Quadrille Leaves, Albums, Mounts

There was also - quite a long time ago - a thread here in making your own slipcases.

As always, lots of good advice here leading to all sorts of mix & match possibilities.

I don't print out album pages. My basic printer is an 8 1/2 by 11 inch printer, that can also do legal size (8 1/2 x 14 inches, here in the states). When I graduated to an "adult" set of albums and pages in the early 1980s, I went with the Scott Big Blue International pages. Those aren't easily printable.

As I got further into "stamping graduate school," I moved over some to International sized blank quadrille pages. Part 1 of the Scott International pages; 1840-1940; isn't comprehensive enough to continue using those pages. No need to use a ruler as the lines are already there. The best blank pages in that size, at least several years ago when I last made a purchase, came from Subway Stamp Shop in Altoona, PA. They licensed the page format from Scott as their G & K brand, and their blank pages were slightly thicker than Scott's own brand.

I've also bought some collections that came in Scott Specialty albums. I use some of those pages, but have to trim them down to fit into my International binders.

As for mounting stamps, I generally hinge up to a roughly catalog value of $50. Thanks to a local supplier here in Colorado, I have around 11,000 of the old-style Denison hinges. I still use the modern day Prinz hinges for cheap used stamps. An exception for hinging is if a stamp is on really thin paper. An example is some of the issues of Mexico issued in 1881-1883.

For mounts, I use the Showguard, black, split back, strips of varying sizes. If you are "sure-fingered," don't spend money on a mount cutter. I've used scissors for years and have yet to lose a stamp. I also have some old Harco brand black strips, open at the top, which I am using to mount cheap US plate blocks so they remain never hinged.

Good luck!

Coastwatcher – Here is the link you requested: https://www.printninja.com/printing...aux-leather. I was particularly attracted by their faux leather cases, which might be a nice match for albums by Lighthouse and such.

Steve – Thanks for the info on mounts! Much as I'd like to get by with scissors, I think I'll need to invest in a mount cutter. I can't cut a straight line by hand to save my life, and I'm overly sensitive to crooked lines!

Ask your spouse for a mount cutter for Christmas or birthday. They are not that expensive.

angore...I think that she would need to ask her husband!

fixed it...

Strongly recommend you cut mounts with a mount cutter - not scissors.

Again, if you are using black mounts on white paper, you will easily see the sides aren't parallel and it will stand out like a sore thumb.

Don't believe me? Go to ebay and look at scanned pages of collections with mounts. Shouldn't take too much energy to find a page of scissor cut mounts. Makes me cringe every time as my OCD takes over.

I have two mount cutters - a large and a small. The large doesn't cut well under 30mm or so due to the clearance cut out for the blade.

You can try Hobby Lobby or Michael's as well in the scrap booking section. I have had terrible luck with rotary/slide cutters trying to cut mounts.

Suggest only getting a guillotine/swing arm style cutter. I have a larger (200 mm) and a small (100 mm) Lighthouse

I promise you will be glad you set aside the scissors!!!

Additionally, if you do use quadrille pages and scissors, the lines will show you your cuts are not square and you will see them every single time you look at those pages.

Good luck and show us a page!

I agree. Mount cutters work well. I have two, one small, and one bigger one. I mostly use the bigger one though, for everything.

I have a swing arm cutter I purchased at Hobby Lobby. Would that work well enough, or should I invest in a mount cutter?

Hi

If it resembles this one it might work. However, this one may be more versatile:
http://www.subwaystamp.com/LH-STAMP.../ZLHCUTT180/

This would allow cutting multiple mounts of the same length.

Note: I contacted Showgard and they stated that their guillotines no longer have the ruler extension. As far as I am concerned, they are useless. How does one cut multiple mounts of the same length??

Jerry B

Could one measure mounts with a normal ruler and lightly score the plastic with a scissors before cutting it with the mount cutter?

I just started using a Fiskars rotary cutter and have had excellent results. It was $20 and I figured that they might very well make the ones branded by the philatelic supply brands anyway. What do the Lighthouse, Showgard and othere cutters do differently? Perhaps if I start having issues I might end up going to their cutters.

10 years of Fiskars cutting.
I use open top mounts, and cut with the stamp in the mount.
Never Failed.

Downside,
Fiskars is plastic, and the measurements fade away after years of use.
Expensive original outlay
Tough to source new blades, 4 used in 10 years.