Wax stain

chicago111

I have a Rookie M.Allen with 4 perfect corners and 50/50 center. Front and back. But as the message title suggests it has a wax stain on the back about the size of a nickle. Its not too bad but you can see it. With the design of that years FB cards the backside has a kind of "watermark" of the Team logo centered on the back of the card. This stain is right over the raider logo and makes the stain harder to see.

Anyhow, just wondering if thats an automatic grade deduction. Like i said im most certain without this stain the card would be a 10.

Thanks ( its late and grammer went to bed)
Chuck

Griffins

I hear that rubbing it with nylon stockings can help.

jskirwin

See this link: Link to post on removing stains using Heptane

jskirwin

<< <i>Anyhow, just wondering if thats an automatic grade deduction. Like i said im most certain without this stain the card would be a 10.
>>



Can be. It will also get you the ST qualifier for "stain" which really bites.

chicago111

thanks, good to know about the "thinner" and nylons.

Ill give it a try on scrap cards. otherwise i guess i'll just leave it alone and let the grading gods do what they will.

Thanks
Chuck

Billa

Mr Mint used to run full page ads in SCD for wax stain remover. He took a lot of heat saying his cards were no longer Mr. Mint, so he quit selling it, but the link to heptane is certainly a great way to remove wax stains. I'm wondering though? Over a period of time, will this deteriorate the card. But, once it's in a PSA 10 holder, who cares?, it's a 10, right?

Your friend,

Bill

jskirwin

<< <i> I'm wondering though? Over a period of time, will this deteriorate the card. >>


I was wondering that myself, and while I'm not an organic chemist, the volatility of heptane would lend me to believe that any harm would occur before it evaporates.

sagard

Will the graders be able to identify the cleaning and refuse to grade the card?

Lothar52

not sure..i just get real real real nervous about this stuff..personally ive never tired to clean a card....

loth

jskirwin

<< <i>Will the graders be able to identify the cleaning and refuse to grade the card? >>


I don't see how they could; and if they did, why would it matter? The only way cleaning is going to improve a card is by removing a stain - which would be given the ST qualifier. So at best, you will avoid the qualifier. You aren't going to make a 5 into a 6, or an 8 into a 9 through cleaning.
Again, caveat emptor! I have used this on only a few modern cards, and honestly, I did so while being as nervous as h3ll...

packCollector

N-7 Evidence of Cleaning - When a whitener is used to whiten borders or a solution is used to remove wax, candy, gum or tobacco stains.

jskirwin

<< <i>N-7 Evidence of Cleaning - When a whitener is used to whiten borders or a solution is used to remove wax, candy, gum or tobacco stains. >>



That's contingent upon heptane leaving evidence which its volatility lends me to believe it won't.
Besides, technically a solution is a mixture of two or more ingredients and heptane is not a solution: it's a solvent (Solution: a uniformly dispersed mixture of molecules or ions. The substance being dissolved is the solute, while the substance into which the solute is dissolved is the solvent. (Source))

If it did leave evidence behind, the grader would have to use a non-invasive method of determining its presence. An easy way would be to view it under UV light. Another would be to place the card in a sealed vacuum chamber and check for emission of suspected cleaning ingredients using a gas spectrometer. That assumes that heptane leaves behind less-volatile impurities which can be detected.

Perhaps the latter test would find it, but the former wouldn't.

Okay, that's pushing the limit of my o-chem knowledge. Anything else and I'll have to ask my father-in-law, who is a retired experimental chemist from Du Pont.

Knuckles

Will it clean off the blueberry stain I just got on my shirt?

jskirwin

<< <i>Will it clean off the blueberry stain I just got on my shirt? >>



While researching the chemical online, I found this on the right side of the screen:



I suppose they are some pretty hot babes...