Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Can someone suggest a hinge that doesn't curl up into little balls when in storage? That seems to be what happens to my Supersafe brand hinges. I wind up throwing away half of them. I try to use old vintage ones on better stamps, those are getting harder to locate. I do have several pack of old non folded ones. I have to crease them when applying to the stamp. Most of those stamps wind up sticking way out from the page. I have to redo them often.
I know there aren't any really good ones out there. Can someone suggest a brand that at least is less bad, preferably that lies flat against a page and will not turn out to be a bag of curled and mis-cut ones?
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I wonder if the hinges curl because they are exposed to humidity when the bags are opened, or if absent any pressure to keep them flat, they curl.
I only remove part of the hinges from the bag and then try to seal the bag tightly and keep it pressed flat.
The hinges that are to be used are kept in an airtight container. The ones that curl are uncurled by running my thumbnail along the back opposite to the direction of the curl. This straightens them out and they separate easier.
Am using Prinz hinges at the moment.
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These never curl up into balls . . . 
After the first package of stamp hinges I bought in 20 years curled up into a mouse nest, I decided I would use these instead.
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Unfortunately, I have a few packs of Showgards that have wrinkled. I am not sure where I got them. It could have been a storage issue but saw reports others experienced this too.
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I have yet to find ANY currently produced stamp hinges that were not already curled when first opening the package.
I just assume this is the 'nature of the beast' with today's offerings.
The best of the best was Dennison - always laid flat, no matter how new or old.
I will say this, though - in my experience, when you lick and stick them they do lay flat as intended.
But I do grant you, it can be troublesome to 'untangle' them out of the package!
I currently use Supersafe brand, but have tried numerous others and all appear to be of similar "quality".
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Supersafe, they do lay down flat after use, they are also somewhat peelable if only a very small amount of moisture is applied.I just dump them into a container and deal with the curling, it does not seem to matter whether they are in the package or not.I am in Arizona so humidity for me is not an issue.
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You would think that some entity would take an old Dennison hinge and reverse engineer it for today's market... they reverse engineer generic drugs.. how difficult could a friggin hinge be?
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"I have been transferring part of my collection into a Minus Global reprint album. I pretty much have to use hinges due to the crowded pages in this publication.
"
Although I agree the space is tight, I have been able to use mounts in my Minkus Global Supreme pages. Sometimes I have to layer them like one does with shingles on a roof.
So that might still be an option..."Can someone suggest a hinge that doesn't curl up into little balls when in storage? That seems to be what happens to my Supersafe brand hinges
"
Unfortunately, my understanding is all modern hinges (Supersafe etc) are just rebranded hinges from the same German Prinz factory. So no choice there.
I agree that bad curling of hinges (and stamps) have something to do with moisture, humidity, and even altitude. I have a cabin in central Oregon @ 4000 feet, where, in the dry summer, everything (stamps) curls. The problem doesn't occur nearly as much in low altitude and green Western Oregon.
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I only use and recommend Stanley Gibbons hinges. Keep in a cool, dark, place, and take what you need.
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I gave up on them and use mounts.
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I use SO few hinges anymore that a single packet of 1000 is going to last me the rest of my life.
The packet I have is FOLD-O-HINGE, Mfg. by HAROLD COHN & CO., Chicago. The trademark date on the package is 1955. "The Improved Stamp Hinge" It's still about half full.
Anyway, I have zero problems with curling with this brand. And, they're peelable. (I usually don't attempt to peel hinges anyway, I just soak them off.)
-Paul
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"You would think that some entity would take an old Dennison hinge and reverse engineer it for today's market... they reverse engineer generic drugs.. how difficult could a friggin hinge be?"
