How to Soak Off Stamps Safely

To remove stamps from envelopes, you have to soak them off. Improper removal can damage and even destroy a stamp. Soaking dissolves the adhesive on the back of the stamp so it can be safely removed from the envelope. Soaking is a skill best practiced on the ordinary stamps that arrive with your household mail. Practice your soaking skills on a few stamps at a time until you perfect your technique. Soon you'll be able to soak off a whole sinkful of stamps without worry.

• Start with a medium-size bowl and fill it about 3/4 full with cool or lukewarm water. Cold water will dissolve stamp adhesive, but progress will be painfully slow. Hot water will turn the stamps pulpy, making them overly fragile and easy to damage. Hot water may also cause cancellations, particularly reds and magentas, to bleed.
• Caution: Don't soak stamps on colored paper such as red or green Christmas envelopes. The paper can bleed, discoloring all the stamps in the soak batch.
• Be patient. In 10 to 15 minutes, the stamps will start to float free. Avoid trying to hurry things along by tugging at stamps that have partially separated from the paper. Wet stamps are fragile and easily damaged. Tugging at them can cause the image to crack or tear.
• As the stamps start to float free, pick the bits of backing out of the bowl. Feel the backs of the stamps. If they feel slick, some adhesive remains. While it is still in the water, you can gently rub the stamp between your fingers to hasten dissolution of the adhesive. Be careful not to rub too hard or you may damage the stamp. Some adhesives take longer to dissolve than others.
• Drain the water from the bowl and refill with lukewarm water to rinse the stamps.

Tomorrow: How to dry stamps.