Deslabbing tragedys

[budsbundy]

Thought I'd see if anyone has ever had a deslabbing go horribly wrong and result in damage to the book.

 

I was cracking out an FF 39 yesterday and came real close to trimming the book trying to get past that plastic clip thing some of them have in the inner well. Luckily I ended up getting it out damage free.

 

So what's the worst thing that has happened to you while deslabbing a book? Or what have you discovered once you have the book deslabbed?

 

I deslabbed a Silver Surfer 6.5 a while back that looked great in the slab only to discover a two inch spine split from the top that was undetectable from looking at it slabbed. I bought it to replace another copy I already had with a spine split on the bottom so I was not happy when I discovered my new book had an even bigger one.

 

Also, how do you go about deslabbing your books?

I start by running a butter knife around the edges to crack open the slab, and then I remove the inner well, gently tap the book to one side, and then carefully cut up the other side with some really sharp scissors, and then slide the book out.

How do you do it?

[joeypost]

I use a commercial paper cutter to remove books from the inner well. I don't like using scissors to cut the inner well as it puts stress on the book even if you are very careful.

 

To crack the out casing I use my fingers.

 

In all my years I only damaged one book due to carelessness on my part as I did not see that the inner clip holding the spine of the book was firmly in place.

[budsbundy]

A paper cutter, good idea.

I am so careful with the scissors because of what you just said, it places stress on the book by wanting to make it flex while cutting.

I will try a paper cutter next time.

Thanks for the tip

[Gotham Kid]

I believe there was a thread created in the past on tragedies occured during the deslabbing process.

[EC ed]

I use a commercial paper cutter to remove books from the inner well. I don't like using scissors to cut the inner well as it puts stress on the book even if you are very careful.

 

+ 1

 

If hands aren't working sufficiently, I use a tiny flathead screwdriver in the side seams with a twist to crack the top two posts. For the inner well, I used to use scissors, but likewise didn't like the stress they cause...so, I've moved to using a guillotine cutter like this one (usually three sides gets the job done):

 

 

Once you carefully align the inner well edge so that the guillotine blade is in the correct position (i.e., just barely to the left of the well edge seam), it's hard to go wrong.

 

Because of the direction/structure of the inner well container, it works better if you put the book on the cutter table front cover down

 

Thankfully, no tragedies yet

[ciorac]

I use a commercial paper cutter to remove books from the inner well. I don't like using scissors to cut the inner well as it puts stress on the book even if you are very careful.

 

To crack the out casing I use my fingers.

 

In all my years I only damaged one book due to carelessness on my part as I did not see that the inner clip holding the spine of the book was firmly in place.

 

Damaged my first one the other day. I've de-slabbed tons of books without incident, but this time i was careless and created a 1" tear on the cover. Oh well...

[Vikingreed]

I use people who are better at it than me.,

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

I use a commercial paper cutter to remove books from the inner well. I don't like using scissors to cut the inner well as it puts stress on the book even if you are very careful.

 

To crack the out casing I use my fingers.

 

In all my years I only damaged one book due to carelessness on my part as I did not see that the inner clip holding the spine of the book was firmly in place.

 

Totally agree. Scissors are not a good idea.

 

For those who don't have access to a commercial paper cutter, a metal straight edge ruler and an x-acto knife work pretty well with a few passes.

[Sqeggs]

I use a commercial paper cutter to remove books from the inner well. I don't like using scissors to cut the inner well as it puts stress on the book even if you are very careful.

 

To crack the out casing I use my fingers.

 

In all my years I only damaged one book due to carelessness on my part as I did not see that the inner clip holding the spine of the book was firmly in place.

 

Damaged my first one the other day. I've de-slabbed tons of books without incident, but this time i was careless and created a 1" tear on the cover. Oh well...

 

Ouch! I hope it wasn't one of your favorites.

[Darkowl]

I use my teeth!

[Iceman399]

The way I was taught:

 

[budsbundy]

The way I was taught:

 

LMAO

 

I don't know, that looks pretty complicated.

[slym2none]

That has to our own Pasta Pimp... right?

 

 

 

-slym

[Iceman399]

That has to our own Pasta Pimp... right?

 

 

 

-slym

 

Yuppers. Complicated to simply toss it onto a hard surface...nah.

[Jimmy Linguini]

Thats not my video.

[budsbundy]

I use a commercial paper cutter to remove books from the inner well. I don't like using scissors to cut the inner well as it puts stress on the book even if you are very careful.

 

To crack the out casing I use my fingers.

 

In all my years I only damaged one book due to carelessness on my part as I did not see that the inner clip holding the spine of the book was firmly in place.

Just cracked one out today using my fingers instead of the butter knife, so much easier.

[RockMyAmadeus]

I use scissors, and it does put pressure on the book, but it's not too much, and I don't do it on the spine side.

 

 

[slym2none]

Thats not my video.

 

Ah, thanks!

 

 

 

-slym