Problems with a Stamp Drying Book

I've gone through quite a few stamp drying books, mostly Desert Magic, which I've found to be the most consistently good. Here's how I cope.

I start off with two bowls of water. I throw the pieces in the first bowl and let them sit there and soak off. By that time, the water can be ugly, full of residue from the adhesive from the stamps, the adhesive from the envelopes, ink traces from the envelopes, 75-year-old nicotine stains, whatever... you get the picture. So I toss the stamps themselves into the second bowl and pitch the paper scraps into the recycling bin. That gets rid of most of the residue.

The Desert Magic books are supposed to last for "thousands" of stamps, but they do get skanky after a while. On some stamps, like Great Britain, it's impossible to get 100% of the adhesive to come off; same with a lot of the USSR, as I remember it, though it's been a while since I've even tried soaking any of them. Some United States definitives from the 1980s and 1990s are like that too, though the adhesive is less viscous and generally oogy than that of Great Britain. This stuff builds up on the Desert Magic pages after a while, and it can't be helped, but the boring and tedious process of rinsing the stamps does at least double the drying books' useful lifespans.

Some soakable self-adhesives get remnants on the front side of the stamps, and when that happens, trying to get that junk off is horrible. Germany and Norway.

Finally, leaving the stamps in the Desert Magic books a day or 2 longer than you really need seems to help. It's like they get 99.5% dry in the first day or 2, and 100% dry in the next day or 3 after that. I've got no scientific explanation for that phenomenon, but it's what I've observed. If a stamp still won't let go of the blotter side, I use a thin index card to pop it off.

Hope this helps.

Hi all, my solution for this problem is never and I mean never use the same water twice.
Here is my soaking method.
- put 50 (or as many as you want) in a dish/bowl. (I use two pyrex baking dishes about two inches deep.
- I use hot water. (not scalding but hotter than warm)
- let them sit till they start to separate from paper. Some will come off by themselves and others do need a little help. especially the more recent from several countries.
- then put them in the second dish of clean water, also between warm and scalding. Swish around a bit and some you may have to rub adhesive off the back with your fingers. This goes for some of the self adhesive that do soak off ok.
- leave them and throw out the old water and start on another dish of 50.
- by the time you have them all under water and soaking, the first batch is ready to transfer to paper towels. (Maybe this is the problem you are having with the stamps sticking to your drying book. Out of the water they are still wet or at least partially.)
- I use ordinary paper towels. Lay out one full of stamps and then put another sheet on top. Repeat till stamps all out of water. Don't press down on the paper towels. the weight alone will be sufficient.
- when you're done soaking and have put all stamps on paper towels, go and do something on your computer. (like I'm doing now)
- do a couple posts here and by then your stamps will be mostly if not all just damp and free of any residue.
- at this point put them in your drying book. Again don't put any weight on the pile or book just yet. Let them sit for hour or so and then put a Scotts catalogue or similar weight on book and leave alone till you think they are ready for album.
-I don't use a drying book. I went to art shop many years ago and picked up a few art books. Large ones and tore the pages out and folded them down the middle. End up with a page 6 x 9 in. when folded. I put stamps in between and stack them. That way very little dampness goes to the next sheet. Been working for me for years. I end up with a perfectly flat and wrinkle free stamp.
- Here is a pic of what a page looks like - the brown parts are just wrinkles in page.

stampie78, when you say "Art Book" - just exactly what is that? I've heard of using water-color paper for soaking stamps.

One problem I have with those stubborn stamps that can't be soaked off is I don't realize it can't be soaked until it's too late and it's been under water for an hour. By then the stamp just looks like doo-doo.

Phil, the art book mentioned, I suppose is really a scrapbook. They are twice the size of the pic posted. Almost like a blotting paper. The pages I have now are about ten years old.
As for not knowing the stamp won't soak till it's too late. Been there done that.
Should be able to find the scrapbook at any stationery store or K Mart type store. Haven't bought one in years.