Cutting windows in mat boards

[David F. Stein]

Computerized mat cutting is now state of the art. One farnchise, I believe it i s Fast Frame, has these cutters.

[Doug Paramore]

I have had good success with the Logan Compact which I purchased from Dick Blick Art Supplies for about $70 including a cutter. The cutter has a slotted guide which rides down a lip on the holddown bar. It is extremely easy to use and cuts straight. I cut several different size mats with no problems. You have to watch for your pencil marks to stop and start the cutter at the right place, but that is not difficult. The advantage of your own cutter is that you can cut non- standard sizes and double mat sizes easily. Also, sometiems a mat window needs to be just a bit larger or smaller to fit a particular print.

Regards,

[Nicholas F. Jones]

Scott,

We use a Logan Simplex 750 of recent manufacture and are very pleased with the results. So far, no problem with curving cuts, but we do have two other small difficulties not mentioned in previous posts: (1) the mat guide tends to stick unless pressure is applied to the black knobs in precisely the correct fashion; (2) when using the bevel cutting head, a slight overcut is required in order to avoid a hanging corner. Personally, we don't find a slight overcut at all unattractive; in fact, they leave the (correct) impression that the work was done by hand. But the Simplex 750 is not cheap, and it might take quite a few mount jobs to realize a savings over custom work. (Custom work does not appeal to us because we often have to trim our contact prints slightly before mounting). Good luck. Nick & Marilyn.

[Brian Ellis]

I agree with Ken. If you're only matting several prints a year, I think you'd be much better off having them done commercially rather than investing in a mat cutter and trying to do them yourself. In my expeience, cutting mats is like anything else - you have to do it with some degree of frequency to become proficient at it. I bought a Logan of some kind - I forget the model but it cost around $120 from Light Impressions. It worked fine but I didn't use it enough to become really proficient and so much time passed between matting sessions that I had to relearn it every time I used it. So I've gone back to a local frame shop, though I'll look into using the company Michael mentions.

[Sandy Sorlien]

Hi Michael, Thanks for the tip on Superior, I'll check them out. I do like to use our local purveyors. Cheers, Sandy

[Jeff Buckels]

Yes, go with Superior Archival Mounts. Excellent work, reasonable rates. I tried cutting myself w/ a pretty expensive Logan for two years. Did absolutely the best I could, I'm not a total klutz, and I still wound up ruining about one window in three (the problem being that tendency for the cut to curve at the start). The cost of all the ruined board made doing it myself more costly than anything Superior's been charging me. I hope Superior hangs in there -- it's an awfully narrow "niche" they're occupying.... -jb

[scott jones]

Great discussion with lots of helpful ideas. Thanks everyone!

[Sandy Sorlien]

Scott, I just noticed you said you were going to drymount your 16x20s. There were a few threads on this site recently about drymounting, check them out. I would not drymount a print that small, just flatten it (if it's fiber) and use paper corners so it can be removed.

[Michael A.Smith]

No Scott, Sandy is wrong. Dry-mounting is more archival. See my article on "Advances in Archival Materials" on our web site.

Michael A. Smith

[Michael Feldman]

I own a Logan 700 Simplex mat cutter purchased about 15 years ago. The 700 is similar to the current 750 Simplex model. I had the same problem that Sandy was describing (the first inch of the cut was not straight on bevel cuts) and I used it and used it only for straight cuts since then. Recently, I contacted Logan Technical Support (getting their phone number was a major accomplishment) and asked them about my problem and whether their newer models fixed the problem I was encountering. They told me that my 700 Simplex is a good cutter and my problem was probably that the blade was extended too far and was flexing during the first part of the cut. Sure enough, I set the blade to just barely extend past to bottom of the mat and the problem has been significantly reduced, if not eliminated.