Paper residue on the rear of cloth badges
 

I'm sure many of us have purchased badges with paper residue stuck to the rear. I would like to share a little trick that I have sucessfully used in the past on various occasions.

I found that the glue that was used was often water based, so I decided to soak the badge in water. After approximately 15 minutes, the glue became soft and the paper was easily (yet slowly and carefully!) removed with a pair of tweezers.

The latest badge I worked on was a Chindits formation sign. I was not entirely sure of its originality when I bought it as the rear was mostly covered with paper, but after being able to remove it I am happy to see it is an original glue back badge.

I too have used that method to remove adhesive. It works well most of the time, but I accidentally destroyed a 51st Div patch. The felt disintegrated and that was the end of the patch. Testing a small corner may be useful.

I also use a water soak to remove water based glues. Oher based glues are not so easy, so I generally try to get only badges that are glue free. When that isn't possible I hope it is a water based glue.

Once it has soaked sufficiently I gently rub he back of the patch and remove the glue that way. This prevents accidently snagging any of the patches' threads.

Terry