Mounts - And Getting Album Pages Flat

A couple of years ago, I lovingly mounted sets of British Empire stamps in Hawid mounts. The individual pages looked lovely, I thought, but I've noticed as time has gone on, the album pages have all started buckling, and not laying flat.

Part of the problem is that the stamps seem to occupy the same general positions on each page, so where the stamps sit, it's much thicker than close to the page edges where there aren't any.

So, ridges have appeared in the paper, between rows of stamps and near the edges. I've never had this issue with stamp hinges, so I put it down to the thickness of the mounts. I guess 40 pages = 40 mounts = a quarter of an inch extra thickness.

What to do? Do other people have this issue, or am I doing something wrong? (Albums are stored vertically, by the way, like books on a shelf.)

I think all plastic is unstable and changes in time ,it could dry up and shrink as time goes by .But I am not a chemist or engineer to say for sure .

You mean maybe the mounts are shrinking and pulling on the paper of the page? Interesting idea. I think though, that it's caused by the multiple layers and cumulative thickness where the mounts are. The first pages in the album are the worst affected, and as you leaf through, they get less and less distorted, with the last few just flat. Surely I'm not the only one with this problem?

What weight paper are you using? I use 65 lb card stock and, although one can feel the greater thickness of the lines of mounts (but of course the lines do not line up perfectly, which distributes the distortion somewhat), I have no problem with the kind of damage you describe. Is it a matter of thickness of paper?

I have started to put my pages in Staples brand page protectors. It gives me the added advantage of adding two pages per protector, so I can have stamps on the right and left side of an album when I flip through it. I'm wonder if it might help with this problem.

Not sure about the paper weight. The leaves came with the album. They aren't flimsy, but also not top of the range. I guess Hawid mounts would be problematic on thinner pages? It never occurred to me before.

I don't think having stamps on both sides would really help. When looking at the album flat on a table, the pages just sag in the lines where there are no stamps, and bulge upwards where there are. It's the combined thickness of the mounts on successive pages which seems to be causing it. Having them on both sides would probably just mean even more mounts, and therefore possibly worse.

I'll try and upload a photo, as I'm struggling to describe it!

Here are some images of an album of Machin definitives. Successive pages have the stamps in exactly the same position, so the effect is even worse.

I've come to dislike this so much, I'm in the process of dismantling the album and re-mounting the stamps on new pages, using hinges.





Note the wavy effect - ridges and valleys between the stamps.

Do you have the same degree of problem in all your albums? I can easily see why page after page of stamps with the exact same page configuration would exaggerate the problem. But albums where successive pages have different configurations of stamps should not have the same degree of problem. I'd think using 65 lb cardstock would solve the problem but at this point, you may just prefer to go to hinges.

What if you staggered the rows of mounts every other page, so that the mounts instead of laying on top of each other would fall between rows of mounts. Of course that would mean offsetting every other page. I had the same problem when I used showguard mounts to mount a fancy cancel collection. My solution was to use four rows on one page and five rows on the next page. The album then no longer had that "humped" effect, each page "leveling" the next.

I agree with Hieronymus that it is a paper issue. I had this problem with Scott mounts on 1970s Minuteman pages in an album I started as a kid. I believe that when the adhesive dries there is a tiny shrinkage factor that is enough to pull on thin leaves but does not affect thick ones. When I switched to Scott National pages, and homemade pages on 65lb stock, the effect did not occur.

Thanks for your comments everyone.

I have five albums with Hawid mounts all the way through, and the effect is on all of them, better or worse depending on the contents. The one above is the worst, and had been abandoned completely! Staggering the mounts may well work, but upsets the layout of the pages. Might be a work-around though.

Lesson learned, I guess. It's put me off mounts altogether to be honest, but if I decide to house another collection that way, thick paper is a must. Luckily I don't have many unmounted mint in my collection, so I can do without mounts if I need to. Just a few here and there in an album will be fine.

Album spacers every so many pages can alleviate some of this problem as well.

How are you affixing the mount to the page?

Not sure what album spacers are? I have thought of putting something between the pages, say a very stiff card every 15 leaves, but the idea doesn't really appeal.

I affix the mounts just by licking the backs. I really don't think that's the core problem though - if you see the amount of distortion, I think it has to be just the thickness of multiple stamps/mounts bulging the pages upwards. The effect is really pronounced.

Psychologically, I'm set to abandon mounts ongoing. I'll just use them here and there - for example I have a set of high-value mint never hinged Machins from 1977, £1, £2, £5. They will go in mounts, but I'm quite prepared to hinge a previously unhinged low-value set, which isn't worth much to start with and has a face-value of maybe 80p or £1.

Do you store your albums upright? I use mounts as well with fairly heavy paper and although if I leave an album flat on my desk for a day or so, I experience something like what you are describing, it's not an issue for me. Humidity or the lack thereof may also be a factor. I also have a number of Vario pages in each of my albums which helps. I would not abandon mounts for hinges (just me).

Hi Ringo

DO NOT LICK THE MOUNT! Your problem may be thin pages and too much moisture on the mount itself. Use a damp Q-Tip and on Hawid open top mounts apply the Q-Tip to the lower third of the mount and on split-back mounts, such as Showgard, the upper third. I have been using mounts for 20+ years and have never had a problem. However,I have never used albums and have always used blank quadrille pages which, in some cases, are a little thicker paper.

Jerry B