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Posted By: <b>Separating Card From Cardboard</b><p>I'm officially taking suggestions as to the best way to begin separating these cards from each other and the backing they're glued to. I have seen lighter fluid remove a wax stain and have heard that T206 cards will dry fine after being soaked in water. Any suggestions?<BR><BR><BR><img src="http://images.prosperpoint.com/images/192/10634-5023.jpg"><BR><BR><img src="http://images.prosperpoint.com/images/192/10634-5024.jpg">

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Posted By: <b>T206Collector</b><p>Thanks for any assistance.

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Posted By: <b>bcornell</b><p>Paul-<BR><BR>It's worth going back to retrieve a post of Scott Forrest's on this subject: <a href="http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=153652&messageid=1013098098" target=_new>http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=153652&messageid=1013098098</a>. There have been others about removing cards from scrapbooks, but this one is definitive. <BR><BR>Bill

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Posted By: <b>runscott</b><p>The backs of the t206's are much "sturdier" than t205's - for whatever reason, it's easier to lose a few letters when rubbing residue off the back of a t205, but the fronts appear to hold up equally well.<BR><BR>I have heard a few people say that they can tell if a t206 has been soaked - loss of gloss, etc. - but I have never been able to see any evidence...perhaps they soaked too long?

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Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>Use this information at your own risk.<BR><BR>First, NEVER soak a card in tap water. Tap water contains various chemicals that could leave residue. The prefered method is to soak the card(s) in luke warm deionized water. This could get costly however, as I have found that deionized water is only available via medical supply companies (around $25 per gallon). The next best thing is to use distilled water - available cheap at your local grocery. Wear protective gloves while manipulating cards during the entire process. Soak until glue begins to disolve and the scrapbook paper begins to separate. Gently peel the scrapbook paper away, a small amount at a time, stopping when/if the glue hasn't dissolved fully. After successfully removing the scrap book paper the card(s) will still have glue residue. Place the separated cards immediately into a separate clean water solution. Allow to soak again (5-10 minutes). Gently rub the glue residue off the card while still submerged. When you are reasonably certain that the glue is all gone, place the card(s) between 2 sheets of WHITE linen paper. This paper is available at your local OfficeMax etc, and is reasonably inexpensive. The linen paper is better suited to draw moisture away from your card(s). Place the sandwiched card(s) in the center of a large hard backed book. Then place weight (10-15 lbs) on top of the book. Allow the card(s) to dry approximately 1 hour, then replace the damp paper with new dry paper. Repeat as needed a couple of times then let the card(s) dry in the book overnight.<BR><BR>This process also works for scotch tape as well. <BR><BR>Some inks may be water soluble and damage may occur to the card while soaking. Most cards, however, will not be harmed during this process. If I were you, I'd experiment on the severely damaged card as a safety precaution.<BR><BR>Hope this helps.<BR><BR>Dennis<BR>ALWAYS looking for t205 Minor Leaguers

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Posted By: <b>jw</b><p>but i would leave it as it is. cool display piece.

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Posted By: <b>jw</b><p>be willing to purchase for a fair price.

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Posted By: <b>T206Collector</b><p>I bought it for the express purpose of trying my hand at pulling the cards apart as carefully as possible and then keeping the three I need for my collection while selling the remainding cards back on ebay. So, keeping it intact is not really an option for me, and I'm not really interested in selling it either -- heck, I just bought it.<BR><BR>Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm very excited about trying out some experiments on the less fortunate cards on the board, working my way up to the Chance, Griffith and Huggins cards.<BR><BR>

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Posted By: <b>runscott</b><p>I haven't soaked any EX-MT or better cards, so tap-water is fine...but I live in Georgia - perhaps tap-water in other areas of the US is really nasty.

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Posted By: <b>Julie</b><p>the less drinkable the tap water is. In San Diego, I wpouldn't let a '88 Fleer near it.

