T206 Find - Removal from photo album

[t206blogcom]

Definitely soak them. Good luck!

[Michael B]

Everyone cavalierly says soak in water. If you do that it should be DISTILLED water. Regular tap water contains chemicals such as fluoride and chlorine which can affect the paper and inks. Distilled water doe not damage paper items and it works very well on the old animal based glues. You can find distilled water at some grocery stores, also in stores like Target, Walgreens, Rite Aid. It should cost a few dollars for a gallon.

[Jobu]

I'd do some more homework and testing before soaking these pages.

These look like the scrapbook pages that have been made for the last 20-30 years -- tacky white page with a plastic sheet cover built on to each page. Is that right?

If it is right, I would be surprised if they used a water-based adhesive, so soaking this might just create a big mess. It might work too, you never know. I would cut out a section of a page without a card on it and do a test soak to see what it does to the adhesive. If it doesn't budge, the hairdryer idea might not be a bad thing to try because that should have a good chance to soften the adhesive. If I am right about these being newer pages, I think the adhesive was made to be pretty weak, which sure looks to be the case from the one card that was pulled out, so you might get lucky and be able to slowly peel them out too.

[T206.org]

Dually duly noted, thank you!

I think you're right about what these pages are Bryan, yep.
It looks like there are a couple of beaters that would be good to test with.

[Pilot172000]

Send pics when you get them!! I just love T206 finds like this!

[JollyElm]

You might give some thought to an additional approach as well. Instead of focusing entirely on getting the cards off of the pages, think about ways to break down the pages themselves. In other words, some albums may be multi-ply (for lack of a better word), so you might be able to slowly 'peel' away levels of them, making the sheets thinner and thinner. Take a look at that method, too.

[Bigdaddy]

You might also try putting a single card (and associated backing) in the freezer and then after a day or so, see if you can 'pop' it off.

Have never done this with an album page, but it does work with gum.