Bought a dry press today
 

Somebody local had one who was no lonfger using it and is the same kind used by many comic pressers.

I have lots and lots of old worthless comics to test to hone a technique. I have the benefit of having worked with document restoration at the smithsonian (from my schooling) so I will be using some techniques I learned there as well(no chemicals or altering substances. Only through hydration).

My goal is to take a very secretive and esoteric process and share it with those here.

I will keep people updated.

Awesome!!! I have always been curious in this process and its results. Thanks for the update and I look forward to seeing how it works.

What does the press look like? How much did.it cost if you dont mind me asking. Would love to mess around with one. You can pm me if you dont want to disclose the price. Thanks

I will take pics of it when home.

I had pretty good results with an x-men 111 when I came home but now going to try another with my first technique.

Here are some before pics. This is an issue of x-men 116 probably grade 8.0-8.5.

This technique is a complete dry run. No humidity bath at all (will explain and show how that is done later).

Also, if the results are positive. I will post full details on what I did.

Yes please explain how this all works..thanks

And for those that wanted to see. This is the dry press I got.

Very cool.

I may have to invest in one of those. Could make a big differnce on some older books with denty spines/covers

Are those before or after pics of that X-Men 116?

Looks like before.... Carr keep us updated. Great investment..

Yeah. Those are before pics. After dinner I will take some after pics and explain what I did.

Ok so here is my first real dry run test.

For information purposes. I have the press set at 195 degrees. It has a new cushion, and I used white gloss posterboard cut out over the pad, then I placed the comic between two pieces of regular white laser printing paper.

Comic was pressed for 5 minutes with heat on. I did not flip the comic (some do).

You DO NOT remove the comic from a dry heat press because at the cellular level molecules expaned and sudden cooling will cause the paper to curl and ripple. I left the book under the press for nearly an hour after I turned the head off.

Results: The spine roll is completely gone. Note: color break spine stress cannot be fixed. Only spin streeses that have not resulted in color breaks can be pressed out, I will show this on a newer comic (Superior Spiderman #1 Midtown that came to me in horrid shape will be later tonight)

The bad paper wrinkle on the back is completely gone as showing in the photo.

Dents and light scoring in the cover is gone as well.

I would say definite improvement.

Ok round two is in process. This time on a modern

One of the J Scott Campbell midtown variants I got in had a HORRID spine and I didn't want to sell it as it was, so it is my modern Guinea Pig. Check out the pics:

Results.

I backed off the heat some because modern on some books are all glossy and didnt want to run into a problem with pages fusing together. The book is actually sellable now.

Very nice, but what about those of us who can't afford a press..Is there an easy way to do these?

Actually that press only cost me $175... with some of the profits you have made off some sales they are very affordable :)

Definitely a warning for moderns with glossy pages, do not press for over 2 minutes or the pages will stick together. The best solution is to get some tissue paper and place between pages carefully to prevent any ink transfer. Tissue paper as in the stuff you see in wedding invitations

quick question, with that mt asm what would be the estimated grade for it? im new to grading and i have couple of comics i wanna know hot to roughly grade them..

Whats the make and model number of the press ?
I'm gonna find one for my house.

Made by Seal Inc

Jumbo-150 Dry Mounting and Laminating Press

Pressed some more x-men last night. Came through with flying colors.

Very awesome, Carrbeaz!!!

[QUOTE=Carrbeaz;4130070]And for those that wanted to see. This is the dry press I got.[/QUOTE]

^ I thought it was a panini maker and I was about to use mine, but noticed that it probably doesn't have any ridges like mine!

You might be able to start a small side business here with comic pressing :)!

G

[QUOTE=George19;4135640]Very awesome, Carrbeaz!!!



^ I thought it was a panini maker and I was about to use mine, but noticed that it probably doesn't have any ridges like mine!

You might be able to start a small side business here with comic pressing :)!

G[/QUOTE]

Maybe, but my goal is to make this information available to all. Rather than it being some super secret thing in the industry.

My next testing will be using a humidifier bath to see if it makes the pressing even more effective.

Ive ironed my comics before.