A Few Questions About Mounts And How You Keep Them

-what are your prefered mounts?
-do you make your own pages or do you buy/go for a free site that has them?
-best site for finding every stamp in chronological order and not scott#?
-do you use regular printing paper for your mounts and do you keep these pages inside punched pockets?
-what mount cutter do you use?


*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I use black Prinz mounts
I make my own pages ( AlbumEasy - the stampweb )
I can not help with that one, try www.stampworld.com
I do NOT use regular printing paper, nobody should
I do not use a mount cutter - scissors are great


Peter

thanks for your answer peter what paper do you use then and do you just store it as is in a binder? arn't you worried the binder rings can damage your pages?

I use 67 pound Ivory paper - I have no trouble with damage from binder rings


Peter

I use black split-back mounts from Mystic (I believe they are mostly made by Prinz but some are also made by Scott).

I use Steiner pages http://www.stampalbums.com/

Steiner pages follow the Scott catalog so I can't answer that question. I use Scott.

I use 110 lb ivory card stock. It's overkill for stamps but I also collect postmarks and postal history which require heavier paper so I just went with it to be consistent. I don't have to worry about damage from binder rings and if I have to move a mount, I don't have to worry about skinning the page and creating a hole. The downside is that it adds considerable weight to the albums so I need more binders to prevent stuffing. I only use pockets for large items to prevent them from flopping around when I turn a page.

I use a Carl rotary paper cutter to cut my mounts.

Dan

Hawid Open Top Mounts Black and Clear (Prefer clear)
Steiner Album Pages
Scott Cat
Fiskars Mount Cutter.. expensive but will last a distance
downside, Guage lines wear away in the plastic base after approx 10,000 cuttings.
I cut ALL my stamps whilst in the mount with Fiskars, never had an accident.

- Hawid clear top openers for mounts
- Scott and Palo hingeless pages for my Scott listed items. Make my own for state revenue stamps
- No help here!
- 110 pound card inside document protectors - no punched holes
- Lighthouse swing arm cutter - NEVER scissors

• top opening clear mounts
• Like Petert4522 I also use AlbumEasy to make my own pages - see link in my signature. My AlbumEasy website also lists a bunch of free albums to download.
• Stampworld as already mentioned by others, there are other sites but the links can't be posted here. Personally, I prefer paper catalogues, I mainly use Stanley Gibbons but try to supplement my major interests with country-specific catalogue such as the Hibernian for Ireland, Bale for Israel etc.
• I vacillate between punched pages or pages in plastic page protectors. The advantages of page protectors are more usable page space because one doesn't have to leave a wide margin to punch holes, and also less risk of losing a stamp if it somehow slides out of the mount.
  The disadvantages are that I find most page protectors ugly, especially those with a white strip emblazoned with the name of the manufacturer, they also add an extra layer of plastic between the eye and the stamp, and also, it has been mentioned that there is the possibility of a micro-climate forming inside the protector that could possibly damage the stamps, although, I am not aware of anyone reporting this as actually happening.

Clive

Clive,
here in Oz, I use Marbig, (Crystal clear, no branding ) I use heavyweight, as my paper is thin.

Share your concerns re plastic, "hoping for the best"
10 years so far, not noticed any damage via the naked eye.

I prefer clear top loading HAWID style mounts.

Now, that the word is out on HAWID going out of business my preferred seller is out of stock of HAWID, I helped since I did place a larger than normal order just after I learned the news.

I use a Showgard cutter, make my own pages, and do not use protective pages on most pages yet.

My question is what is the difference in storage between a Vario one pocket and a protective sleeve in regards to a trapped environment?

I use Showgard black mounts. I use a Showgard cutter. The cutter can be set to cut mounts to a consistent length and allows a perpendicular cut every time which is hard to achieve with scissors. The cutters occasionally show up on ebay.

I print Steiner pages on ivory colored 115 pound card stock. I find white pages a little stark for my taste. The card stock is probably heavier than it needs to be, and occasionally causes some issues with my printer.

For dates of issue I use Scott catalogs. They are available on ebay at reasonable prices if you buy copies that are a few years old. One issue with Scott, if you are grouping your stamps chronologically, is airmails, semi-postals and other BOB (back of book) stamps are listed separately. So, for example, if you were doing year 2000 you would have to look under regular listings, then semi-postals (usually prefaced with the letter B), airs (prefaced with the letter C) etc. It may sound burdensome but you will get used to it quickly.

I do not use page protectors. I keep my pages in three ring binders. I prefer a "D ring" type binder. I have purchased all my binders at local thrift shops. I bought two Avery binders in excellent condition for $1.00 each, last week at Goodwill.

Ultimately what you choose to collect and how you choose to collect and organize it is your call. There is a lot of great advice on this forum but you need to pick those things that work for you. If you use the search function you will find many threads that show different pages, some of which are really beautiful. Maybe they will inspire you. Remember, if you start out with something and it isn't quite what you wanted, you can change.

