Hero Restoration Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 so is the actual hot pressing the most important part or is the cold press? They are equally important as one will not work without the other. is there a clfif notes on whats best to use? supplies and all. i'm curious on doing some experiments too page 14 has all the details and the next page has the mofifications. Also I will have new stuff to post soon showing how to avoid the "pancake" look. A detail that has been left out is an additional day under pressure between 2 cotton blotters.I have got around the pancake look even on annuals and I am just waiting for the perfect examples to post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Man Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Ok... this thread is actually making me consider having some of my books pressed. I'm not into selling or anything (not that I think it's wrong to press and sell), but these would just be for my own enjoyment. I mean, being able to take some books that are nice 3.0s and make them look like VGs to VG+s would be SWEET! What to do, what to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etanick Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 I can't wait to see how your experiment will work with square bounded books since the current process will likely flatten the book too much. I am no expert but I am willing to bet you will have to do something different for those books. I am guessing much less pressure, lower heat and longer time frame in the press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Restoration Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) I can't wait to see how your experiment will work with square bounded books since the current process will likely flatten the book too much. I am no expert but I am willing to bet you will have to do something different for those books. I am guessing much less pressure, lower heat and longer time frame in the press. Less pressure could work but then you wouldn't get the cover pressed as smooth and therfore wouldn't look as good when done. So the key is to be able to use the same amount of pressure but not have book to be pressed thinner than it already is. The press compresses the book so the trick was to keep the book uner pressure but not compressed. I was going to wait till I had the perfect example but since you have brought it up here is my 1st annual that I pressed with a system to prevent it from being squished. I have a regular bound book I will post ASAP and better example's of Annual's as well. Edited November 17, 2009 by MastrCntrlProgram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Restoration Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) Ok... this thread is actually making me consider having some of my books pressed. I'm not into selling or anything (not that I think it's wrong to press and sell), but these would just be for my own enjoyment. I mean, being able to take some books that are nice 3.0s and make them look like VGs to VG+s would be SWEET! What to do, what to do Thats what inspires me, not what profit can be made but just simply to have them look better. :insane:Thats not to say I don't want money, it's just that is not my motivation for doin it. Edited November 17, 2009 by MastrCntrlProgram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User 01001010 Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Ok... this thread is actually making me consider having some of my books pressed. I'm not into selling or anything (not that I think it's wrong to press and sell), but these would just be for my own enjoyment. I mean, being able to take some books that are nice 3.0s and make them look like VGs to VG+s would be SWEET! What to do, what to do Thats what inspires me, not what profit can be made but just simply to have them look better. :insane:Thats not to say I don't want money, it's just that is not my motivation for doin it. glad to see your coming along in your quality of work (thumbs u . can't wait to see what my ddc look like after you've finished with them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etanick Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 well, when you have a better example of a book that is still square after the press, then I will be impress because this one look too flatten and unless you know the book, you wouldn't think it has a square spine to start with. I have a theory on how this can be accomplish but I will wait and see how you get it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bug33fouf Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Restoration Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 well, when you have a better example of a book that is still square after the press, then I will be impress because this one look too flatten and unless you know the book, you wouldn't think it has a square spine to start with. I have a theory on how this can be accomplish but I will wait and see how you get it done. I have a theory as well that I am working on but I haven't found a perfect example of a book with a really good square spine and a wrinkled cover. Will post one as soon as I discover I have such an example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFB Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 well, when you have a better example of a book that is still square after the press, then I will be impress because this one look too flatten and unless you know the book, you wouldn't think it has a square spine to start with. I have a theory on how this can be accomplish but I will wait and see how you get it done. Really? I think it looks fine post-pressing. I have seen a million squarebounds with spines like that. It doesn't look mashed at all. The book still has some residual spine roll (mainly because it started out so bad), but an additional press job should take care of that. One thing you could do with squarebounds is to take a beater squarebound of roughly equal thickness and rotate it 180 degrees in the press, so that the spine is backed up to the spine of the book you want to press. That'll keep any excess pressure from compacting the spine - although, truth be told, as long as I kept my dry mount press pad in good shape, I never had a problem with pressing squarebounds without any kind of extra spine support. MCP, post up some more pics of your pressing experiments. It looked like your results improved dramatically after the last round of tweaking and I'd like to see that you're still getting good results with each book. Plus, this subforum has gotten boring lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P Keel Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 I agree his books look alot better and would like to see more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Restoration Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 (edited) well, when you have a better example of a book that is still square after the press, then I will be impress because this one look too flatten and unless you know the book, you wouldn't think it has a square spine to start with. I have a theory on how this can be accomplish but I will wait and see how you get it done. Really? I think it looks fine post-pressing. I have seen a million squarebounds with spines like that. It doesn't look mashed at all. The book still has some residual spine roll (mainly because it started out so bad), but an additional press job should take care of that. One thing you could do with squarebounds is to take a beater squarebound of roughly equal thickness and rotate it 180 degrees in the press, so that the spine is backed up to the spine of the book you want to press. That'll keep any excess pressure from compacting the spine - although, truth be told, as long as I kept my dry mount press pad in good shape, I never had a problem with pressing squarebounds without any kind of extra spine support. MCP, post up some more pics of your pressing experiments. It looked like your results improved dramatically after the last round of tweaking and I'd like to see that you're still getting good results with each book. Plus, this subform has gotten boring lately. Ask and ye shall recieve. I was hoping for another dramatic example by now but this is the best I can muster up ATM. I got to thinking about the pancake issue. I had an idea similar to your wre basicly a space was in place to protect from it pressing to far down. There seems to be allot of different thickness and then if there isn't enough pressure you don't get the wrinkles out. So I had an Idea, put the spacers in the book itself so that the cover could recieve full pressure. On the SWA #1 I sliped a piece of paper between each page. Since the spine wasn't flat after I was done I though to use less. On this MT #1 I slipped a piece of printing paper between every 4th page. Still using 170 to 175 F and humidity on outside of cover. 