The ideal seal peel?

[Braden W.]

Hi there --

I'm a bit of a neat-freak when it comes to my cards and the tuck cases. Some folks have very specific rituals when it comes to how they handle the seal on their box, but for me, it's something to be removed entirely and saved in a different location.

I didn't have this obsession before I started collecting T11 decks. I first got the Union and Citizens deck. Both came off beautifully and without residue (the Citizens seal pretty much just fell off, not sure what was up there). Received two more decks today, Contraband and NPH. NPH one came off with a bit of residue, so I used the seal to "stick up" what remained. Was doing the same for the Contraband box when the seal actually managed to rip some of the artwork off of the box!

My question to folks more inclined with cards: what is the best way to remove a seal so that there is a minimal amount of residue to begin with, followed by how does one remove the rest of it without damaging the box? It certainly isn't acetone, as was suggested in another thread. GooGone sounds too risky. Using the seal itself is like playing Russian roulette each peel.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Hi there --

I'm a bit of a neat-freak when it comes to my cards and the tuck cases. Some folks have very specific rituals when it comes to how they handle the seal on their box, but for me, it's something to be removed entirely and saved in a different location.

I didn't have this obsession before I started collecting T11 decks. I first got the Union and Citizens deck. Both came off beautifully and without residue (the Citizens seal pretty much just fell off, not sure what was up there). Received two more decks today, Contraband and NPH. NPH one came off with a bit of residue, so I used the seal to "stick up" what remained. Was doing the same for the Contraband box when the seal actually managed to rip some of the artwork off of the box!

My question to folks more inclined with cards: what is the best way to remove a seal so that there is a minimal amount of residue to begin with, followed by how does one remove the rest of it without damaging the box? It certainly isn't acetone, as was suggested in another thread. GooGone sounds too risky. Using the seal itself is like playing Russian roulette each peel.

It is possible that the seal melted in the mail. If so, I would assume storing it at a cold temperature might fix it, but I have no clue.

What I do is I slowly peel off the seal, going from bottom corner to center, other bottom corner to center, and both top corners to center. You can then use a swiss army knife to take off the large amounts of residue (just lightly scrape it), and then use the seal to clean it up (or a sticky note). If you don't want to use the seal, use some wax, but I recommend the seal (the wax will leave a bit of residue that disappears with time). You can also just leave the residue and let it pick up a bunch of gunk, then scrape it off with a knife. Honestly though, it doesn't really matter.

 

[Jason England]

Try lighter fluid to remove sticky residue. It's usually sold in a large yellow and blue bottle here in the U.S. It sounds scary, but I've never found a surface that it will damage. Just be sure to test it first on a deck that you don't care about.

I use it to remove price labels from books all the time. Obviously don't douse the object in it - but squirt a bit onto a paper towel and use that to remove the sticky residue.

Jason

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Try lighter fluid to remove sticky residue. It's usually sold in a large yellow and blue bottle here in the U.S. It sounds scary, but I've never found a surface that it will damage. Just be sure to test it first on a deck that you don't care about.

I use it to remove price labels from books all the time. Obviously don't douse the object in it - but squirt a bit onto a paper towel and use that to remove the sticky residue.

Jason

Just out of curiosity, how did you discover this? lol

 

[Jason England]

Maaz,

I was told about it. Andy Greget (a used magic book dealer often seen at big conventions) tipped me off to lighter fluid over 20 years ago.

Jason