Spreading Boards

If you want very lightweight setting boards, make them yourself from foam. Use 2 thicknesses, 1 inch and 1/2 inch. Cut the 1 inch foam into the required length and width of the board, then cut two 1/2 inch strips of the same length and wide enough to cover most of the top of the 1 inch base piece, but slightly narrower than half the width. How much narrower depends on how wide a groove you require.

Next use white latex glue to stick the two 1/2 inch foam strips on top of the 1 inch base, with the outer edges of the 1/2 inch strips aligned with the outer edges of the lower 1 inch base. The result is a setting board with a groove down the middle that can be used once the latex glue has dried. You can easily make many different widths of boards, and also different widths of grooves, depending on requirements. Of course you can also make the boards as long as you want them to be.

If you want to spread very small butterflies or moths on shorter pins, then use thinner foam for the two strips on top of the base. Do bear in mind though that thinner foam will break more easily, so I do not recommend making the base from thin foam.

Adam.

Adam, coincidentally I did just as you describe last night, except that instead of gluing the layers together, I pinned them so that the width of the groove can be adjusted.

To create angled top surfaces, maybe you could saw off the bottoms of the upper layers on a slight angle before attaching them to the base. I will try this next time I make another one, unless someone proposes an easier way.

James

I have been using self-made foam setting boards for years. I make them 60cm long so they fit nicely into my drying cabinet with a gap at both ends for airflow.

With regard to pinning the upper layer, I tried that at first, but found that the boards were much less rigid, and the upper layer could come loose if not careful. I decided it was better to glue them for safety, and as it is very easy and cheap to make the boards I just discard the old ones when they become too full of pinholes (after many years).

The major pin damage is actually in the groove - as well as the specimen pin other pins are pushed into the groove firstly to hold the body in place as the wings are moved into the correct position (these are removed once the 4 wings have been pinned) and crosspins for the antennae and abdomen. One useful trick is to turn the board round after considerable use so that the bottom end becomes the top. That has the effect of changing the position in the groove of each specimen, and helps extend the life of the setting board.

With regard to Tom's question about angled boards, I am sure it can be done but in reality many specimens' wings spring up if the collection is kept in humidity, rather than down. The important point is to ensure they are completely dry before removing specimens from the setting board, don't rush to remove them, and also to minimize humidity in the collection room. Many Japanese collectors use a tiny amount of cyanoacrylate glue under each wing joint to stop this from happening. The only problem with this is that the specimens cannot subsequently be relaxed again.

Adam.

Take some sheet balsa (available in any hobby store) back with you. You can even cut it to size so it's manageable. When you get to Congo have somebody make you 3 piece (left, right, bottom) spreading boards and glue the balsa on it. Voila.

So, it seems like I'll need to find some instructions for building simple but air-tight boxes and then slather them with varnish to help keep out humidity. Though, I think the greater challenge will be finding a Congolese carpenter with the appropriate equipment and necessary skill to get it built properly...

That would be a good idea, but it's looking like I'll be living in the DRC on a permanent basis starting next summer. I'll probably bring spare specimens back to Canada when I visit and slowly build up a collection in here over the years.

What advantages are there in using glassine envelopes over paper triangles?

Tom

The MAJOR disadvantage of glassine envelopes is that once the specimen is dry it is very difficult to take the specimen out of the envelope to have a look at it and put it back inside again without damaging it. With triangles (which can also be reused) you can open and close them as many times as you like without any risk to the specimen.

Another problem with using glassine envelopes is that unless you are very precise how you put the freshly collected butterfly into the envelope, the antennae end up sticking out across the space in the envelope, and once dry will break very easily. If you put the specimen head down into a triangle with antennae flush against the forewing costa this can never happen, and the antennae are protected from damage.

One important issue to be aware of with glassine envelopes is that some of them are stuck together with a water soluble glue that runs when it is put in the relaxing box and sticks butterfly wings together. Most makes of glassine envelopes are not like this, but I have had this happen a couple of times and it destroyed the specimen inside.

Adam.