Dry Mount Jig

[Drew Wiley]

I don't trust art store trianges of draftsmans' tee-squares unless I've carefully double
checked them (I have acquired some expensive ones which are truly square), and I
certainly wouldn't trust a strip of matboard. Matcutter don't always cut without a slight bow effect - again, unless you've carefully aligned them and perfected your
technique - and worse, factory trimmed board is not generally square itself. Usually
at least one side is out of square; so you need to establish a reference edge and
square everything else according to that. And don't trust squares in hardware stores
or home centers either, especially drywall squares. Real quality control is a rare commodity nowadays.

[KenM]

Real quality control is a rare commodity nowadays.

Which is why I choose to make my own mounting jigs. They're as accurate as you want (or need) them to be.

[Bruce Barlow]

I use standard top margins on standard board sizes. So, I have "templates" out of mat board in that width, with a center mark, and marks along the edge corresponding to my usual print sizes.

Align the template with the top and sides of the board, position the print, aligning it with marks on the template, put my lens bag full of lead scraps packaged in triple plastic bags on the print to hold it and voila - a positioned print ready for tacking, marking corners, however I'm mounting it. Fast and foolproof.

I do all this on a Zone VI knockoff jig I made from a piece of plywood, glued centering ruler, T-square-with-centering ruler, and ruler glued up the side. But I only use it when I have an odd-size mat board, with a small number of prints that make it too cumbersome to make a new template. Works fine when I need it, which these days is seldom.