes in about 12-24h, drying book takes about 2-3 days for each soaked batch of stamps.
And finally; drying books don’t last forever. Sooner or later they will go “bad”, and you have to buy new ones.
Personally I don’t soak that often, but when I do it, I make somewhat large batches (1-2,000 stamps) in one go.
Keijo – you are correct, I rarely soak more than 50 stamps at a time… as a matter of fact, i have not acquired a large lot on paper (is this what you mean by “kiloware”?) for years/decades…
as to the dryuing time, I live California, an arid climate on the whole; I find that stamps dry in my drying book overnight no problem, and yesterday I soaked a hinge off of a stamp, dried it and remounted it with a hinge 4 hours later… could the climate have something to do with that?
best
Dell
Hi Dell,
with kiloware I mean 1kg sacks of on-paper stamps; but there are also plenty of smaller and larger mixtures available as well.
As for drying time… It’s very possible (but it could also be due to different product specifications as well).
How do you remove stamps from picture postcards or even envelope, especially those gummed in the USA. Any amount of soaking, has no effect on them. Is there any special way of removing them?
Hi Vijay,
The recent US stamps are in most cases unsoakable with traditional methods, and as such best kept either on cover or cut piece.
That said, there are few techniques that will remove (or otherwise kill) the glue used on these stamp. See:
* http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/stamps-you-cant-soa.php (some useful comments)
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWMcVYgIZjM ( very nice video)
But… AFAIK, nobody knows how the suggested chemicals affect to stamps/paper on the long run. As such, they are IMHO not recommendable.
I’ve also heard rumors (and seen some samples) where the glue used on otherwise unsoakable stamps has weakened with time – making the stamps peelable from backing paper. This would appear to require somewhat dry (and warm) storage conditions for extended period (12-24 months at least).
Hi everyone;
I’ve recently done a bit of research on stamp drying books myself. Amazon usually has them much cheaper than FeeBay. They also sell photo drying books as large as 21 pages x 19″ x 24″. I’m going to give them a try soon and will get back to you with my results. A great way to speed up the drying time is to place the blotter book in the oven and warm the oven with a 100 watt infrared bulb, to a temperature of about 130 ºF. Make sure the oven is completely off, or remove the knob so someone doesn’t try to bake a pizza in there!
A word to the wise, FeeBay isn’t the best place to buy a lot of things. I was recently in the market for Scott 2009 or 2010 catalogs. I looked on FeeBay and was horrified by the opening bids there. Then I searched Amazon and found 2008 Vol. 1, 2009 Vol. 2-3-4-6, and 2010 Vol. 5 for a total of only $97 including shipping.
Getting back on topic of soaking stamps. Nobody really covered how to handle colored envelopes. So here is my method. This works better with whole envelopes, so you have something to hold onto and not get burnt. Put on the tea kettle and get out the Orange Pekoe. While sipping your tea, place a stamp under the spout and steam until stamp loosens up. Then just carefully peel off, and drop into water… not the one with the tea bag! The steam usually weakens the glue enough to loosen, but not enough to run the colors. The final soak in water gets rid of the stamp gum, that steaming won’t take off.
Happy stamp soaking everyone!
Ken Tall Pines
@Ken… I agree that Amazon CAN be a good source of books at cheap prices.
About using the oven… That should definitely do the trick (but if thinking green, it’s definitely waste of energy if done just for stamps). I’ve also placed stamps near the fire place to dry with success… Microwave on the other is something I would not recommend, as some stamps can contain *security features* which can make stamp extremely flammable if put to microwave.
@Ken
I wouldn’t recommend using bulbs or ovens or anything to try to speed up drying time. Slow drying is better in the long run for the stamps. Drying occurs in an uneven fashion throughout a stamp, and as the fibers of the paper relax and move around a bit while wet the fast drying introduces internal forces within the stamp. The end result is the stamp will tend to want to curl or buckle once its dry. Keeping it damp and flat and drying over the course of a week results in a flatter stamp that retains its flatness for longer. Especially with sheets. Old sheets of mint stamps often enjoy curling into tubes! In such cases I’ve had great success with using a water spray bottle/mister and very lightly spraying a very fine mist of moisture onto the front of the stamp sheet which then goes into a drying book. The moisture is just enough to soften the stamp fibers and let the stamp “relax” a little. It reduces the risk of perfs splitting on their own too. The rear of the stamps doesn’t get moistened so the gum is undisturbed and won’t stick to the drying book. A week to slowly dry and acclimatise to being flat and the sheet will be ready to go back into your collection and won’t struggle to be a tube again.