Good luck!

Like RXC, I use black Showgard mounts (including for covers) and a Showgard mount cutter (my scissor skills are poor). I create my own display pages using Scott specialty pages in two-post binders, pages separated by glassine interleaving. I hinge all mounted items and explanatory notes to the pages using Dennison hinges.

-what are your prefered mounts?
I use clear split-back (not top loading) Showgard mounts. I'd use other brands if need be. I don't like top-loading mounts as much as split-backs because in my experience top-loaders allow stamps to move around at times.

-do you make your own pages or do you buy/go for a free site that has them?
I mostly use pre-printed Scott International and Scott Specialty pages along with similarly-sized pages I print myself mostly using Bill Steiner's layouts. I do not like the small school-notebook sized pages many collectors now use, presumably as a cost saving because I don't think they look good.

You can also do what many collectors in other countries do which is to use quadrille pages. You can outline boxes on these pages or just use the graph to line up your stamps, then write identifying information. If you're at all neat and tidy, this creates a very personalized album and a collection that completely reflects what you want to collect. A preprinted stamp album will commonly begin at a few hundred dollars and up, more if it's one of the more upscale brands. A blank/quadrille album will cost only a fraction of that, maybe $100 with binder.

-best site for finding every stamp in chronological order and not scott#?
I have no idea as I use paper Scott catalogues.

-do you use regular printing paper for your mounts and do you keep these pages inside punched pockets?
Never use "regular" printing paper for mounting stamps you want to preserve. If you print your own pages, either print on blank stamp album pages from a major manufacturer or on good high-quality (acid-free, etc) blank paper. Generally 60+ pound weight paper will work best but some collectors use even heavier weight paper. Anything over about 65# I find too "cardboard-like". Putting stamp album pages inside vinyl sleeves is not necessary if you use stamp mounts. It also adds enormous weight and bulk to your albums needlessly and I find it makes it harder to see the stamps due to light reflections on the vinyl. I've never understood why some collectors put their pages inside vinyl sleeves? Do they let their children look through their stamp albums?

-what mount cutter do you use?
I NEVER cut mounts with scissors but only with a "guillotine" cutter. Scissors can cut unevently, but a guillotine cutter will not do that. Remember you're cutting two pieces of plastic at once and with scissors they don't always line up. It's also far far easier to set the guillotine cutter to a particular length of mount you want to repeatedly cut as many mounts as you need for a group of stamps than to hand-cut the same number of mounts with scissors.

I use a Lighthouse brand cutter which works flawlessly but I'm sure other brands will also work fine.

If you want to save money or if you collect mostly used or previously-hinged stamps, there is nothing at all wrong with using stamp hinges providing you don't slobber all over them. Apply light moisture only and they can later (usually) be removed. 1000 stamps mounted with hinges will cost you about $20 using really good hinges or $5 with "okay" hinges. With mounts, those 1,000 stamps would cost $50-60 to mount. (Hinges cost 1-2 cents each, mounts about 5-6+ cents each) Or combine the two, using mounts for mint stamps and hinges for the others.

Drew M wrote: "nothing at all wrong with using stamp hinges providing you don't slobber all over them...." Amen, brother! I no longer buy large collections. But one frustrating aspect back then was buying albums with many stamps stuck down, even using Dennison hinges, because the former owner was a "slobber king."

Like Drew, I use a mix of Scott International pages; trimmed down Scott Specialty pages; and blank International quadrille pages for my remaining collections. One can do so much with those blank quadrille pages, as Drew references.

I grew up in the late 50s/early 60s drawing ships on cardboard to play with, and cutting them out with Mom's scissors. So, I learned how to cut accurately. I still use those same scissors to separate my Showguard split back mounts.

I use clear Showgard almost exclusively, and I buy them in bulk, as seconds. I buy split backs and make my own top loads from them.

I print Steiner pages as a base and make custom pages with AlbumEasy, as needed.

For paper, I chose HP Premium 32lb. Originally tried card stock but it got very tiring having to feed pages into the printer one by one.

Made my own mount cutter from a cheap guillotine office cutter, and I added a sliding stop and measuring scale. Works like a charm.

There are a number of 'modern hinges' posts which say things like 'you can use them but you have to be extra careful and only apply a tiny amount of moisture...'.

In my opinion our hobby deserves mounting materials which are safe even in the hands of kids and inexperienced hobbyists. Our hobby has plenty of other challenges; tasks like hinging and mounting of our collectables should be simple, easy, and not require experience to use without damaging the stamps and covers.

Until modern hinges can be used without special knowledge and skill, I think albums and collections with them are suspect and will likely bring less value in the marketplace. (Anyone who has spent hours soaking off modern hinged stamps to get them off album pages understands this issue.)
Don