Goodness, now this idea won't give me peace. It must be thunk!

I think I will use the little set of comparison stamps as secondary to a main image. At the end of a year, I'll upload the little stamp images to my website so that others can compare their wear (with a key showing which stamp was carved on which carving material). I'll leave the main image unrevealed, though, so as not to spoil the surprise of the box.

Of course, it would be nice if I could plant it in Georgia or some other high traffic state where it could get some good wear during the experiment . . . instead of Louisiana, which boasts less than 200 active boxes in the entire state! ;-)

Here's what I'll use for comparison:

SpeedyStamp
PZ Cut White
PZ Cut Orange
MasterCarve
NASCO SafetyKut
Magic Rub Eraser
Pink Pearl Eraser
Polyvinyl Eraser
Gasket Rubber
Speedy Cut

That ought to do it, don't you think?

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

Mama Cache

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I think I will use the little set of comparison stamps as secondary to a main image. At the end of a year, I'll upload the little stamp images to my website so that others can compare their wear (with a key showing which stamp was carved on which carving material).

If you do that, make sure to get images from each stamp when new as well. At the end of the year -- or two years, or yearly from then on -- post a scan of each stamp image alongside what it looked like when new. That way people can see how much detail was achieved on each stamp when carved as well as how well it held that detail over time and traffic.

I've never gotten a straight answer on whether Nasco Softoleum is the same thing as SafetyKut only thinner or whether they are fundamentally different things. From the Nasco site, you get the impression they're the same thing except for thickness -- which is why I purchased a chunk of Softoleum. It is utterly unusable for rubber stamp carving, however, and others report that SafetyKut does work, leading me to believe they are not the same thing.

Hey, I'd be willing to ship you a chunk of this Softoleum garbage if you'll include it in the comparison. Drop me a line offlist with your s-mail address. I'm willing to bet you'll find that Softoleum is worse than Speedy-Cut!

I personally like PZKut best,actually the white mystery material was my favorite but it's no longer available:(

It would be interesting to see a chart where we could all vote on our favorite or rank our favorite an have the totals added to a chart *hint hint*

Shiloh

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It would be interesting to see a chart where we could all vote on our favorite or rank our favorite an have the totals added to a chart

Compiling a favorites list is what I offered to do months ago, but there were only a few takers. I'll be happy to create a chart and post it from my website.

Best as a separate post, I think. Do you think very many will "vote" . . . I wonder.

Mama Cache

Regarding favorite / preferred carving mediums... there's an open poll for this:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/letterbox-usa/surveys?id=1296701

For those who don't (or won't) go there:

184 Votes

SpeedyStamp           47
Mastercarve           47
PZ Cut                30
SpeedyCut             19
Other                 14
White plastic eraser   9
Pink Pearl eraser      8
Dick Blick's           7
Rubber gasket          2
Nasco Safety Kut       1

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Regarding favorite / preferred carving mediums... there's an open poll for this:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/letterbox-usa/surveys?id=1296701

What a great feature!

It's a quick join and vote method. If I create similar questions, do you think there would be enough participation to do so?

This is what I was looking for when I first started buying materials and tools.


Mama Cache

It might be helpful to attach that poll to a Wiki entry for stamp carving. Newbies tend to go there anyway, so they could see this instead of asking the same question over and over. They can still ask WHY someone prefers a certain medium...

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"

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Regarding favorite / preferred carving mediums... there's an open poll for this:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/letterbox-usa/surveys?id=1296701

Woulda been better if they had listed "Orange PZ Kut" and "White PZ Kut" separately, since they are fundamentally different carving mediums. Of course, splitting that vote would have made both rank lower.

It also would have been interesting if they had asked each voter how many materials from the list they had tried. I'm betting a lot of those people are using a favorite carving material because they haven't carved anything else. Especially that one guy using Safety Kut; it's hard to imagine he's even tried a pink pearl eraser.

I'd also like to see what all qualifies as "other". I made a stamp from a rubber mounting bushing for an automobile once.

It's really sad that so many people are using Speedy-Cut.

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It might be helpful to attach that poll to a Wiki entry for stamp carving.