There has been a lot of attempts (all failed badly) and a lot of speculation as to why no one can manufacture a ‘pealable’ hinge today. I wrote this article on the original Dennison’s and it covers some of this.
http://stampsmarter.com/learning/Gen_Dennison.html
About 12 years ago I invested in a box of vintage Dennison hinges (24 packages of 1000 hinges) but have gone through most of them. I do cut some of the hinges in half for use on smaller stamp like definitives but I would give up stamp collecting before I used any of the God-awful modern hinges.
Hinges will curl if exposed to high levels of humidity, once they curl I know of no way to get them to uncurl. If your humidity is high enough to curl stored hinges, it is high enough to be concerned about the storage of your albums and stamps.
Don
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The APS had an analysis done on stamps hinges. They had to stop at this point as to do further chemical analysis was going to cost too much. Here is a very high level summary on the findings that some may find interesting.
https://stamps.org/userfiles/file/pcpm/subsidiary_19.pdf
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It is well established that it was not the equipment; the original Dennison equipment has been bought and sold several times and no one could make a good hinge on it. Materials and chemistry is probably not the issue since many folks have done analysis and nothing really special about the paper or adhesive was ever found. Adhesives for the time period are also well known and have been tested extensively.
So my theory is that Dennison understood and used a manufacturing process which no one else has yet figured out. They may have applied ‘layers’ of adhesive. Or if you examine a good Dennison hinge closely you will also note that the adhesive is actually textured. It could be that Dennison figured out that texturing the adhesive allowed the hinge to release easier.
Don
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I agree with you, Don. I have read a longer version of the APS report and it verifies what you say.
"It is well established that it was not the equipment"
I think often it is the equipment. The collector often uses equipment (namely a tongue) to apply too much liquid on hinges and mounts. Sometimes so much liquid was used that there really was no need to use a hinge or mount!
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I have been trough 3 packages with old hinges of various curls and makes. Now I was at the last of Davo stamp hinges and opened a ned Fasto package from Leuchtturm. Never seen this before, not one curled hinge?
Will be interesting to see how they keep the straightness over time.
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How well do they remove from a stamp (stamps with and without gum)?
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Hi everyone;
I've heard two plausible theories on why they (Dennison) can no longer be made. The first one is the one that I believe is spot on.
Theory 1)
The original Dennison hinges were made from horse hoof glue, which is not considered "food safe" and so the formula, had to be changed. I find this theory the most believable because of the excess numbers of graduates from law schools results in too many lawyers with nothing to do other than screwing everything up they can get their hands on. This has happened in many other areas as well, including a dysfunctional government. The lawyers were instrumental in having the formula changed to make them food safe.
Theory 2)
the original hinges were aged for many months to make them more peelable. However when collectors caught on to how good they were, sales soared, until they were not able to keep up and still age them properly. I think this is very believable, as the older Dennison hinges were larger, not folded and had rounded corners. The newer ones produced just before they stopped making them were folded, had square corners, and did not peel as well, but were good at holding larger stamps. The newer ones peeled if you were deliberately slow and patient. the original ones would peel off quickly with a quick pull. I found that the older ones tended to come off too easily is you did not turn the pages carefully and they caught on another stamp.
The tendency of the older ones to peel too easily, created a good market for glassine and acetate interleaves, between pages.
Just some ideas I heard several years ago on a forum, but can't remember where tho...
Still just sortin'....
TuskenRaider
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"How well do they remove from a stamp (stamps with and without gum)?"
Have not tested this but I had to replace a stamp just hinged, and I Had to cut the hinge (with my tweezers), so they are not easy peeled I think.
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never had any problems with Prinz hinges.. I buy them from the Brooklyn Gallery of coins and stamps..on line.
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I have been using lindner without much trouble. They don't curl up on storage (I live in the tropics) guess the key is to moisten very lightly before mounting.
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All hinges are now manufactured by Prinz pub Germany and sold under different brands. We can only long for the 'best hinges ever made'. Those are gone!
