Soaking 101

[marvymelvin]

I have been reading posts about soaking and practicing on low value cards etc. Well, about 3 years ago I bought a photo album containing over 1000 tobacco cards, sadly not baseball but rather birds, trains, cars, flowers etc. There were 50 or so actors and actresses as well. The cards were all glued onto the album pages, and luckily it was with the good old water based glue that was very common back then.

The pages of the book were black, the kind of soft black paper that I see on most of the cards that have chunks on the back. Anyway, it bothered me to have them all glued so I began to experiment. In that I successfully cleaned glue and paper off of over 1000 cards, I consider myself somewhat of an expert. Add this to my list of useless talents.

Most of the posts here on net54 use the the term "soak" which I assume means to immerse the entire card into water and let it soak for a specified amount of time, after which the unwanted piece of paper will slide right off. Then you wipe it clean and let it dry. I used this exact method about 200 times.

A few observations were that the cards changed patina significantly. They also curled up/warped etc. if I didn't press them into a book or something. Pressing in a book can also cause trouble, as some of the cards stuck to the pages resulting in loss of color/image on the front. In order to remedy this I would blot dry the card on both sides using a towel until it was as dry as I could make it then I would press the card in between two books (minus the dust jacket) as the hard canvas like cover of a book would tend not to stick to the card. If you do not press the card somehow it will almost always curl up and warp.

But alas, we still have the problem of the cards shrinking slightly, and losing the original patina. They definitely do look "different" than cards that were not soaked. So I perfected a method that removed the unwanted paper but did not change the patina and did not result in shrinking or warping.

Materials needed:
eye dropper
tweezers
cup or bowl of water
hand towel
two books
small sponge on the end of a stick (sponge "brush" for painting or varnish application)
Ty Cobb T206 with black album paper stuck to the back


Using an eye dropper, drop water directly onto the left over black album paper. I would drop a few drops and watch the paper soak it in, then I would continue adding a few at a time to keep the unwanted paper hydrated. Try to keep the water from flowing over onto the card back itself. You will have a bit of water flow over the edges of the paper chunk, but nowhere near as much as if you were to soak it entirely over night.

This way you can maintain the original patina and not affect the card so much. It is not as easy as dunking it in water and then going back to it the next day, and all of the unwanted paper and glue is floating in the water. But it is worth the effort especially for cards of greater value. Sometimes it took about 30 minutes of soaking just the unwanted paper, before it would begin to come off. For bigger pieces of paper, I sometimes had to water it, use tweezers to slowly pick off loose parts, then water it again and pick a bit more. Eventually the whole remaining piece would slip right off. Then I used a wet/damp cloth or wet sponge painting brush to wipe the back as clean of glue as possible. I know this is a bit of work, but I just wasn't happy with the tone and patina of the card fronts once they had been immersed and soaked in water for a time.

I am open to additional ideas or questions you might have on problems that you have faced. After doing 1000 cards I pretty much faced everything. Oh and one more thing, even though most cards from this era were glued using water based glue, I still faced some that were not water soluble. For glue that is not water soluble, there is very little that can be done.

More difficult/advanced problems I faced include taking the card out of the book or off of the page without damaging it, and separating two cards that are glued back to back. Add comments or questions here, or send me a message.

[4815162342]

Pics?

[philliesfan]

When placing the damp card in a book, how about using waxed paper on both sides of the card to prevent the card from sticking to the book pages. Just a thought.
Robert

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by philliesfan

When placing the damp card in a book, how about using waxed paper on both sides of the card to prevent the card from sticking to the book pages. Just a thought.
Robert

As soon as I take the card out of the water I place the wet card between paper towels to get the majority of water off the card.

Then I put down 2 layers of paper towel then the card(s) then 2 more paper towels and then put a book on top of that. I use 2 sets of paper towels and change them out twice a day till cards are totally dry.

I have never had any problems drying cards this way.

EDIT: I use Kleenex Viva paper towels because they are thick and smooth.

[sebie43]

I have several 2x4's cut to size,after soaking I place the card on double folded paper towel between the boards with a 5lb weight on top. Works like a charm

[Leon]

Brad, nice write up and spot on with my own experiences. I have probably soaked at least a few hundred different cards, stamps and ephemera myself. If a card is totally submerged it will usually change a shade (or more) in my experiences too. Admittedly I haven't tried your specific way of minimizing the color change, but I think I have done something close by trial and error.

