Good to see you on youtube. I use tempered glass plates discarded from coffee tables and shelves for cold pressing, and in my tiny press for heat pressing. I stack the glass panels with copy paper book sandwiches between, and some coffee table books on top for cold pressing.
Big John , I am so glad your back !!! I just recently found your channel, and let me tell you sir . I am so glad I did . Your honesty , love , and knowledge for comics is a amazing. I would love for you to clean and press my comics .my prayers to you on your health Big John.
Hey Big John, I absolutely love your videos-- thank you so much for sharing this knowledge. I've been cleaning and pressing for a couple of months and it's always great to see the way other people work. I do a similar approach but think I can improve my methods based on your approach. You've got a huge fan here in Roswell, GA!!!!
I just started watching your videos and I love them. I really hope you get healthy again quickly. You are an OG comic collector like myself. I have a Seal Masterpiece 210M press and can press two books at a time. For cold pressing I use the Ikea glass shelves made for the Billy bookcases (10" X 30" at 5 lbs $20). They let me cold press two books at a time and the glass cools the books as well. They are perhaps a bit pricey, but I had a whole bunch left over from when I owned a comic store.
I hope you get your health issues sorted, John. The world needs your knowledge and honesty. Your stainless steel table rocks! Curious why you use a metal plate to top off your pressing "sandwich", since the heating plate of the Tusy press itself is metal. More even heat distribution or slower heat dissipation, or what?
Big John I found you thanks to Rick (immaculate comics) and I never looked back. Sending you well wishes and sharing some of my strength with you big dude 💪💪 Keep doing what you do!!
I find it so hard to get the spine ticks that are right along the very spine the edge of the book they're still there.. you can only get the cardboard in so far without damaging the book.. 3 pieces of cardboard in a book is quite a bit
Where do you get the stainless steel table? Awesome work btw. Question 2 : so it's OK to put boards under the front and back cover? Alot of people use card stock paper. Question 3: where can I can cheap acrylic plates?
There is a big difference between a book that is pressed for 45 minutes and a book that was pressed for 3 days. With only 45 minutes you may not even have had enough prep time to work out all the defects in the book before pressing. Lets be conservative and say the book had no problem but was just not flat. In a 45 minute scenario you may flatten the book more then the original position but you may also add waves or have reversion of defects along the spine and edges. When adding any humidity to a book there needs to be a dwell time for the book to learn its new position and all the residual moisture to allow osmosis with the environment. Within 45 minutes you will surly not do either of these things. If you are sending you books to get graded, defiantly opt for the 3 day press. I don't know a reason why someone would want a quick press unless they just were selling a book locally the same day. Maybe you could explain the reasons for a quick press. A great tip for pressers is to slowly introduce elements to the book. You want to slowly add moisture. Slowly add heat. Slowly cool down.
Yup this is quite a smart way to do it, additionally if you take a peek at Woody Hyezmar's woodworking bible by go’ogling his latest projects, you'll come across very similar and creative plans he is currently giving away.