I like the kettle steam suggestion for the stamps on coloured papers. I still do them carefully in small batches in fresh clean hot water by floating the piece on top of the water then peeling the stamp off before it gets wet. Then the stamp goes into more clean water and the gum then cleaned off the back. This tends to work to get a clean “untinted” stamp but sometimes I still get a slightly tinted stamp back if I don’t peel it off before the water soaks to the stamp.
Certainly before soaking any batches of stamps you should always go through and sort into two piles based on the piece: whites and colours (just like laundry). And for the same reason as laundry, when the ink/dyes in the coloured papers start to run they tint ALL the stamps and its pretty much impossible to “uncolour” them again after that without further ruining the stamp. The steam idea is probably the best idea to get an untinted stamp, just be careful about scalding yourself. Some tinting may always be unavoidable as the act of licking (wetting) the back of a stamp to stick it to an envelope would be enough moisture for the rear to pick up colouring at the time the envelope is mailed. So by the time you get it the colouring would have already begun. Soaking will only make things worse, so steaming seems a good idea to try to minimise the risk of further tinting of the stamp.
Was wondering if kitchen towel is a viable drying alternative to newspaper, any drawbacks ?
@Kev… Sure.
Possible drawbacks depend entirely on material and how well you soak away the glue residues. Paper towels might tear apart / stuck to stamps (requiring a re-soak) if you can’t get away all the glue/gum residues. Textile towels are more durable, but IMHO they require a wash after couple of times.
I dry my stamps face down on newspaper (I do that since the day I ruined a perfectly nice bunch of Iran stamps). If I have a bunch of very good stamps, I use a drybook. As for the many modern adhesive issues that can’t be soaked, I don’t bother with them. I cut very close to them and leave them on paper in the album.
Hi Keijo
Having not touched stamps in over 25 years it was good to find a reminder of the “basics” which I had forgotten. The use of newspaper is interesting – I’ll be trying it as I have a pile that need soaking.
Still trying to figure out how to collect – whether its any face different like you, or perhaps subject different which may prove more educational for my youngsters (eg only one stamp of each member of a royal family; one stamp of each species of duck erc)
Laurence
@Laurence… Why not both? You can collect everything, and still build themes /topics when required.
First – great site – lots of fantastic information and helpful comments!
I have just acquired a large bag of stamps and a partly filled collecting book from my grandfather, many from the late 1800 and early 1900s. I have been reading all I can about how to prepare them, but I have some newbie questions.
First, soaking sounds a bit scary! So please reduce my fear and help me understand the risks and what to watch out for.
1. With very old stamps, it is best to always remove the glue residue?
2. Some of the stamps are on torn corners of covers – should these be separated? if not all the time, what are the criteria you would consider as important to retain the torn corner. For example, if there are several stamps together with the cancellation clearly visible but would be split if the stamps are separated, do you keep them together?
3. Should old hinges be removed?
4. Is it a risk that the cancellation will bleed, or have those always been permanent?
5. Some stamps have been glued completely or partial with hinges into a Scott collecting book from about 1860. The internal pages look like there were many more stamps there that have been removed – perhaps several times. With the stamps that are in the book, it is better for me to remove them by wetting the back of the page and the stamp?
I am sure I will have more questions, but this would be a big help!
Thanks, Dan
@Daniel… Let me assure that there’s no reason to be worried about soaking; it is likely one of the most relaxing tasks in stamp collecting (at least in my opinion). Relating the below answers… There’s no right or wrong way to go ahead with this. It will be your collection, and you can do pretty much whatever you wish. No matter what you will, there will always be some who will be more or less ‘disturbed’ by what You have done.
If it is a used (canceled) stamp, then I’d give them quick soak with rinse to get any residue off.
