Pins, suitable for the lime wood spreading boards

[lamprima2]

I recently purchased a pair of adjustable limewood spreading boards.
The woodwork seems to be good. To my disappointment, I could
not insert my regular sewing pins into the lime wood: they bent.
I always use sewing pins on my plastic and balsa boards.
I was told that Paradox's "Preparation pins" would
work well with the lime wood (Glass Headed pins, 44,0 x 0.65 mm).
Any suggestions on the pins suitable for lime wood boards?
Thank you all,

[boghaunter1]

Hello lamprina2,

I find that even the heads of good quality? (most made in China...) glass headed pins will often detach leaving sharp spikes to remove with needle nose pliers! I have a couple of boxes of 1" & 1.5" T-shaped pins (available online). These pins are easy to push into hard wood & to remove. I have used mostly cork covered wooden spreading boards for more than 4 decades with great success. I find the cheap foam boards often don't hold pins securely. The very first 3 adjustable spreading boards I ever purchased were from BioQuip waaaay back in the late '70's & were supposedly made of basswood. I couldn't believe how hard the boards were... they are still sitting unused in a back closet!... someday I will reline the surfaces with .25" cork. Since that time I have built around 100 cork surfaced spreading boards of all sizes... & I started building them soon after I got the BioQuip ones! I have many boards as I leave the specimens on the boards for a minimum of one month. Leaving Lepidoptera on the boards for only a couple of days (as many, many online newbies suggest!) only invites the wings readily springing back up... my own experience from my early days of collecting.

John K.

[Chuck]

basswood. I couldn't believe how hard the boards were...

My basswood boards are now covered with balsa.

Found on the internet:

Whilst American Basswood has a Janka rating of 410, European Lime Wood has a Janka Rating of 700.

Western White Pine – a favorite wood type amongst wood carvers – has a Janka rating of 420.

Whilst Balsa has a Janka rating of just 22.



...so I'll stick with Balsa.

[lamprima2]

John,
I'll try to use T-shaped pins on limewood
or cover the board with the cork if this doesn't work.
By the way, I always keep the leps on the spreading board for at least a month,
based on experience from my early collecting days - a few decades ago

Chuck,
I just learned about Janka's ratings from your reply; this is interesting.
It looks like my old BioQuip boards are made of balsa.

Thank you both,
Sergey

[Chuck]

John,
I'll try to use T-shaped pins on limewood

Sewing pins and T pins? Can't you get dedicated thin insect pins?

[Jshuey]

Why not just use insect pins? I use #2 pins for everything I spread, including pinning the bugs, moving the wings and nailing down paper strips to hold the wings in place. Works well with my basswood boards.

And it makes life simple.

John

[mothman55]

Agree with John, I have some of the old Bioquip basswood boards and find that #2 and #3 insect pins work well. Yes you do have to apply some pressure to pierce the relatively hard basswood, but I find with small specimens like hairstreaks and blues, the smooth surface makes pulling wings forward less risky. I also have some balsa surfaced boards which I prefer for medium and larger specimens, but the balsa surface can be a bit rougher which causes problems on the delicate little leps.

[Chuck]

I use #2 pins for everything I spread,

A couple years ago you said #3, but perhaps were kidding.

Of course, some collectors don't even use pins, so even #2 would be mortifying to them.

All of my wing / setting pins are 0. I find 00 bend too easily.

Now, about Basswood- hmm...so may be better for Lycaenids and Skippers and such? Is this consensus? If so, and Mothman uses #2 and #3 with Basswood, and John uses #2, I'm rather surprised that not everyone uses smaller (size 0) for small specimens. I'd like to hear more experiences.

[adamcotton]

I am a bit mystified why people like to use spreading boards made solely of wood, I suppose there must be a good reason.

Personally I make boards from foam, which are just fine for my Papilionidae. I cut 60cm lengths of 1cm foam sheet and glue them to a 2.5cm base. Different widths of both thicknesses can be used to make different sized boards, and groove widths. I can't imagine that it would be difficult to make the surface angled if required. Once there are too many pin holes in the boards (mainly in the groove) I just make replacements, but each one lasts about 5 years or more.

Adam.

[lamprima2]

John,
I'll try to use T-shaped pins on limewood

Sewing pins and T pins? Can't you get dedicated thin insect pins?

Chuck,
Of course, I pin the specimens to insect pins.
Why should I pin the paper, covering the wings, with insect pins?
Please see the pick posted here a long time ago.
The sewing pins are much more convenient and cheaper,
providing the board is soft enough (balsa or plastic)

[bobw]

I've always used Watkins & Doncaster boards made of cork on a plywood base. The cork is covered with paper, but I've been using some of these for more than 50 years!

[adamcotton]

I actually still have a few of those W&D boards from the 1970s, but I don't use them because they are too short.

Here's an example with specimens that have already dried and are ready to remove. My drying oven has shelves that are about 80cm deep, so I make foam boards 60cm long. I can put 7-8 large Papilio on one board (obviously a wider one than this!) or up to 20 smaller Parnassius or similar size butterflies. The ones in the photo are quite large for the genus so there are only 16 on this board.

spreading board.jpg (462.76 KiB) Viewed 7455 times

Adam.

[Chuck]

I went back to balsa, it just seemed more comfortable to work with than foam. In fact I converted my foam by adding balsa. Perhaps just what one is accustomed to.

[bobw]

I actually still have a few of those W&D boards from the 1970s, but I don't use them because they are too short.

Here's an example with specimens that have already dried and are ready to remove. My drying oven has shelves that are about 80cm deep, so I make foam boards 60cm long. I can put 7-8 large Papilio on one board (obviously a wider one than this!) or up to 20 smaller Parnassius or similar size butterflies. The ones in the photo are quite large for the genus so there are only 16 on this board.

spreading board.jpg

Adam.

Looks like you've been dealing with Sergei!

[Jshuey]

I use #2 pins for everything I spread,

A couple years ago you said #3, but perhaps were kidding.

Of course, some collectors don't even use pins, so even #2 would be mortifying to them.

All of my wing / setting pins are 0. I find 00 bend too easily.

Now, about Basswood- hmm...so may be better for Lycaenids and Skippers and such? Is this consensus? If so, and Mothman uses #2 and #3 with Basswood, and John uses #2, I'm rather surprised that not everyone uses smaller (size 0) for small specimens. I'd like to hear more experiences.

I misspoke if I said #3. Eric Metzler got me hooked on number 2s decades ago. And there is not a butterfly on the planet I can't use it on. Brephidium exilis is a little challenging - but I do it.

I guess I never really thought about why I use wood boards - just always have. I like basswood rather than balsa because I can polish it with 1000 grit sand paper. Skippers are generally muscle bound, and it takes a lot of pressure to move the wings. The basswood allows me to apply that pressure, and is very smooth allowing the wings to slide.

john

[adamcotton]

Looks like you've been dealing with Sergei!

I have had all of these specimens for years, most of them are indeed from Sergei, and I have been on a spreading binge. He visited me a few times some years ago, and we help each other with our studies occasionally (mainly he helps me ).

Adam.

[adamcotton]

Skippers are generally muscle bound, and it takes a lot of pressure to move the wings. The basswood allows me to apply that pressure, and is very smooth allowing the wings to slide.

That reason for using wooden boards makes sense to me.

Adam.