General Forum

Hello, I'm fairly new(withing the last month) to this website. I've been collecting for years. Now I have plans to enter ALL my cards on this website. As I'm going through the card to enter, big piles are sticking together. I tried just pulling them apart and the finish comes right off. So annoying. 

Has anyone had this problem or know what to do? Any help would be great.

Thanks, Jeff

https://www.tcdb.com/SearchForum.cfm You will find plenty on this issue in these previous forums.

I believe the correct term for this is, "bricking.' I don't really know the exact way to stop this from occurring but like Bruno said, if you look up cards sticking together, or bricking, or anything like that, I think your answer should be in there. Oh, and welcome!

Welcome to the Database. As the others have said this is a very big talked about subject.

The problem is mostly with producst from 1990s and early 2000s, but can happen with almost any product with glossy finishes. It can vary from area to area due to typical weather/air condistions. Serching for chats about "bricking" and cards sticking together will lead to severa; dofferemt tecjmoqies pm jpw tp se[arate the cards. Some work very well others npt at all.

Thank you or your help on this matter. I am going to try what I found. I will post on what works the best for me for others to try.

Thanks, Jeff

I found all kinds of "ideas" on how to separate bricked cards....freezing, steaming, dry heat and microwaving. Not sure what freezing was supposed to do except create cold bricks, steaming worked to a small degree but adding moisture to cardboard made no sense, dry heat also had some success but kinda tough to heat the bricks throughout (hair dryer didnt generate enough heat and heat gun was too much) The most success I had was microwaving in short bursts (7-10 secs and letting cool in between) I am convinced you WILL lose cards but microwaving was the easiest and most successful. Had some burn in microwave, so if you attempt it be careful .

I don't know if I replied in the thread that Bruno linked or not, but oddly, I've never tried ANY of the methods listed in this thread so far. But I didn't have really thick stacks of cards that bricked together. That alone is odd since I acquired 2 massive collections of over 35K cards each in 2018 and 2020. Ionly used my own method to break them free of each other. Sometimes it works perfect, sometimes it doesn't work at all, and sometimes it partially works. My method is to hold the stack with right thumb on top of the top-right corner of the stack with my forefinger underneath that corner and then have my left thumb on top of the bottom-left corner of the stack and my forefinger under the stack. Then I twist my hands slowly and slightly in the opposite direction from each other. This tends to "unlock the seal" for the glossy cards sticking together. It doesn't always work, but I've had way more success that way than I've had failures. I'm never going to nuke cards (especially if they have foil on them) and I see no reason to freeze or torch them. Seems like there would be even more damage done to the cards and I'd rather throw them in the recycling bin than use any of those methods. Just my personal opinion though.

I'm currently working on unbricking a set of 1994 Collector's Choice. What a mess! It seems most of the Series 1 cards (#1-320), especially the low numbers near the end of the box are trashed. The Series 2 cards (#321-670) are fairing much better  Previously, I was able to get apart some of the 1992, 1993, and 1994 Stadium Club sets semi-successfully. It appears some sets have a glossy front and semi-glossy or matte back (1993 Donruss is like that). This makes it a lot easier to separate. I've also noticed, at least in my situation, that the cards near the ends of the 800-count box tend to stick the most, however it's not always the case. I have six 800-count boxes of full of 1993 Upper Deck cards that are all solid bricks and they are REALLY stuck. I can pick up the entire set and it holds together. Probably because they were packed so tightly, which was not my doing, but the previous owner (they came with everything else or I wouldn't have purchased them).

I've found that for some of the cards, if I can break the large bricks into smaller bricks of say around 10-20 cards, I can then slightly bend one corner of that mini-brick to get that corner started. I pull that corner of the end card and run my index finger around the edge of the card. It's a feel thing. If there is resistance to the card separating or it's making the worst card-separating sound in the Universe, I go around the other way with my finger. Depending on the set, humidity, and storage density all determine how stuck they are. Usually, it's just one end of the card that's holding it all together and that's the end that gets damaged. It's hit and miss with each set. So far I've separated 1992, 1993, and 1994 Stadium Club sets; a 1993 Upper Deck set (not one of the six boxes mentioned earlier), a 1994 Fleer set, and a 1992 Pacific Football set semi-successfully. Again, the damage for all of them, at least for me, seems to be on the cards at ends of the boxes. I guess those are the ones more exposed to heat and humidty?

Hope this helps. Good luck in all of your unbricking projects!

HAPPY COLLECTING!!!

I purchased a factory set of 2002 Topps a few years ago, and the cards were bricked when I opened them.  Luckily, they all came apart without any damage.  I also opened a box of 1996-97 Stadium Club basketball a few years ago and the cards were slightly stuck together in the packs but also came apart with no issue.

I wonder what the main cause is of the cards bricking.  It seems to me that the environment the cards are stored in make the biggest difference because cards can come out of packs bricked.  When purchasing an older box of cards that haven't been opened, you don't know if they have just been sitting in a garage or in a non climate controlled storage area.  

Besides environment, it's also how tightly packed the cards are (as mentioned above). I don't just mean in storage boxes either. If someone has been holding a case of boxes for 20 years or so and finally decide to open it and sell the boxes, several of those are going to have bricking problems depending on the type of card. The boxes at the bottom of that case have had the weight of all the other boxes sitting on them since the day they were packed. Pressure is the "MAIN" cause of bricking if extra moisture isn't involved at all.