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Posted By: <b>runscott</b><p>I had to hold my breath to drink it. On the other hand, people from that town thought everyone else's water was horrible.<BR><BR>But regarding cards, I'm sure it's much more preferable to use distilled water, and several board members have mentioned this in the past. <BR><BR>Most of the scrapbook damage I have repaired has involved small amounts of residue on the back. For cases like those you can avoid total soaking if you are careful:<BR><BR>You can avoid soaking by "dabbing" water onto the scrapbook residue, just enough to soak through the residue but NOT any more into the actual card than is necessary. I wrap a thin kitchen towel over my index finger to do this, but then - I have a very accurate index finger <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14> - you may not. A Q-tip (not cue-tip...Lee) is certainly preferable for those who are less lazy than I. You can then softly "push" off the residue, but a little glue will certainly remain. You want to get rid of the glue before you wrap the card in typing paper, so dab a little bit more water over the glue area, gently wiping off the glue. Then go through the same drying process mentioned previously. Don't be paranoid about the glue - if you rub too hard you will remove lettering - from my experience the glue used back then is not going to bond heavily to the typing paper, so if trace amounts remain you will be okay....but get what you can.<BR><BR>...unintended result: the first time I tried this I was really proud of myself (avoiding soaking,etc.) until I pulled the card from between the typing paper and it was WARPED and badly! I freaked out, then went back and soaked the card, but not all the way through. Repeated the drying process... still warped! I ended up having to soak the card for a LONG time - until it had absorbed an equal amount of water throughout the entire card. I was a little worried, but it worked out fine. The warping problem resulted, obviously, because I dabbed too much water onto the scrapbook residue areas and soaked "water pots" into my card.<BR><BR>

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Posted By: <b>T206Collector</b><p>In anticipation of the big project I described above, I tried it out on 8 T206 cards in my collection with varying degrees of glue, dirt and scrapbook attached to their backs. I am happy to report that the techniques described above worked remarkably well. <BR><BR>One was a Southern Leaguer I had bought, to the back of which someone had glued a newspaper photo of a player. The newspaper photo melted away easily and the glue residue was simly brushed away with a QTip. Voila! A Piedmont reverse I had never seen before emerged. And on another card I had bought with paper on the back, but otherwise crease free and only moderate corner damage, I was able to restore the card to near-pack condition. You can still sort of see where the paper/glue had once been -- the fibers on the back are a bit more tussled where the glue once was -- but I think you would have to know that something had once been there to actually notice. I wonder if that part of the card would look differently under a black light. I also wonder if this card can now be graded, if it will come back as altered or tampered with or some such. Nonetheless, it's a beautifully clean card now. <BR><BR>Thanks so much to all the advice on this board.

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Posted By: <b>runscott</b><p>If you ever see a card that has very light 1/4" thick diagonal stripes on the back, this is because the back had been covered in glue and then the card put into a scrap-book that had empty slits on the pages - when the residue/glue was later soaked off, a "shadow" was left where glue had dried on the back with no paper attached.

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Posted By: <b>Tom L.</b><p>I have an N-300 Mayo HOFer in my collection with a significant amount of scrapbook residue on the back. Unfortunately, I don't have beaters on which to experiment. Anyone have experience removing residue from this issue?<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR>Tom

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Posted By: <b>runscott</b><p>The Mayos were black and white lithos, so I would expect them to respond well to soaking. Jay Miller mentioned the other day that OJ's soaked okay, so I'm thinking that just about any pre-wwi issue is fine. It would be nice to put together a reference document for as many issues as we can - if anyone wants to send stuff to me (email above) I will start compiling the information and distribute later.

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Posted By: <b>Dennis</b><p>I didn't mean to login as "Anonymous". I'm actually Dennis From VA. BTW, the water quality is pretty good here. It appears as though my, and others, advice has shown positive results. Good. Stick with the distilled water to be safe. I also want to add that I didn't render all of my secrets...Happy collecting.<BR><BR>Dennis<BR>ALWAYS looking for t205 Minor Leaguers

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Posted By: <b>Julie</b><p>because of the thin, thin photo emulsion on the front. I've seen a corner of that emulsion folded back upon itself,<BR>and it is thinner than tissue paper.<BR><BR>Did Jay REALLY say it was O.K. to soak an Old Judge?