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Post by vabrou on Nov 29, 2013 23:46:34 GMT -8
I first published about injecting water in specimens in 1973 (see attached pdf). I have been collecting insects every day and night for the past 58 years and have developed many variations of methods to relax specimens. I find the chemical chlorocresal to be the best product to use in relaxing chambers. I have dozens of relaxing chambers in plastic containers with a sprinkling of chlorocresal covered by 6-layers of medium wet paper towels or shamee cloth. This is then covered with a top layer of 1/16" mesh (non-absorbent) plastic or fiberglass. Since I operate a series of light traps, pheromone sesiids traps, fruit bait traps, flight traps, pitfall traps , and others I get large quantities of fresh specimens daily which I place all of them into the relaxing chambers till I can spread, pin or process by papering, etc. There is no one set of rules governing relaxing of various insects. Dealing with Lepidoptera, one can keep or relax specimens in a chlorocresal relaxer for weeks of months depending on the amount of humidity inside the container. Long storage of specimens in relaxing chambers is best to place tightly closed container in your refrigerator. I return from traps in the field with sesiid specimens already relaxed enough to spread after a 2-3 hour drive home. Dried papered specimens such as very large moths or any size skippers can be relaxed for weeks then wing muscles cut and minimally injected with water. Use only plain water, never alcohol for injecting, as detrimental surface wetting can occur with little notice. One should add water minimally to the relaxing chamber, never place free water (without paper toweling) in a relaxing chamber.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2013 4:32:10 GMT -8
It seems we have many different methods of relaxing here with some things working better than others. I myself, for most species have always used damp paper towels for nearly all of my 40 years of collecting apart from blues and birdwings which must never come into contact with water at any time, the same with green moths and a few others, all are perfectly ready to set after 24 hours with the exception of agrias and charaxes which require 2 days. One thing I would say is find out the methods that work for you and stick with them, never experiment on anything rare and costly and never attempt to set any specimen unless it is as relaxed as possible, impatience can be very costly both in relaxing times and how long the specimens are left on the boards but remember it is better to do it properly ONCE, than to make a mess and have to do it all again.
There is one thing that I have never been able to overcome, I have done a lot of setting over the last month and always suffer from sore thumb ends with pushing so many pins into the boards, it is agony after setting 50+ specimens and it hurts for a few days after, any pain relief tips that don't involve getting drunk to numb the pain would be most welcome.
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Post by nomihoudai on Nov 30, 2013 4:43:11 GMT -8
Dunc, I use styrodur foam boards since I had an accident with wooden boards and glass head needles that required surgery afterwards! There is a picture somewhere on insectnet of the x-ray of my finger, half of the glass head of the needle got stuck for 5 weeks in the middle of my finger after I pressed too hard and the head split in half. The styrodur works fine, I cut the groove with the help of a Nylon string and I glue paper with a fine mm² grid on top. Unfortunately making angled boards is more difficult but for butterflies (rhopalocera only) flat boards will just work fine. Edit, here is the pic:
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2013 5:40:56 GMT -8
I do have some polystyrene boards, the pins are much easier to insert than my cork boards but for some reason I just don't like them and I only use them when all of my cork boards are full and I have a lot of specimens to set, are styrodur boards similar material, I know one of my friends who makes his own boards uses a similar material like the oasis stuff that florists use for arranging plastic flowers but the only thing for me seems to be only set a few at a time but as you know when the season is in full swing and specimen turnover is high I would be doing it all year just to keep up with it all.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Nov 30, 2013 12:36:18 GMT -8
Hello again,
Re: why boil vodka or gin indeed? Wouldn't boiling simply first boil off the more volatile alcohol leaving ... water?... might as well stick to straight water to begin with ... MHO only...
I haved always used homemade, cork surfaced spreading boards (1/8 - 1/4" thick cork on cedar base) for the simple reason that pins are easily inserted & finger tips don't get sore. I have absolutely no use for BioQuip's adjustable basswood spreading boards... I bought 3 when I was 16 yrs. old (37 yrs. ago) & have rarely used them... you almost need a hammer to get a pin it!... maybe a bad batch... I don't know. I do have some large spreading boards that are made of cedar (old angled siding from houses... perfect to make cheap, numerous,& highly serviceable boards) that aren't cork covered (simply ran out of cork!). For these "harder" surface boards I simply took a 2" x 1/4-3/8" length of soft, scrap spruce wood & drilled a small, shallow hole in one end... just slightly larger than the pins I was using. Big enough to push the setting pins securely in the wood & comfortable to hold. A piece of dowling is ready made for this... setting pins may be a bit harder to pull out again, but it is always easier & SAFER pulling than pushing. On another note styrofoam boards are useless if you have to put some real pressure on a setting pin & they get so full of holes the surface becomes very irregular. Cork boards always self-heal & remain nice & flat & smooth even after decades of use... My opinions only... each to their own...
John K.
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Post by vabrou on Nov 30, 2013 14:38:18 GMT -8
Nearly 45 years ago I constructed from balsa wood sheets, over 100 lineal meters of pinning boards, each about 0.45 meters in length. These boards have lasted the pinning of nearly 1,000,000 insects of all types, especially spread Lepidoptera. They are still in very good condition, see illustrated boards in drying oven. I do not have any problems associated with pushing in pins in these boards. Though, there are certain cuts of balsa that are quite dense and those pieces I used for the other needed pieces when I constructed the boards rather then the top pinning surfaces. Also, I dry my specimens for several days at ambient room temperature and then for 48 hours usually, in a low temperature drying oven at 115°F, sometimes as much as 120 hours for very large specimens. It is important that relaxing of dried specimens be entirely completely relaxed so that the entire wing surfaces have the consistency as if it was freshly captured today, otherwise the wings will either droop or return to the upward position months after taken off from the boards. In 1993 I published instructions on how to construct balsa wood insect pinning boards, pdf attached Click on image for a larger view of the oven I special ordered and have used for over 30 years for drying my specimens. Oven drying also totally kills all pests, including eggs, larva and adults on the specimens and on the specimen boards. Also, all of my papered material is placed into the drying oven for 48-72 hours, after 48 hours at ambient temperature, which also kills all pests on those specimens. Vernon Antoine Brou Jr.
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Post by papiliotheona on Nov 30, 2013 18:22:47 GMT -8
A friend taught me the trick of relaxing in paper towels soaked in white vinegar. So far it works like a dream--mold is inhibited and the specimen fully reconstitutes with no fading, staining, or running like ammonia causes. Of course I still often inject a little room-temp water even after this.
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