To Soak or Not to Soak
 

These three cool cards arrived yesterday. They may need a bath. What say the judges?:D


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Pretty cool pieces! I would want to know the backs though...

Soak

Maybe if you want to keep Mr. Leifield the way he is because the card obviously has a Piedmont back. Just a thought.

I was thinking the same thing Josh. I just wanted to throw it out there for opinions:)

Toss them off the white cliffs of Dover, hop on the train and pick them up in Calais. Just a thought :D

Whats the dilemna? Soak...soak!!! Its a gratifying learning experience!!!

I won one of those
 

I won one of those cards as well... it's not soaking well. Whatever adhesive was used does not appear to be water soluble. May just take some time. Have done two soaks... will give it another shot.

How long have you soaked it for? Id try 12-24 hrs.

There is always Dick Towle. Does good with those stuck on issues.

No brainer. Soak.

Best,

Andy

I'll give round three a good 12+ hours; the previous two were maybe 3-4 hours each.

One had a hint of Piedmont sticking out. I kind if like them as is. :)

soak them .

I don't know guys...that Eagle Brand Condenced Milk back is pretty rare...I don't ever remember seeing one of those before. Send it to PSA for grading and validation of a new back that we can all clamor after! :D

Bill

If that Eagle ribbon bleeds, you may end up with a blue card.

I have never soaked. When you soak a card does the paper just peel off the back?

Can someone post some before and after pics?

you should wait a bit and figure out how to do it first - maybe one of the soaking experts will give you a step by step way to do it. Also you should use the search button in the forum here, and search, "soak" im sure you will get a lot of good info on how to do it. GL

There was a recent thread about soaking that talks about which cards, how long, etc. You should be able to easily find it by using the search function. I agree with others that you should research it before you make your first attempt.

use hot ( not boiling) distilled water to soak the cards in. if the glue or adhesive is natural , the paper backing should loosen at least partially from the cards. I use a soft paint brush sometimes to brush away paper scraps. I have also added several drops of DIF to soaking water to help loosen paste or thick paper.
if the adhesive is a rubber cement or early synthetic glue the water soaking may not work that well. the only way to find out is to experiment

Well, I guess there was never a question. I will soak'em. I have had good luck recently. Hopefully, an extended dip will do the trick. Even if the scrap doesn't come off, I should at least be able to see what the two mystery backs are:)

This was the best thread I found about soaking:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ht=soak&page=4

We will see how this turns out. I am taking pics along the way.

Before
 

Here are the before pics:

The plunge
 

Moment of truth

I am a veteran soaker. I generally find about an 80% success rate. There are glues that refuse to break down. My biggest success is an album I bought with about 85 Sporting News M101-2 supplements. Almost every HOF in the set. About 60 were glued on paper album pages one on each side. The others were glued to one side of heavy cardboard. Took me a long time to get my nerve up. Finally started on a page that had George Mullin on one side and another non HOFer on the other. Finally got those apart in good shape and started working through them all. They didn't come off easy, maybe 20 minutes to an hour and it took forever to dry and press them. Took me a month, but it was a great success. Finally got down to one that had Matty on one side and Joss on the other. Also had a Cobb/Wagner and a Wagner that tested my cohones. The backs came out pretty clean with 9 slight glue stains on each. The ones glued to cardboard had a different glue and wouldn't budge. Fortunately they were mostly lesser players. Here is the Matty:
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...ps33837854.jpg
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...psd87c2a2b.jpg

Some more.
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...psdebf8b4a.jpg
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...ps001892c4.jpg
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6e6d0905.jpg
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...psfd2a0d3d.jpg

Ken. So how did you eventually store them? Paste them in a scrapbook? :D

Funny you should ask, because I really don't know how to display them. At present I have them stuck between the pages of a couple of big heavy books. One of my favorite sets.

The good, the bad and the ugly
 

The Good - Water Soluble Glue
The Bad - Tobacco (Polar Bear)
The Ugly - Paper and Cement

Great post Frank. I love how the colors of the cards actually became more bright and beautiful after the soaking!

Beautiful Lumley, Dr. Frank. A bath did that one really nice!

Best,

Andy

I bought a card from the same seller of the collins, i can work on that one with just hot water:D

i agree

Worked on this one yesterday. RPPC from 1909. Bought if off ebay because Winslow, Ind. is my mom's family's hometown.Unfortunately it had something stuck to it with non water soluble glue. Still I was able to remove the paper and only the cloudy glue remains. Looks a little better. I'm going to try something more drastic in that lower left corner.
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0752ee1c.jpg
http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...ps70818609.jpg

I was surprised to see the card bubble.

This is the card soaking. Almost all over the substance came off. The card is now drying.

Alex. fold it in a paper towel and pile some weight on it. Have a dozen big hardback books is enough. Change the paper towel a couple of times and let it sit for a day or two. It will come out completely flat. Maybe flatter that when you started.

still some residue on back not much though. i think 1 more warm soak will do it:D

great job

.

Looks good to me! Better than being stuck to an old piece of paper.

soaking or don't
 

I have done hundreds of these cards on this backing, if I can help you please contact me-- our company is on the web at " gonewiththestain.com--thank you DICK TOWLE:)


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Before on the left and after is on the right. I am very interested to hear any of your thoughts.

For those interested in soaking in general, here is a link to my favorite thread on soaking. It's very informative.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...od+little+soak

huge improvment

Obvious back improvement. Could probably use another dunk. How long did you soak it the first time around?

About 4 hours - How long should I soak T206 cards?

I suppose that depends on how dirty it is. Some go for a few hours like you did in this case. Others go for 12+ hours. I don't soak very often, but I usually let it soak overnight. If it still has glue or dirt, I change the water and start over again.