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Fasto is good for me
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A couple of decades ago I bought a 10,000 bag of Dennison in bulk that I haven't dipped in to yet. They are just in a plain plastic bag, not sealed, just folded over shut at the top. About the top 10% of them have curled, but not so badly as to become tangled up. Still absolutely usable. I live in the desert, very dry climate. I think my vote is going to dry climate causing the curling.... although I don't know about the newer brand(s).
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A few years ago I started to panic when I got down to my last half pack of real Dennison hinges. I went about ordering as many different types of hinges that I could find and found none that I considered useful. I had heard that some collectors were using 3M 811 removable Magic Tape with great success. I've always had the highest respect for 3M adhesives so I thought I'd give it a go. I have found that it is superior even to Dennison's in removal and residue left behind, although there is a slight tackiness left behind that can be rubbed off. Even removing the tape from NH stamps results in barely perceptible or no traces of the stamp being hinged. The tape comes in a roll like regular Scotch tape and can be mounted in a 3M dispenser which makes cutting hinge size pieces easy. One 1/2" roll yields about 1600 hinges at around $5.00 a roll.
Mounts are of course superior to hinges and for those collectors of only a country or two might do well to use them. How ever any semi serious WW collector will find using mounts on everything will be cost prohibitive and very time consuming.
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Mitch, how long have you been using the 'magic tape"? I wonder if time may reveal their long term impact. Any chemists here to comment on the chemical composition in the tapes?
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save money and time ... use commercial artists' rubber cement ... and thinner
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I'd like to echo rjan's questions on the Magic Tape. Would like to hear more about this.
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A question to the peanut gallery...
I understand how nice the old Dennison hinges were.
Unless people are hinging mint stamps, what is the big deal if other hinges don't peel off? A while back I got a big bag of used stamps as part of a lot. Lots of them had the hinges still attached like someone raided an old album.
I noticed that they didn't want to peel off easy so I dumped the entire lot in water and soaked them off. No issues, all came off nice and clean.
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I have been transferring part of my collection into a Minus Global reprint album. I pretty much have to use hinges due to the crowded pages in this publication.
Can someone suggest a hinge that doesn't curl up into little balls when in storage? That seems to be what happens to my Supersafe brand hinges. I wind up throwing away half of them. I try to use old vintage ones on better stamps, those are getting harder to locate. I do have several pack of old non folded ones. I have to crease them when applying to the stamp. Most of those stamps wind up sticking way out from the page. I have to redo them often.
I know there aren't any really good ones out there. Can someone suggest a brand that at least is less bad, preferably that lies flat against a page and will not turn out to be a bag of curled and mis-cut ones?
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I wonder if the hinges curl because they are exposed to humidity when the bags are opened, or if absent any pressure to keep them flat, they curl.
I only remove part of the hinges from the bag and then try to seal the bag tightly and keep it pressed flat.
The hinges that are to be used are kept in an airtight container. The ones that curl are uncurled by running my thumbnail along the back opposite to the direction of the curl. This straightens them out and they separate easier.
Am using Prinz hinges at the moment.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
These never curl up into balls . . .
After the first package of stamp hinges I bought in 20 years curled up into a mouse nest, I decided I would use these instead.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
Unfortunately, I have a few packs of Showgards that have wrinkled. I am not sure where I got them. It could have been a storage issue but saw reports others experienced this too.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I have yet to find ANY currently produced stamp hinges that were not already curled when first opening the package.
I just assume this is the 'nature of the beast' with today's offerings.
The best of the best was Dennison - always laid flat, no matter how new or old.
I will say this, though - in my experience, when you lick and stick them they do lay flat as intended.
But I do grant you, it can be troublesome to 'untangle' them out of the package!
I currently use Supersafe brand, but have tried numerous others and all appear to be of similar "quality".
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
Supersafe, they do lay down flat after use, they are also somewhat peelable if only a very small amount of moisture is applied.I just dump them into a container and deal with the curling, it does not seem to matter whether they are in the package or not.I am in Arizona so humidity for me is not an issue.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
You would think that some entity would take an old Dennison hinge and reverse engineer it for today's market... they reverse engineer generic drugs.. how difficult could a friggin hinge be?
