Is it common to pop a staple during pressing ? 0

[Lamborghinikid]

My subject is gold and silver age books with spine roll that are commonly pressed and fall into the 2.0 to 4.5 range. Alot of these books have a bit of small tearing around the staples which leads me to this question. Is it common to pop a staple during the process on these books? Opinions and personal experience is welcome , thanks 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Lamborghinikid

[joeypost]

A popped staple could happen on any book, if the person doing the pressing, is not proficient at their trade. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by joeypost

[Lamborghinikid]

Thanks , the reason I ask is I have a few silver age books that are attached but they are weak around a few staples. All of these books are in the 4.0 range. I recently had one pressed that had bad spine roll. It looks MUCH better and I think pressing it bumped the grade ,but during the process the bottom staple let go of the cover. What’s is the general thought within the community ? Have a better looking book with a popped staple or a book that has a very weak attatched staple and wrinkled ?

Option 1. Leave the book wrinkled with a very weak attatched staple. Have a book that has less eye appeal that’s a 3.5 to 4.0 grade

Option 2. Press the book . Have a book with better eye appeal but a high risk of having a staple pop ,that’s the same 3.5 to 4.0 grade

[Mystafo]

Structure is almost always more important to me than presentation (at least, with anything a press could fix...).  So in your example, I'd have to say Option 1.

[joeypost]

15 minutes ago, Lamborghinikid said:

Thanks , the reason I ask is I have a few silver age books that are attached but they are weak around a few staples. All of these books are in the 4.0 range. I recently had one pressed that had bad spine roll. It looks MUCH better and I think pressing it bumped the grade ,but during the process the bottom staple let go of the cover. What’s is the general thought within the community ? Have a better looking book with a popped staple or a book that has a very weak attatched staple and wrinkled ?

Option 1. Leave the book wrinkled with a very weak attatched staple. Have a book that has less eye appeal that’s a 3.5 to 4.0 grade

Option 2. Press the book . Have a book with better eye appeal but a high risk of having a staple pop ,that’s the same 3.5 to 4.0 grade

Again, it comes down to the person doing the work. If they have the experience, they will look at a book and say the risk of popping a staple outweighs the benefit from a press, and they will not press the book. Even with that it occasionally happens to the very best, so know that going in. 

In certain cases where the spine roll is so severe and CGC would not be able to encapsulate it, it may be worth the risk. 

[Bomber-Bob]

57 minutes ago, Lamborghinikid said:

Thanks , the reason I ask is I have a few silver age books that are attached but they are weak around a few staples. All of these books are in the 4.0 range. I recently had one pressed that had bad spine roll. It looks MUCH better and I think pressing it bumped the grade ,but during the process the bottom staple let go of the cover. What’s is the general thought within the community ? Have a better looking book with a popped staple or a book that has a very weak attatched staple and wrinkled ?

Option 1. Leave the book wrinkled with a very weak attatched staple. Have a book that has less eye appeal that’s a 3.5 to 4.0 grade

Option 2. Press the book . Have a book with better eye appeal but a high risk of having a staple pop ,that’s the same 3.5 to 4.0 grade

For me, no doubt about choosing Option 1. Even if the staple does not pop, I have had personal experiences with staple tears. You have to look at the location of the staple to make a good decision. If it's pretty much on the vertex of the spine, you should be fine. However, if it's off from the spine, there is danger. Also, I think a low grade wrinkled book looks unnatural with poor eye appeal after being flattened from a press. 

[Lamborghinikid]

Thanks for the opinions. I would also like to make sure i am using the “popped staple” term correctly. I think the correct term that I am looking for is “detached cover at the staple.”  Or does everyone just use the term “popped staple”  ?

[Bomber-Bob]

1 hour ago, Lamborghinikid said:

Thanks for the opinions. I would also like to make sure i am using the “popped staple” term correctly. I think the correct term that I am looking for is “detached cover at the staple.”  Or does everyone just use the term “popped staple”  ?

CGC uses 'detached' . It is common in the marketplace to use either popped or detached, synonymous terms. 

[joeypost]

2 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

For me, no doubt about choosing Option 1. Even if the staple does not pop, I have had personal experiences with staple tears. You have to look at the location of the staple to make a good decision. If it's pretty much on the vertex of the spine, you should be fine. However, if it's off from the spine, there is danger. Also, I think a low grade wrinkled book looks unnatural with poor eye appeal after being flattened from a press. 

You can fix a spine roll without a full book press. Just an FYI.

[Bomber-Bob]

4 hours ago, joeypost said:

You can fix a spine roll without a full book press. Just an FYI.

Good to know !

[Tony S]

Another thing to consider not yet mentioned is the effect of both spine roll and a popped staple on the grade. 

If a book has an unsightly spine roll AND the grade is 4.0 or less, it's entirely possible that such a book that has a staple detach during pressing still stays the same grade or even improves.  Because the pressing improved enough defects to offset the detached staple. And because a detached staple isn't that big a defect on a 2.0-3.0 book where it would be a huge defect on a 9.0 book. 

Spine rolls are unsightly and removing them will oftentimes make a dramatic improvement in the looks of a book. It becomes a risk reward thing. If the risk of staple(s) detaching is low, it is more worth taking the risk. If the risk is high, it's probably best to pass. And as Joeypost notes, if the spine roll is too large CGC will decline to encapsulate the book.  Which forces a decision. Press to encapsulate. Or leave raw. 

Edited October 30, 2018 by Tony S