[1880nonsports]

wipe a wet card......

[Runscott]

This thread got me thinking about a few cards I had planned to soak - specifically, some of the ugly T206 Hindus I have had on ebay for a year. I took out three and spent most of the day soaking them. Unusual, yes. But my experience illustrates the problems you can run into because of the wide variety of glues used in scrapbooks 100 years ago. Most of the time the glue (and paper residue) either slips off easily after 10-20 minutes of soaking, but sometimes it needs encouragement. Sometimes it isn't water-based glue, and so nothing helps. But my cards had very strong water-based glue. It took around 10 hours of soaking, and encouragement (rubbing with finger, etc) to get it to a point where I finally gave up. Definitely some success, and I'll post 'before and after' pics after it comes out of the book pile.

This subject has been beat to death, and we have threads where our exact techniques are detailed, but the main ingredients I use are a large flat container with warm water, lots of typing paper and a large pile of heavy books. I've done it for over 10 years - it works.

[Leon]

Not long ago I picked up what was described as 3 (or 4) stamps stuck to some paper. After soaking them it was these 4 and several more. I think there were about 12 stamps in total (could be off by a few). SGC did a nice job of protecting these.

[btcarfagno]

I am going to be trying to soak my first card today. Won several at Sterling auction that have a piece of paper attached to the back. I will start with this one and will gradually work my way up to a Matty/Myers one that is otherwise in spectacular shape. Here are the before photos of front and back. To me, it does not look like the entire card needs to be submerged and I am going to try the methods used by the original poster in this thread. I will take some "after" photos when all is said and done.

Say a prayer. I'm going in!





Tom C

[Kzoo]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I use Kleenex Viva paper towels because they are thick and smooth.

Me, too. They work great. I fold them twice, slide the card inside and put it between two wooden cutting boards with a 5 lb. weight on top. I change the paper towel after 15 minutes, then half an hour, then a couple hours, etc. I've had great luck.
Matt

[icollectDCsports]

I've never soaked cards, but some years back I restored a program whose pages had stuck together because of moisture exposure. Before attempting to soak the program, I got advice from a document preservation / restoration expert, who suggested using Pellon fabric to put in between the pages after soaking and while drying. Pellon is a white fabric that is fairly rigid and has a bit of a slick feel to it. It's often used to provide structure to portions of garments, such as in a shirt collar. I had mediocre results, mainly because the thin paper stock was difficult to keep intact when pulling apart the pages. However, I mention the Pellon for folks who engage in card soaking as a suggestion. Whether it would be any better than the paper towels, I don't know, but the main advantage I think is that the Pellon would not tend to stick to the card as it was drying. Anyway, hope this is helpful to someone.

[Runscott]

When I pull the card out of the water, after rubbing off residue, I always dry it with typing paper. I use typing paper because it is flatter than a paper towel or anything else. Place the card on a piece of typing paper, then place another piece on top of the card, hold it in place and rub your fingers over the top of the paper - nothing moves except your finger. Keep changing the paper until the last piece is not absorbing noticeable water. Then take a clean sheet and place the card on one side and fold the other side over the card, then place the paper and card in a book that you don't care much about, because water will seep through the paper as it dries, and warp the pages of the book. Then pile on more books - lots of them.

Anyway, that's what I do.

[1880nonsports]

a few times in the past - I tamped them dry on paper towels - placed them between a few sheets of typing paper - and pressed them with heavy weights. I changed the paper fequently in the begining - first time after about 20 minutes and less frequently after that until the paper shows as dry. YOU MUST CONTINUE TO PRESS THE CARDS FOR A NUMBER OF DAYS - as much as TWO weeks - as moisture you may not see or feel embedded in the card board will eventually cause the card to warp or curl as it dries if you don't do so. BE CAREFUL when handling wet paper - creases and tears easily - invisible wrinkles will dry as visible ones.
If using a moistening technique rather than soaking - the bond between the card and the object adhered to it can be tenuous or tightly bound depending on the advhesive and/or storage. An excess of caution should be excercised when the surfaces are wet - as abraisions especially on card surfaces that aren't of the glossy nature - will easily occur.

[Runscott]

If you dry them sufficiently prior to pressing, you don't need to press them for more than a couple of days. I've been doing this for over ten years and never left cards under the books for more than two days.