Old magnetic or ‘sticky’ albums contain unsafe components that act like a ‘chemical sandwich’ for your photos. These pictures should be removed and scanned as quickly as possible.
The Downside of Magnetic Albums
As you organize and sort your photos, you may come across photos in old scrapbooks, pocket page albums and old magnetic albums that were popular about 25 – 30 years ago. Unfortunately, many of these albums may be accelerating the deterioration of your photos and you need to take steps to remove your pictures now.
The biggest offender is the magnetic or sticky album. The glue on the page surface, the acidic cardboard page and the plastic overlay create a ‘chemical sandwich’ that is rapidly destroying your photos.
If you have these albums in your collection, removing the photos is a priority! Some may be easy to remove, and some may be troublesome.
How to Remove Troublesome Photos
Here are a few tips as you approach this next step:
- Find a photo in the album that is a ‘throw away’ and try to remove it first by gently lifting a corner. If it comes up easily without having to pull or curl the photo, then proceed.
- If the picture is stuck, take a thin metal spatula and gently work under the photo, or slide a piece of unwaxed dental floss under the corner and gently saw back and forth to work through the adhesive.
- Try heating the back of the photo slightly with a blow dryer then attempt the dental floss again. Or heat the metal spatula and use this to soften the glue as you work behind the photo.
- Try using a product like Un-du which is an adhesive remover used by scrapbookers and safe to use on the backs of photos.
If all this fails, then leave your photos in the albums and make digital copies with a flatbed or mobile scanner.
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We also invite you to visit our sister blog The Photo Organizers for more tips and in-depth knowledge from some of the top photo organizing industry professionals. To find a photo organizer near you, visit the Association of Personal Photo Organizers.
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