3 min each side then cool. Replaced mylar with cottom blotters, raised temp to 130 F and rotate every 5 min the change out blotters and repeat for an hour then let cool. I did this to make sure the book is completely dry. Edited December 4, 2009 by MastrCntrlProgram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Restoration Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 (edited) Before After Before After Before After Before After Before After Before After Edited December 4, 2009 by MastrCntrlProgram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFB Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 well, when you have a better example of a book that is still square after the press, then I will be impress because this one look too flatten and unless you know the book, you wouldn't think it has a square spine to start with. I have a theory on how this can be accomplish but I will wait and see how you get it done. Really? I think it looks fine post-pressing. I have seen a million squarebounds with spines like that. It doesn't look mashed at all. The book still has some residual spine roll (mainly because it started out so bad), but an additional press job should take care of that. One thing you could do with squarebounds is to take a beater squarebound of roughly equal thickness and rotate it 180 degrees in the press, so that the spine is backed up to the spine of the book you want to press. That'll keep any excess pressure from compacting the spine - although, truth be told, as long as I kept my dry mount press pad in good shape, I never had a problem with pressing squarebounds without any kind of extra spine support. MCP, post up some more pics of your pressing experiments. It looked like your results improved dramatically after the last round of tweaking and I'd like to see that you're still getting good results with each book. Plus, this subform has gotten boring lately. Ask and ye shall recieve. I was hoping for another dramatic example by now but this is the best I can muster up ATM. I got to thinking about the pancake issue. I had an idea similar to your wre basicly a space was in place to protect from it pressing to far down. There seems to be allot of different thickness and then if there isn't enough pressure you don't get the wrinkles out. So I had an Idea, put the spacers in the book itself so that the cover could recieve full pressure. On the SWA #1 I sliped a piece of paper between each page. Since the spine wasn't flat after I was done I though to use less. On this SS # 3 I slipped a piece of printing paper between every 4th page. Still using 170 to 175 F and humidity on outside of cover. 3 min each side then cool. Replaced mylar with cottom blotters, raised temp to 130 F and rotate every 5 min the change out blotters and repeat for an hour then let cool. I did this to make sure the book is completely dry. I'm not sure what you mean by "pancake issue." I didn't think the book you did before looked pancaked. I also don't think you need to add in all of that extra paper into the book while pressing the squarebounds. I just used a single sheet of thin release paper between the cover and the interior to protect the cover from the staples when I would press a squarebound. (That's in addition to the sheets of release paper above and below the book.) It worked great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFB Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 It's hard to say for sure how good the results are with these books because they're so beat (which is good - I'm glad you're experimenting with beaters). But they do look significantly improved. Maybe you should try experimenting on some higher grade books from the quarter bin (like Image drek or similar). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Restoration Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 I'm not sure what you mean by "pancake issue." I didn't think the book you did before looked pancaked. You dont think the SIlver Surfer I did looked pancaked? My I don't know what pancake looks like since I have not seen an example, I just assumed it's meaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero Restoration Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 It's hard to say for sure how good the results are with these books because they're so beat (which is good - I'm glad you're experimenting with beaters). But they do look significantly improved. Maybe you should try experimenting on some higher grade books from the quarter bin (like Image drek or similar). I will experiment with some new stuff but I'm pretty sure it reacts to pressing different than the SA stuff. It should be more forgiving I would think. I dont collect modern but I will press for others someday and they might. (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFB Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 I'm not sure what you mean by "pancake issue." I didn't think the book you did before looked pancaked. You dont think the SIlver Surfer I did looked pancaked? My I don't know what pancake looks like since I have not seen an example, I just assumed it's meaning. I did not think it looked pancaked. Pancaking is more of a problem with saddle-stitched comics (non-squarebounds). Generally it refers to a press job that is done so as to crush the spine of the book into a sharp point instead of a gentle curve. You avoid that by making sure you have a nice, soft pad on your dry mount press, by keeping the heat at a moderate level, and by taking a couple of pieces of 11X17 acid-free art paper, folding them in half from top to bottom (so you're left with a folded piece of paper that is 8.5X11, with the crease along one of the 11" edges), and inserting the creased paper at the centerfold of the comic during pressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFB Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 It's hard to say for sure how good the results are with these books because they're so beat (which is good - I'm glad you're experimenting with beaters). But they do look significantly improved. Maybe you should try experimenting on some higher grade books from the quarter bin (like Image drek or similar). I will experiment with some new stuff but I'm pretty sure it reacts to pressing different than the SA stuff. It should be more forgiving I would think. I dont collect modern but I will press for others someday and they might. (thumbs u If the newer books you're using have newsprint interiors and standard comic cover stock (i.e., no chromium covers or other non-standard stock), they'll usually react very similarly to a higher grade silver age book. The problem with trying to experiment exclusively on lower grade silver age books is that the paper can be so beat up that it is lifeless even before you press it and you can wind up with very limited (and sometimes misleading) results. You will probably find that a higher grade book from the 1970s or 80s will react more like a high grade silver age book than a beat up silver age book will. That's not to say that you shouldn't experiment on beater books - just don't rely exclusively on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P Keel Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