If it is a mint / unused stamp, then the answer depends on Your personal preferences (and catalog value). If it bothers you, then go for it – it’s your collection. Be aware, that for some collectors residue of original gum on unused/mint item adds up value compared MNG (mint no gum) that’s been washed/soaked.
This one has no simple correct answer; but personal preferences play a major role…. I’m into stamps, not into postal history. So I would have no problems soaking all / most. That said, many collectors are into postal history and covers and cutouts do have special place in their hearts & souls.
And of course some (more valuable) items / stamps are best left on paper.
If talking about used stamps, and they are extremely disturbing and tatty, then yes. No doubt about it IMHO.
If they are mint/unused stamps, then it depends what your preferences and plans are. Most old stamps are virtually impossible to find mint unhinged – so they are best left “as is” (unless you specifically want to build yourself a collection of mint ungummed stamps; most collectors would consider items like this highly undesirable).
It’s possible that some (pen) cancellations will bleed. But it is extremely rare if considering worldwide stamps (but there are specific exceptions that you’ll learn only by experience; such as Finnish Autoparcel stamps – they were canceled mostly with so called Cosmos Pen and it bleeds/stains very easily)
That would likely cause more damages to stamps….
If there are any mint stamps, then I’d likely cut the hinge with sharp knife.
If they are used stamps (or glued to page), then you are best by putting the entire page into soak. This way the stamps should come off pretty safely, and if you want to safe the album pages, you’ll get them cleaned from all the residue in the same process.
Thanks Keijo, very helpful replies.
Just to be sure I understood your rely to point 1 and 3 regarding mint stamps:
- if the stamp is mint with original glue, it is best to keep as is (or potentially more valuable)
- if it is mint, with glue, but also has a hinge, it is best to leave the hinge on.
Did I get that right?
Thanks again – super helpful. And I am looking forward to my first soak (perhaps I can do my feet at the same time for a more relaxing experience
Dan
@Daniel… If they are mint stamps, leave them “as is”. That’s the way most collectors “prefer”.
And yes, a feet bath (using separate water & bowl of course) goes very well with stamp soaking. Add some nice music on the background, and you’ll love it
On USA stamps, red cancellations often bleed when soaked. The purple ink on the 15¢ Edith Wharton stamp is unstable. Soak as briefly as you can in cold water to get the paper and gum off without tearing the stamp.
Hi Keijo:
I have recently started to use a product called Sham-wow which is a shammy like product made in Germany. I take the stamps out of the water and place them face down on a piece of the material that will accomodate about 40-50 stamps. I find that the stamps dry quickly and do not curl nearly as much as with newspaper. The stamps will dry in about two or three hours and then I press them under a heavy book overnight. By the morning they are ready to go in my stockbooks which I use for my collection.
@Carol… Thanks for reminding about red US cancellations. I totally forgot them (though just few nights ago I soaked few of them).
Not sure if many know this, but adding some salt to the water when soaking slows some colors from running. Not sure how or why it works, but it does. … Some (but not me) also put a small drip of (white) vinegar into cleanup (cold) water – it brightens up the colors.
@Dave Williams
It all depends on the quality of pulp used by newspaper. There’s paper, and then there’s ‘paper’.
If the paper feels “cheap”, then it’s usually not practical. It will simply absorb all the moisture and remains wet for extended periods (causing stamps to bulge etc). Most freebie papers use this quality; it’s not good at all.
If the paper feels “expensive”, then it’s usually not practical either. It will simply defy from absorbing excess moisture, and everything is left afloat with stamps (causing stamps to curl etc). Again, not what we’re after.
So the right kind of paper/pulp is somewhere in between these two ends.
That said, I see no harm in use of shammy, micro cloth etc. They are equally good, if not even better method.
Keijo, for health reasons we gave up using salt in cooking. We have not bought salt since 1990 something (Latest research now tells me we are wasting our time, eating bland food with no salt) except for a 2.5 Kg. bag which went into the sink with about 20 litres of water. NOT for stamps, I hasten to add. My wife is into crafts, Knitting sewing and this sort of thing. Having retired, she now goes to college and one part of the course she was learning about dying material, especially wool. After the material has been dyed, it is put into the salt bath to “fix” the dye. This sets it at the required colour and stops it from “running” when washed. This is very old in the cloth making world, so putting a little in stamp soaking water may help. Why it works, or how it works, I do not know, but with cloth, it does.
