Seven Easy Steps to Soak Kiloware Stamps Effectively and Cheaply


Almost every stamp collector will soak stamps at some point during their stamp collecting "career."  Some collectors soak stamps only once or twice a year, while others do it much more frequently, several times each month and sometimes even more.  Stamps are usually soaked in order to get them off their backing paper (the remains of the covers or postcards the stamps were used to mail), but occasionally it's done to remove stubborn old stamp hinges.  For some collectors the soaking process is just something that has to be done, but for other stamp collectors soaking itself is a pleasure - calm, peaceful, relaxing and full of promise.

Believe it or not, there's a right way and a wrong way to soak kiloware and other stamps.  This means there are certain steps that should be followed by any stamp collector who is soaking stamps.

1.  Select the stamps to soak.

Take a careful look at all the stamps you're considering for soaking.  You won't want to soak anything that's better to save on piece, including special cancellations, hologram stamps and scarce or rare stamps.  Set those items aside and collect them on piece.

You should soak stamps that are on brightly colored paper separately from other stamps.  This is especially true of stamps on red, purple, orange or green paper (like many Christmas card envelopes).    Because these envelope colors tend to bleed into the soaking water, their colors can easily stain stamps that are being soaked.  Set these stamps aside for now - you'll want to soak them separately and very carefully.  Stamps with colored cancellations (especially purple or red) should be treated the same way.

Find any stamps that you recognize as being "unsoakable" stamps (we've discussed this type of stamp a couple of times recently) and set them aside.  The more you soak, the more stamps of this type will become immediately recognizable.  You know the type of stamp we're talking about - they're modern self-adhesive stamps (not all of them, but some) and when you try to soak them it just doesn't work.  Either they won't come off the paper or they turn into a mess when you try to soak them.  Either way, there's no point in soaking them, and if you, they might be destroyed.  So set them aside.  There's not much you can do with them other than saving them on piece.  Many recent Great Britain and US self-adhesive stamps fall into this unsoakable category, but certain stamps from other countries do too.

You should limit the number of stamps to be soaked in any one batch.  Even if you have 20 kg of stamps to soak, there's no need to fill your bathtub with stamps.  In fact, soaking in a huge batch is a big stamp no-no, because if anything bad happens (like fugitive ink from a colored envelope you failed to take out) it could very well happen to all the stamps in that huge batch.  So from the pile you have left (the stamps that will be soaked), pull out a random 50 or 60 or so, a good number for a soaking batch.  


2.  Find a suitable plastic tray or bowl for soaking.

It should be large enough to hold the water and the stamps that will be soaked and provide plenty of room for the water to circulate and the stamps to move about.  We find that a bowl is better because it's deeper and there's less chance of the water overflowing.  It doesn't need to be a good bowl, in fact, find an old one and use it for this purpose.  That way you won't mind when the bowl gets a bit "grummy" from the dissolved stamp adhesive that's left behind in the water.

3.  Soak the stamps.

Put your 50-60 stamps to be soaked into the bottom of the bowl, and add enough lukewarm to warm water to make them freely float.  Be careful about the water temperature, but experiment a bit.  The hotter the water, the faster the adhesive will release, letting the stamps come off their paper.  But the hotter the water, the greater the risk of fugitive ink discoloring other stamps.  With lukewarm water the stamp gum usually begins to dissolve within about 15 or 20 minutes, although some gum types will require much longer baths.

4.  Wait until the stamp gum dissolves in the water.  

While you're waiting, give the stamps a gentle stir with your hand every few minutes.  This stirring allows the water to get to stamps that may be stuck together and other nooks and crannies in the stamp mix.  When the gum dissolves, stamps will start to float off the paper, and others will smoothly slide off the paper with just a little pull with your tongs.  Always use stamp tongs, and always use them very carefully during the soaking process because wet stamps are very fragile and easily torn.  As with the bowl, you may want to use an old set of tongs for soaking stamps, as they will become covered with dissolved gum and will not be suitable for any other purpose without very careful cleaning.

5.  Carefully remove the successfully-soaked stamps from the bowl.

Use your stamp tongs to carefully and one by one pick up all the stamps that are floating off paper and put them into another bowl full of cool, clean water.  This removes traces of gum residue on the stamps.  Some of the stamps won't float free and will need a little assistance.  With your tongs pick up these stamps (also one by one) and gently slide or peel them off the backing paper by first lifting a corner.  These stamps should also be bathed in a bowl of cool, clean water.  Any stamps that don't peel off easily should be put back into the water for some additional soaking time.  If you have some stubborn self-adhesive stamps in the soaking water, you can try adding a few drops of liquid dish soap and make the water a little warmer.  Sometimes that helps release the self-adhesive gum from the stamps.

6.  Dry the stamps.

Several methods can be used to dry stamps that have been soaked.  You can buy "drying books" from commercial stamp suppliers and they work well, but they cost a bit of money.  We always try to keep our costs down and have found a method that works just as well and is almost free, costing only the price of three white paper towels and a piece of waxed paper.  

The first step in drying soaked stamps entails individually picking up stamps (with your tongs) from the cool water and placing them face down on a plain absorbent white paper towel so that none touch each other.  Avoid using newspaper or other paper with print or colors because this can bleed through.  Also avoid using glossy or "slick" paper as this won't absorb the water that's in the wet stamps.  After your stamps are placed face down on the paper towel, place another paper towel on top.  After a few minutes the bottom paper towel will be wet or damp and will stop absorbing water, so carefully move the stamps onto another paper towel to finish the drying process.  The stamps may curl a little as they're drying, but not to worry, you'll be flattening them in the next step.

7.  Flatten the stamps.

When the stamps are dry, individually pick them up with your tongs and put them onto a piece of cardboard that's been covered by a piece of waxed paper and placed on a hard surface.  Once again, make sure that the stamps don't touch each other.  Then find a very heavy book (or even two) such as a telephone book and put the book on top of the stamps.  Then sit back and let everything stay that way for a fair number of hours - at least 12 hours but preferably 24.  Your stamps should then be flat, ready to be put into your stamp albums or otherwise stored.