Flat vs Angled

[Deleted]

I saw I bit of a discussion on another thread about using flat spreading boards as apposed to angled boards. I would be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter. I use angled boards for starters.

[leptraps]

I grew up using angled spreading boards. I had a friend who used flat boards because he used Riker Frames for his collection. It made sense to me.

I never mount specimen to display The ventral surface. That is why I pin them so I can pick them up and look at them.

I own about a hundred+ spreading boards, all angled. Some adustable for body and wing size, most are for noctuid moths and others for smaller butterflies and moths. All are made of Basswood. Works for me!

[Deleted]

I have used mostly .....slightly angled.......boards. I was told many years ago by Dr. Lee Miller that having specimens mounted with a slight upward angle in the wings do two things. One, when viewed from above, they look perfectly flat whereas the same lep mounted flat may tend to look droopy. Second, and more importantly, over the years with humidity changes, the ever so slight upward mount might droop to an exact flat position. If it was mounted flat, then this time and humidity factor will have the specimen actually droop to below flat. I have remounted many fewer specimens with a slight upward slant than those I mounted on a flat board. It is a matter of personal preference. It is important to make sure the angle is very slight.....some boards have too deep an angle for my taste. Don't forget that maintaining lower humidity levels in the collection room is of paramount importance.

Lastly, most of my wooden boards have a thin sheet of balsa wood on top. This allows for ease in pinning and helps to absorb moisture from the specimen wing. I simply glue thin balsa on top of the wing surface of the board from hobby supply stores. I use rubber cement to glue it to the board so replacement is easy and not too messy. Just my thoughts.......surely others will have different takes on this issue.

[Deleted]

Here is a pic of one of my balsa covered boards.

[Deleted]

Very good points so far. I don't Riker mount specimens so the angled boards are what I prefer. I think flat boards would work better for dragonflies though.

[cabintom]

I use flat, styrofoam (insulation type) homemade spreading boards. Light weight and easy to make.

[mothman27]

Mar 24, 2016 9:15:35 GMT -8 cabintom said:

I use flat, styrofoam (insulation type) homemade spreading boards. Light weight and easy to make.

Same here.

[Deleted]

Billgarthe: I like your visual drawer identification system.

[Deleted]

Thanks jtaylor. I used to have labels with typed genera listings, but they were awkward to read, so I went to the general image system. Now, with multiple genera in one drawer, I have to know that the image represents a group since I arranged them that way. I usually put the image of the main 'idea' of the group so I'll know that ones similar to that will be there as well.

[Paul K]

Mar 24, 2016 9:15:35 GMT -8 cabintom said:

I use flat, styrofoam (insulation type) homemade spreading boards. Light weight and easy to make.

I have switched to styrofoam flat boards too.
I used in the past angled adjustable wood boards but my specimens tend to be a raisers not droppers.
I found that freshly spread specimens are staying flat , but the one with wings folded dry even after good relaxation and water injunction after complitly dry still with changing humidity they tend to fold up a bit giving a horrible look.
I don't have a dry room in my house to achieve "0.005%" humidity . I don't think that is even possible without specially build chamber with all professional air ventilation/drying system which would most likely cost more then the house it self. And even in this case the lowest humidity as advertised would be 0.5%.
Unless you work for NASA I don't think there is available instrument to test the air with such accuracy anyway.

[Deleted]

Somehow there is a misunderstanding. .005% humidity is virtually impossible.....I agree. I don't believe I said or referred to such a number. My collection room is kept at a possible to attain level of 40-55% humidity. When I had papered material wingrise, it was usually because I did not 'work' the softened wings enough. I also inject gin into stubborn specimens to have the wings rest at ease and I never 'fight' with wings that want to rise when mounting. All my efforts (fights) go into getting the wings super ready to spread.

Lastly, when I know I'm going to directly put stuff into the collection, I travel with Schmidt Boxes and 'field pin' them so that they dry at ease as opposed to papering that dries the wings straight overhead. If I'm collecting for a friend or for trading material, then I do paper them. This field pinning resembles what a beginner collection might look like, but they are much easier to soften and mount doing this.

[bandrow]

Greetings,

I'm not a lepidopterist, but the historical focus of the museum where I work has been Lepidoptera. We use individual spreading blocks - one specimen per block - and they have a very slight angle to them. Two main reasons are those mentioned earlier by Bill - having a slight upward tilt to give the appearance of "flatness" and allowing for a slight amount of droop over time.

The angle is very shallow for another practical reason - by keeping the angle low, it allows for easy "shingling" of specimens in the drawers, drastically conserving space. When a specimen has a steeper upward angle, the neighboring specimen cannot overlap, and space is consumed. This might not be as important in a private collection, but when dealing with millions of specimens in a museum setting, it's critical to safely align as many specimens into a drawer as possible.

Cheers!
Bandrow

[Paul K]

Hello Bill
0.005% was Leptraps statement but I believed he mistaken that. I just did some research and the lowest humidity on Earth should be on Chile desert in Andys and in the inland Antarctica about 1%.
If someone could get that low in the house that would be really hursh environment to leave in and all the wooden drawers would cracked dry so plastic or metal should be used instead. Health could be at risk too.

Gin injection ... I have to try it.
I don't like gin so it can be possible to save it for insects

[timmsyrj]

My boards are flat, as can be seen in the "open topics section, Getting ready for the new setting season" thread, I use 10mm "foam core" or "foam board" basically, plastezote sandwiched between two sheets of thin white card.
As paulk has said, I've only found fresh set specimens to droop, relaxed papered specimens rise/spring, this is because the dried wing muscles have "memory" and start to move back to there original position when dried, since fresh specimens original position when dried is where they are set then they will not "spring" instead it's the weight of the wing itself that causes it to droop.
Also angled specimens appear flat because we look at them with 2 eyes (usually) for depth of field vision, we have 2 lenses, a camera has only one lens and angled specimens don't photograph perfectly if they are too angled, depth of field for macro shots is a very short distance and getting all the specimen in focus is difficult.

Apologises if this is obvious.

Rich

[leptraps]

My .005% was more of an expression of how dry my collection and work area is. My dehumidifier runs constantly and drains into sewer line under my sink. I do not have carpeting as the static jolt is a little annoying, special for my cats. I do know that living in Kentucky the humidity is not a huge issue as our home has electric heat and is air conditioned. I have been told by my HVAC guy that my dehumidifier is a waste of energy. When you have a very large collection Lepidoptera and all the work, effort and love you pour into it you do what makes you feel "Safe".