EC ed Posted December 26, 2015 Author Share Posted December 26, 2015 Your prediliction for statistics and charts warms my overly-analytic heart Ed. And we might need to talk again about one or more of those 162. I've been patiently waiting for the Australian dollar to rebound... This is brutal for you.... : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Your predilection for statistics and charts warms my overly-analytic heart Ed. And we might need to talk again about one or more of those 162. Nerd Love You two need to get a room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan57 Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 I've been patiently waiting for the Australian dollar to rebound... This is brutal... : I share your pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Well, I already have a collection update! The Tales of Terror Annual #2 arrived today from Mr. Bedrock, which finishes that title run This is a tough set... When I decided to do the completist thing and include the annuals, the thought of pulling this set off was daunting. I picked up the #3 back in 2013 (from fantasyland15)...that's the "easy" one of the three. I wasn't optimistic that I would nail this set down any time soon...the Tales of Terror Annual #1 is widely reputed to be one of the most difficult EC books to find...then, about 4 months ago, fantasyland15 offered his up in a sales thread... If memory serves, there was not one other single comment about it in his thread. Not so much as a "nice comic," much less a "dang, Don...that's one of the toughest ECs on the planet." As for myself... I remember it clearly...I was in a car dealership doing the paperwork to buy a new minivan...I was waiting for the sales guy to come back in from somewhere and browsing the boards on my smart phone...and I saw it. The guy comes back in, and I said...um, you'll have to excuse me for a minute...urgent business. That left the #2...not as tough as the #1, but way tougher than the #3. Mr. Bedrock just finished the job. In other news of the day...I just plucked off one of the missing Mad #28 variants from eBay...fast shipping...it arrived today. I'll post a pic of that one when I get the missing third variant... So, the "missing 22" is back down to the "missing 20": Across the Seas in a War Torn World Church that was Built with Bread Dandy Comics #2 Dandy Comics #6 Haunt of Fear #8 KO Punch Mad #28 "with very useful Income Tax Guide" variant Mad #28 "with a late and utterly useless Income Tax Guide" variant Out of the Past a Clue to the Future Picture Stories From the Bible Complete New Testament 1st printing (40-cent cover price) Picture Stories From the Bible Complete New Testament 3rd printing (50-cent cover price) Picture Stories From the Bible Complete Old Testament 6th printing Picture Stories From the Bible Complete Old Testament 7th printing Picture Stories From the Bible Complete Old Testament 8th printing Reddy Kilowatt 1B (Reddy Made Magic, 1956) Reddy Kilowatt 2B (Light's Diamond Jubilee, 1954) Reddy Kilowatt 3B (Space Kite, S. Calif. edition, 1956) Tales of Terror Annual #2 Two-Fisted Tales Annual #1 Two-Fisted Tales Annual #2 War Against Crime #4 Wonders of Wire Rope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibou Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Merry Christmas Ed! I really love this new journal and the (Ed)ucation it provides on the EC books... you know, it's stuff like this that sucks me right back in. Looking forward to more entries and keep up the great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 This is great, Ed. Thanks for putting it together and letting the rest of us share your collecting journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Thanks for checking in, Hibou and Sqeggs! Glad you're enjoying the read! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 While I'm waiting for more collection updates, I thought I'd take a slight sidetrack and briefly discuss the subject of liberating books from slabs... In this journal, I've mentioned cracking out books several times already...I tend to do that based on several factors...the more of these factors that are present on a given book, the more likely it will achieve liberation: I want/need to look at the book interior for some reason or another; it's been in the slab for awhile, and it therefore needs its microchamber paper changed (I start getting antsy about this once a book has been in a slab for 10 years or so). I realize that the need to change the microchamber is debatable...but it makes sense to me that it should be changed after awhile. Also, I like putting 5 sheets in my books (if 2 sheets is good, 5 sheets sounds better ); I'm happy with the book as a long-term keeper; the book has a small "value/grade increment" ratio...that is, if the change in the book's value from it's current grade to the next lower grade would be relatively "small", I'm more likely to crack it out...if the change in value would be relatively "large", I'm more nervous about cracking it out; the slab is damaged, so no point leaving it in there; (as an example, that Crime SuspenStories #1 that I cracked out earlier in the journal satisfied the first four of these factors - so, it was a no-brainer). Besides, I simply think a book has better long-term protection in a mylar + fullback with 5 sheets of fresh microchamber, rather than being in a slab. So, I'm biased towards cracking them out for this reason alone...not to mention that I can also then enjoy the other 32+ pages of the book that you can't see from the slab's 2-D view. Also, if they're in a mylar, there's no longer a chance that the book can be damaged by the slab's inner well I also understand that opinions on this vary, and some collectors can't understand why someone would crack out any book. That's a fun discussion...and there's no one right answer.... Now...let me turn to the "how-to." I've had people (well, maybe it was just one person ) ask me how I do it. So, I took some photos of my process and showed him via PM...so, it's easy enough to copy and paste that in here for broader consumption. You can see videos on YouTube of people cracking out books...in every video I've seen, the person doing the cracking uses scissors as their tool of choice. I started that way, but I was never comfortable with the stress/torque placed on the book edges as the scissors made their repeated cutting motions. So, I started thinking about a better way...and I replaced the scissors with a guillotine paper cutter as my tool of choice...for me, it works much, much, much better. I crack out enough books that it was easy to justify the $60 investment in the cutter (also, it's what I use to cut my microchamber paper to size ). I've never seen any videos of anyone using this method, so consider this an exclusive ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 The outer shell is easy, of course. I use a small flathead (or something similar) and insert it into the right hand side seam. Then, slide it upward towards the top right corner, and twist, which pops the post: Next, I slide it along the top edge over to the top left corner, which pops that post: (you don't have to use the flathead...you can usually just pull the seams apart with your hands...but I like using the flathead) VOILA! The inner well is out. Now, the fun begins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Here's the cutter I use...the Dahle Vantage 15E I bought mine off Amazon: LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 The inner well has a recessed offset that the book rests in. That is, one side of the inner well is completely flat across its entire surface, and one side has an offset ridge all the way around. You want to put the completely flat side down onto the cutter table. In most cases I've seen, the flat side is on the front cover side of the book, as is the case with this one (I'm just using the screwdriver to illustrate/highlight the offset): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 I trim three edges (all edges EXCEPT the spine edge). I start with the leading edge. Here's the book in position on the cutter table. Note the black edge of the cutter table...that black edge is where the blade passes, so as long as the book is not extending over that black edge, the blade will not touch the book. You can also see the inner well seam just to the right of the black edge. The game is to position the book so that the blade will pass just barely to the left (on the table side) of that seam: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Another nice feature of this cutter is that holder/guard that flips down onto the book to hold it in position while the blade comes down. Also, that holder/guard that comes down does a very solid job of keeping the book pressed tight and flat against the cutter table during the cut...so, the book is not moving at all while this is happening, which is great. Again notice that no portion of the book is visible to the right of that table edge, which means that the blade can't touch the book: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Drop the hammer, and make the cut. You see the trimmed piece laying on the table to the right of the cutter: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Repeat on the top edge: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 And again on the bottom edge: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Which gives you this: Now, slide that baby out of there: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Thanks for the photos. I'm even more scared of cutting into the inner well than I was before... didn't think that was possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Thanks for the photos. I'm even more scared of cutting into the inner well than I was before... didn't think that was possible. This guillotine cutter method is foolproof I haven't nicked a book yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vorpal Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Very helpful posts! Thanks for the nice walk-through of the slab-cracking process. I also like the tips/reasons for doing so contained in your first post today. Personally, I'm torn about slabs. I love the fact that they protect the book and establish a hard grade, but hate the fact that they basically make the the book useless for anything other thank looking at the cover. I like reading my books, and there's nothing like the experience of reading the original printing... seeing the imperfections, smelling the paper, reading the vintage ads and letters pages... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