@Andrew…wow. This was highly interesting story. Didn’t know about that kind of use of salt, but it does make a lot of sense.
@ pelmen
“I wouldn’t recommend using bulbs or ovens or anything to try to speed up drying time. Slow drying is better in the long run for the stamps. Drying occurs in an uneven fashion throughout a stamp, and as the fibers of the paper relax and move around a bit while wet the fast drying introduces internal forces within the stamp.”
Absolutely wrong! I’ve been drying stamps for years, using an iron, the kind used to press shirts. It was set for “cotton”, and a 5# bag of rice set on top to keep stamps flat. They were dry in about 5 minutes and stay flat indefinitely.
That process was too time consuming, so I developed the oven method. I remove the blotter sheets and release sheets of about 10 pages from a drying book. I place the stamps in layers about 50 stamps per page, stack the 10 pages on a 9 x 11 piece of 5/8″ plywood, and another piece of plywood on top. I apply pressure using 6 C-clamps, two on each end and one in the middle of each side.
Place them in the oven, with 100 watt bulb. wait 12 hours and 500 stamps are done. Just like Susie’s little easy-bake oven, only instead of cakes, its stamps.
Drying stamps is not rocket science and there are no internal forces within a stamp, just water.
I like your idea about uncurling large blocks or sheets of mint stamps by misting first. That is very clever, and I’ll have to remember that one.
As for Daniel who says that “First, soaking sounds a bit scary!”. I wish you guys on here would stop making such a big deal about drying small pieces of paper. It is not rocket science, and all you are managing to do is scare beginners like Daniel. We are not museum curators trying to preserve sea scrolls, just collecting some stamps most of which aren’t worth very much at all.
Thanks for the info about the salt bath, and adding vinegar to brighten older stamps. I have also heard of adding 2 drops of Dawn dish soap to a gallon of water. The surfactants in soap tend to lift grease and grime and dirt and clean up old stamps. All three of these methods are fine if followed by a couple or three rinses in clean cold water.
Happy collecting everyone.
Hi again everyone;
@ pelmen
After re-reading your thread, it occurs to me that you are running the risk of great damage to your stamps. To quote your thread:
“Keeping it damp and flat and drying over the course of a week results in a flatter stamp that retains its flatness for longer. Especially with sheets.”
If any of you follow this advice, you could run the risk of moldy stamps. Have you ever smelled that nasty musty smell from books or newspapers stored in a basement for many years? Mildew is nothing more than mold. It does not take very long for paper to become moldy if kept damp for too long of a time.
Once you have stamps that have started to mold, they will get worse every time the humidity is high in the summer. over the course of several years your albums will begin to smell musty (moldy). Just try and sell a collection to a dealer that smells like mold and see what kind of offer you will get!
Back to Pelmen’s method of misting the front of mint stamps to uncurl them. I have used the “Stamp Lift” system for many years, with very mixed results. For those of you who do not know what I mean, Stamp Lift is what is known as a sweat box. It is used to create a very humid environment, and make the gum of a stamp very soft and moist so that stuck-down stamps can be separated.
Do you know if your idea of misting would work for separating stamps? The next batch of stamps I will try your method and the old Stamp Lift, and report back my results.
Happy collecting everybody
Ken Tall Pines
First of all, congratulations for your website! Lots of information and a very good attitude towards this hobby.
Just my 2 cents about soaking: when you use newspapers, it’s always a good idea to use old ones (at least 1 week old). This way you reduce to a minimum the possibility of ink passing from the newspaper to the stamps. A rule of thumb is to moist your finger and rub against the page. If the ink bleeds, don’t use that newspaper.
Oh, and I completely agree with you, Keijo: soaking is really relaxing. I think it’s the best part of collecting… browsing letters, cutting the corners and soaking them… it takes me back when I was a kid moving my first steps in this hobby. Now I’m 40 and still enjoy this part a lot.
greetings from an Italian in Spain
@Marco…
Agree 100%.