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
"I have been transferring part of my collection into a Minus Global reprint album. I pretty much have to use hinges due to the crowded pages in this publication.
"
Although I agree the space is tight, I have been able to use mounts in my Minkus Global Supreme pages. Sometimes I have to layer them like one does with shingles on a roof.
So that might still be an option..."Can someone suggest a hinge that doesn't curl up into little balls when in storage? That seems to be what happens to my Supersafe brand hinges
"
Unfortunately, my understanding is all modern hinges (Supersafe etc) are just rebranded hinges from the same German Prinz factory. So no choice there.
I agree that bad curling of hinges (and stamps) have something to do with moisture, humidity, and even altitude. I have a cabin in central Oregon @ 4000 feet, where, in the dry summer, everything (stamps) curls. The problem doesn't occur nearly as much in low altitude and green Western Oregon.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I only use and recommend Stanley Gibbons hinges. Keep in a cool, dark, place, and take what you need.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I gave up on them and use mounts.
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07:27:27am
re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I use SO few hinges anymore that a single packet of 1000 is going to last me the rest of my life.
The packet I have is FOLD-O-HINGE, Mfg. by HAROLD COHN & CO., Chicago. The trademark date on the package is 1955. "The Improved Stamp Hinge" It's still about half full.
Anyway, I have zero problems with curling with this brand. And, they're peelable. (I usually don't attempt to peel hinges anyway, I just soak them off.)
-Paul
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
"You would think that some entity would take an old Dennison hinge and reverse engineer it for today's market... they reverse engineer generic drugs.. how difficult could a friggin hinge be?"
There has been a lot of attempts (all failed badly) and a lot of speculation as to why no one can manufacture a ‘pealable’ hinge today. I wrote this article on the original Dennison’s and it covers some of this.
http://stampsmarter.com/learning/Gen_Dennison.html
About 12 years ago I invested in a box of vintage Dennison hinges (24 packages of 1000 hinges) but have gone through most of them. I do cut some of the hinges in half for use on smaller stamp like definitives but I would give up stamp collecting before I used any of the God-awful modern hinges.
Hinges will curl if exposed to high levels of humidity, once they curl I know of no way to get them to uncurl. If your humidity is high enough to curl stored hinges, it is high enough to be concerned about the storage of your albums and stamps.
Don
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
The APS had an analysis done on stamps hinges. They had to stop at this point as to do further chemical analysis was going to cost too much. Here is a very high level summary on the findings that some may find interesting.
https://stamps.org/userfiles/file/pcpm/subsidiary_19.pdf
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
It is well established that it was not the equipment; the original Dennison equipment has been bought and sold several times and no one could make a good hinge on it. Materials and chemistry is probably not the issue since many folks have done analysis and nothing really special about the paper or adhesive was ever found. Adhesives for the time period are also well known and have been tested extensively.
So my theory is that Dennison understood and used a manufacturing process which no one else has yet figured out. They may have applied ‘layers’ of adhesive. Or if you examine a good Dennison hinge closely you will also note that the adhesive is actually textured. It could be that Dennison figured out that texturing the adhesive allowed the hinge to release easier.
Don
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I agree with you, Don. I have read a longer version of the APS report and it verifies what you say.
"It is well established that it was not the equipment"
I think often it is the equipment. The collector often uses equipment (namely a tongue) to apply too much liquid on hinges and mounts. Sometimes so much liquid was used that there really was no need to use a hinge or mount!
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I have been trough 3 packages with old hinges of various curls and makes. Now I was at the last of Davo stamp hinges and opened a ned Fasto package from Leuchtturm. Never seen this before, not one curled hinge?
Will be interesting to see how they keep the straightness over time.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
How well do they remove from a stamp (stamps with and without gum)?
