mount cutter preference

rymus

What with all the talk of mounts & framing here lately I thought I'd throw in my piece. Aside from the cheap, freestyle bevel cutting tools, has anyone got any experience with the most expensive options, a la the maped 60cm or 80cm cutters or the likes? I have yet to cut a straight edge with the heap of crap I bought not so long ago and so was thinking of getting one of these seemingly much better products. Specifically the Maped range, given that I was oogling it on ebay earlier. It may be dangerous to ask, but has anyone got an opinion?

eas

no opinion, but am interested in this topic - how much do these tools cost?

rymus

the basic enough one I bought was around €25. The one on ebay I'm looking at is around £50.

Carrigman

Those Mapeds on Ebay look good. However, I think the Alto 4501 would be better. Have a look at it at Ebay.co.uk. It's more expensive at around £100 but it looks more sturdy. On a related subject, does anyone have any tips on mounting photos to backing boards? Dry mounting is the best way but I could not justify the expense of a dry mounting press. I've tried double sided tape in the past and it worked well but when I went looking for some recently I could not find any wide enough. The tape in Easons and Cork Artists Supplies
was barely half and inch thick. I need some about 2 inches wide if possible.

Alun

On a related subject, does anyone have any tips on mounting photos to backing boards?

Have you tried the spray? Scotch (or was it 3M?) make it IIRC.

dubtom

Dont use spray, it's permanent and will damage the picture when removed. I use 2 inch masking tape which can be got at any hardware, I've had stuff mounted by 'pro's' and they use the same. Rymus, I have the Logan mountmaster, can't find a site for them, it comes with a holder that pins the board to the mounter making bevel and straight cuts a doddle. Beleive it or not I actually gave one away at xmas, advertised on boards but no reply. I had bought one at the camera show in the UK last year and they sent me a second one free, God knows why.I think they retail at about 90 sterling.

FinoBlad

Rymus, these cutters on http://www.longridge.co.uk/ are highly rated. I dont have one myself, not yet anyway, but she's in the pipeline

Carrigman

dubtom wrote:

Dont use spray, it's permanent and will damage the picture when removed. I use 2 inch masking tape which can be got at any hardware, I've had stuff mounted by 'pro's' and they use the same.

What I want to do is to *permanently* mount a photo on a backing board and place the mat over it. Spray actually is not permanent for this purpose as over time bubbles and creases will become obvious in the mounted print as the spray adhesive deteriorates. Not using any adhesive - double sided tape, dry mounting tissue - and just attaching the photo to the mat with masking tape will work fine provided you do not want to permanently mount the picture. That is what I'm doing with the Woodies A4 Mats and Tesco frames - see the "Cheap and Cheerful framing option" thread. However, you will notice some warps - depending on the light and the angle you look at the photo - because the photo is not absolutely flush against the mat. If you intend to change the photos in the frames every few months - as I do for these cheapie frames - then it's just a minor irritation (and probably not obvious to most observers). But for the odd photo I'd like to permanently mount the question is how best to achieve that flush, warp free look.