Mounts - And Getting Album Pages Flat

If you are handy, you could make some spacers for your album. Spacers would be about 3/4" wide, and they would be the height as the pages. Also, they would need to be punched, or drilled to fit over your album posts. I use book board, or mat board for this purpose. A craft knife and steel rule are used to make spacers. They can be placed every 5, 10, or 20 pages to even up the spacing and make the pages lie flat in the album. If you know a printer, he/she could punch the holes in your spacers after you have cut and marked them.

I am switching from using 24lb paper to 65lb paper, however when the pages come out of my laser printer they curl badly. I want to use the heavier paper as I feel they will look better than the 24lb paper but this curling of the paper is a deal killer.

Ringo,

One solution not yet discussed is to use more album binders. Fewer pages per binder will mitigate the problem.

Jack Kelley

@ThomasDriver: Thanks for reviving this thread.

I agree the heavier paper is nicer. But you're right about the curling. A few printers have a 'back door' for heavier stock that allows it to pass straight through rather than moving around the rollers. Unfortunately, many printers don't have that option.

I also think moisture/dampness is a factor. If you live in a humid area, the curling seems a bit worse.

I'm afraid the only advice I know is to 'press' your pages -- as soon as they're out of the printer, while they're still hot, lay them flat with a heavy book(s) on top of them. Let them cool a couple days.

Let us know if you find a solution.
KirkS

I use an Epson WP-4020 inkjet for printing my pages as they don't curl at all. A little slower but they stay flat.

I appreciate the suggestions. I've tried using the manual print option which reduces the paper path but it still curls. I've got a couple reams of the 24lb paper on the pages now and will see how that works, but if that doesn't work I guess I'll go back to my inkjet printer, as dutchman suggested. Its slower and more expensive but at least it doesn' curl the pages. Again thank you for your suggestions.

My hunch is that the curl is cause by the heating stage of laser printing. As I understand it, Laser printing involves melting the toner so it sticks to the page. If you use a different type of printer (at home or in a print shop) you may well solve this problem.

My fix for those curling pages is to send them back through the printer upside down and just print a few periods in the center of the page. I found that will straighten them back out but slightly curl them the opposite way but no where near as bad. Then I will lay them in a pile, while still warm and fresh out of the printer, with the curl facing down and put a book on them for a bit. They will then be fine.

I actually made a PDF file with 3 periods dead center of the page so whenever I print pages, I just put a stack of 20 or so curled pages back in the printer and make 20 copies.

Pretty much, but I think the technical term is "fusing" -- you may have heard about people replacing the fusers in laser printers.

And I think that fusing process really affects the paper when there is even the slightest amount of moisture/humidity.

Kirk

I cringed when you mentioned putting a hinge on an unhinged stamp. Even on a low value set, that will reduce the value to 0. Isn't there some law that prohibits stamp collectors from using a hinge on an unhinged stamp? Punishable with lashes or caning? I accidentally hinged one about 2 months ago and it is still stressing me out.

I completely agree with you about hinging an unhinged stamp. I even mount the really cheap canceled stamps, heck the mount costs more than the stamp is worth sometimes, but I am going for the looks more so than the cost and I think having all my stamps in mounts improves the looks.
Back to using 65lb paper. I have pretty much put mounting my collection on hold till I decide how I'm going to print my pages. I have several printed and sitting under a couple 500 pg packages of 24lb paper right now and am waiting till tomorrow to see how they turn out.
I am strongly leaning towards shelving the laser for this and just using one of my inkjets. It will cost more but I am only looking to use the 65lb paper for Austria, Belgium, and Germany. these are my countries of main interest. Of course since I already have almost 3000 stamps mounted on 24lb paper for these countries this will be a major undertaking. LOL.
I am a worldwide collector and for the rest of my stamps I will continue to use the 24lb paper. heck I have 16 500 sheet packages of the paper. LOL

I have a USA MNH collection which covers over 100 years. All in black backed Showgards. I also have a mint collection of British and Commonwealth stamps which are proudly hinged. Both look spectacular so it must be that beauty is truly in the beholders' eye.

Jack Kelley

Jack
I agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and hinged stamps do look OK, the problem I have with hinging a mint unhinged stamp is not looks but the irreparable damage to the gum on the back.

After trying to flatten the pages with weights and leaving it overnight I am still not happy with the curling issue. I used my HP4650 inkjet with no issues at all so I have decided to print my best albums with 65lb paper using my inkjet printer.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and help.

Tom Driver

One night is not enough, but it will go away. I've been printing via laser on 67 lb stock for three years, with no serious issues. I place them in a binder in their curled state, mount the stamps, then put them in storage. When I come back a couple of weeks or months later, they're flat.