Cleaning TRK Hot Stamps (1 Viewer)

[FestiveKnight]

I’ve read lots on cleaning chips and cleaned thousands of other chips but my experience cleaning TRKs is pretty limited as is my experience with a large quantity of hot stamps so I’m looking for some detailed recommendations.

I want to give these lots of TLC so happy to go slowly with a careful process.

Q1) What’s the best way to take care of the stamps and chip faces while cleaning?

Is it possible to clean up the gunky looking stamps?

Q2) What soap is best for these? How long to soak? Etc.

I have some Fels Naptha per an @FDLmold rec. I don’t have any TSP but could get some if someone drops a link. Any specific cleaning agent for these?

Q3) Process. I imagine I don’t want to soak long on hot stamps. Is that a good assumption? What process has worked well for others?

Here’s another shot of what I’m up against:

Tagging some of the folks who are good at this stuff I think if y’all have any insights. @JeepologyOffroad @upNdown @FDLmold @Nanook

 

[Nanook]

Biggest advice is go slow. Just do whatever you are going to do on one chip & see how you like the results.

Try and protect the hot stampnas much as you can. They are pretty fragile....

 

[FestiveKnight]

Biggest advice is go slow. Just do whatever you are going to do on one chip & see how you like the results.

Try and protect the hot stampnas much as you can. They are pretty fragile....

What does "protecting" look like? I've read about keeping a thumb over it but how do I clean the chip face well while protecting it?

 

[ekricket]

I don’t think you can do a lot. The substrate that the “gold” foil is printed on looks to be pretty deteriorated. Probably an acetate plastic of some sort. The “gold” is really a form of paint, so maybe a paint restorer might help clean the chips and revitalize the stamp some. But depending on the pigments, it may be oxidized too much to recover, and even if it worked ok the paint/foil that is left will probably be splotchy and look faded.

I’ve thought a lot about a low viscosity paint that you could carefully place a drop in the imprint and it would run and fill the whole void.

 

[FestiveKnight]

I don’t think you can do a lot. The substrate that the “gold” foil is printed on looks to be pretty deteriorated. Probably an acetate plastic of some sort. The “gold” is really a form of paint, so maybe a paint restorer might help clean the chips and revitalize the stamp some. But depending on the pigments, it may be oxidized too much to recover, and even if it worked ok the paint/foil that is left will probably be splotchy and look faded.

I’ve thought a lot about a low viscosity paint that you could carefully place a drop in the imprint and it would run and fill the whole void.

That's a very interesting idea. Take the time to thoroughly clean the recess out and then repaint it. Might need to find some cheap THC hot stamps to try that on