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
Hi everyone;
I've heard two plausible theories on why they (Dennison) can no longer be made. The first one is the one that I believe is spot on.
Theory 1)
The original Dennison hinges were made from horse hoof glue, which is not considered "food safe" and so the formula, had to be changed. I find this theory the most believable because of the excess numbers of graduates from law schools results in too many lawyers with nothing to do other than screwing everything up they can get their hands on. This has happened in many other areas as well, including a dysfunctional government. The lawyers were instrumental in having the formula changed to make them food safe.
Theory 2)
the original hinges were aged for many months to make them more peelable. However when collectors caught on to how good they were, sales soared, until they were not able to keep up and still age them properly. I think this is very believable, as the older Dennison hinges were larger, not folded and had rounded corners. The newer ones produced just before they stopped making them were folded, had square corners, and did not peel as well, but were good at holding larger stamps. The newer ones peeled if you were deliberately slow and patient. the original ones would peel off quickly with a quick pull. I found that the older ones tended to come off too easily is you did not turn the pages carefully and they caught on another stamp.
The tendency of the older ones to peel too easily, created a good market for glassine and acetate interleaves, between pages.
Just some ideas I heard several years ago on a forum, but can't remember where tho...
Still just sortin'....
TuskenRaider
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
"How well do they remove from a stamp (stamps with and without gum)?"
Have not tested this but I had to replace a stamp just hinged, and I Had to cut the hinge (with my tweezers), so they are not easy peeled I think.
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08:06:55pm
re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
never had any problems with Prinz hinges.. I buy them from the Brooklyn Gallery of coins and stamps..on line.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I have been using lindner without much trouble. They don't curl up on storage (I live in the tropics) guess the key is to moisten very lightly before mounting.
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02:34:06pm
re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
All hinges are now manufactured by Prinz pub Germany and sold under different brands. We can only long for the 'best hinges ever made'. Those are gone!
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
Fasto is good for me
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
A couple of decades ago I bought a 10,000 bag of Dennison in bulk that I haven't dipped in to yet. They are just in a plain plastic bag, not sealed, just folded over shut at the top. About the top 10% of them have curled, but not so badly as to become tangled up. Still absolutely usable. I live in the desert, very dry climate. I think my vote is going to dry climate causing the curling.... although I don't know about the newer brand(s).
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
A few years ago I started to panic when I got down to my last half pack of real Dennison hinges. I went about ordering as many different types of hinges that I could find and found none that I considered useful. I had heard that some collectors were using 3M 811 removable Magic Tape with great success. I've always had the highest respect for 3M adhesives so I thought I'd give it a go. I have found that it is superior even to Dennison's in removal and residue left behind, although there is a slight tackiness left behind that can be rubbed off. Even removing the tape from NH stamps results in barely perceptible or no traces of the stamp being hinged. The tape comes in a roll like regular Scotch tape and can be mounted in a 3M dispenser which makes cutting hinge size pieces easy. One 1/2" roll yields about 1600 hinges at around $5.00 a roll.
Mounts are of course superior to hinges and for those collectors of only a country or two might do well to use them. How ever any semi serious WW collector will find using mounts on everything will be cost prohibitive and very time consuming.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
Mitch, how long have you been using the 'magic tape"? I wonder if time may reveal their long term impact. Any chemists here to comment on the chemical composition in the tapes?
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
save money and time ... use commercial artists' rubber cement ... and thinner
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
I'd like to echo rjan's questions on the Magic Tape. Would like to hear more about this.
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re: Hinges, They Drive Me Nuts
A question to the peanut gallery...
I understand how nice the old Dennison hinges were.
Unless people are hinging mint stamps, what is the big deal if other hinges don't peel off? A while back I got a big bag of used stamps as part of a lot. Lots of them had the hinges still attached like someone raided an old album.
I noticed that they didn't want to peel off easy so I dumped the entire lot in water and soaked them off. No issues, all came off nice and clean.
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