Topic: A sticky problem

[Francois]

I have a sticky problem.
Mom used to put all the family pictures in one of these awful sticky "magic" photo albums.
But after so many years, they're all really stuck in there. Anybody got an idea on how I could remove them from there?

[Kai-san]

I would try to apply a little heat, careful use of a hairdryer maybe. Is it one of those with clear plastic that covers the image side of the photos? I really hope that the plastic isn't stuck on the image side, then you're in a fix.

[Francois]

Yes, it's one of those horrible inventions...
I know the clear plastic isn't stuck to the photos, so that's a big plus there.
I just hope that the prints can handle the heat. I don't want to melt the emulsion or just strip it out with chemicals...

[Kai-san]

If there are photos on only one side of the pages, then you could try to heat it from the reverse side. But that's probably just wishful thinking. 

[Indofunk]

Personally, I'd skip any heating and try to (gently!) scrape them out with a screwdriver or putty knife.

Or just soak the whole album in acetone! Have fun explaining to friends why you have so many pictures of polar bears in snowstorms!

[Bryan]

My mother put a lot of our photos in those type of albums starting in the 80's.  I haven't tried to remove any of them yet.  I think our wedding album is like that as well.  I'll be curious to find out how it goes for you Francois.

[Francois]

I know I once tried to peel some as-is... in a few cases it went OK, but most of them didn't fare too well.
Some of them I can't eve get my nails under the edge to lift them off the page!