Soaking - What exactly can be removed?

[lharri3600]

Mike,
I soaked them in water over night. I think both cards for the most part were dirty with tobacco stains.

Originally Posted by Bocabirdman

Larry,,,What do you think that was on your two soaked cards...tobacco most likely? How long did you soak them to get those results?...I have only soaked to remove paper , not stains.....

[calvindog]

Larry, the colors on the front seem to have faded a bit after the soak; is this accurate or is it just the scans?

[lharri3600]

it's the scan quality

[lharri3600]

the results are in

[ullmandds]

nice improvement larry!

[MacDice]

Has anyone had luck with soaking 1933 Goudeys?

[Michael B]

I would like to offer a few suggestions regarding soaking cards. First, I do not collect cards. I enjoy looking at them, especially the colors in many of the early ones (Turkey Reds?, T-s?), but I don't know the designations. I guess it is the photographer in me.

Everyone mentions using water, but I would like to point out that you should probably NOT USE tap water. You should use distilled water which can be found in many grocery stores and in many of the CVS type all purpose 'drug store/ pharmacies'. Distilled water is purified and does not contain flouride or any of the other harmful chemicals that can be found in drinking water that may harm the inks such as benzene (lighter fluid). Distilled water is also very good at removing non-photographic items from old scrap books. Since the older glues are made from animal byproducts it is easily dissolved. If water is needed Archivists will use it over tap water.

I have used this method to remove items from scrapbooks before. I wait until the item has fully separated from the page. I fully soak the item and then use blotter paper to dry the item. You can find books of blotter paper at many photography or photo supply stores. They are used by photographers who still do darkroom work and do not have the time to wait for their prints to dry. I also use a bookpress to keep the items flat. Think of the item Uncle Fester puts his head in in the Addams Family. These are obsolete and not readily found, but if you are doing a lot of soaking these may be helpful. Mine has a roughly 8½x11 platen (flat surface) but it still weighs about 50-60 pounds.

If you are dealing with adhesives you may want to investigate Bestine solvent made by Union Rubber of N.J. It is a glue/adhesive solvent that was originally designed to remove residue from art boards and photos, but it can also be used to remove pressure sensative labels. I have not used it, but have heard good things about it.

Cheers and Feliz y prospero Año Nuevo

Michael B