What about adding it to our profiles? To the 'favorites' area (where the favorite books, movies, etc. are listed)? That seems an easy fix... then interested parties could check carvers that they like to see what material they prefer.

~SHH :-)

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What about adding it to our profiles? To the 'favorites' area (where the favorite books, movies, etc. are listed)? That seems an easy fix... then interested parties could check carvers that they like to see what material they prefer.

That's a great idea! I know that the interview questions can be viewed in a list (i.e. all of the answers to the same question). I wonder if these could be, too? The list links could be added to Wikiboxing pages that would best contain the answers. There's even space in the answer box to say briefly why you like what you use. I wonder if he could include the following:

What are your favorite carving materials?
What are your favorite carving tools?
What are your favorite inks/markers?
What are your favorite letterbox containers?
What are your favorite letterbox camouflaging materials?

Any more might be too many.

Mama Cache

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Especially that one guy using Safety Kut; it's hard to imagine he's even tried a pink pearl eraser.

Check this post:
http://www.atlasquest.com/boards/message.html?gMsgId=79508;gAuthorId=137

If this is Lone R on the poll . . . I've seen a Lone R stamp. If the stamp I saw was made from SafetyKut, then I'd have to say that it held detail nicely.

Mama Cache

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Especially that one guy using Safety Kut; it's hard to imagine he's even tried a pink pearl eraser.

Check this post:
http://www.atlasquest.com/boards/message.html?gMsgId=79508;gAuthorId=137

If this is Lone R on the poll . . . I've seen a Lone R stamp. If the stamp I saw was made from SafetyKut, then I'd have to say that it held detail nicely.

Mama Cache

Yep, that would be me on the poll. I have tried pink pearl when I first tried eraser carving - carved a guinea pig image with it. The grainy dry texture is rough stuff. It's hard to work with.

I've been using Safety Kut since I started eraser carving back in 1997/98. I bought a BIG batch in 1998 I just finished that batch last year. It held up really well in the 8 years. I also like white vinyl erasers but it's hard to find them in sizes larger than 3/4"x2". Marscarve is wonderful but too pricey for me. I haven't tried PZKut because I'd have to order it from the States to Canada and worry about shipping and custom fees (I can buy Safety Kut from Toronto). Haven't tried the pink Speedy Stamp stuff, although it is readily available around here. It's more expensive than Safety Kut so I haven't purchased it. The texture feels nice, I can see why it's so popular.

Lone R

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I've never gotten a straight answer on whether Nasco Softoleum is the same thing as SafetyKut only thinner or whether they are fundamentally different things. From the Nasco site, you get the impression they're the same thing except for thickness -- which is why I purchased a chunk of Softoleum. It is utterly unusable for rubber stamp carving, however, and others report that SafetyKut does work, leading me to believe they are not the same thing.

I've tried both Safety Kut and Softoleum. They are 2 different products. You are correct that Nasco leads you to believe that they are the same, that the only difference is in the thickness. They are definitely different in color, texture and thickness. In an earlier post, KnitWit gave a good description about what Safety-Kut's texture feels like:

The texture seemed to be about halfway between Mastercarve and SpeedyStamp (the pink stuff) but maybe a little toward the firm side. Not as firm as PZ Cut though.

The Softoleum texture is more like what you describe - putty-like. I definitely think it's a good idea to send Mama Cache some softoleum so she can make a comparison. It'll make for a more complete carving material study.

Lone R

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What about adding it to our profiles? To the 'favorites' area (where the favorite books, movies, etc. are listed)? That seems an easy fix... then interested parties could check carvers that they like to see what material they prefer.

I'm not sure that would work. How many profiles would you be willing to look at to get a total of how many people liked what material?

The Yahoo poll was kinda what I had in mind although I don't go to the yahoo groups because I find them quite user UNfriendly.

Shiloh

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Here's what I'll use for comparison:

SpeedyStamp
PZ Cut White
PZ Cut Orange
MasterCarve
NASCO SafetyKut
Magic Rub Eraser
Pink Pearl Eraser
Polyvinyl Eraser
Gasket Rubber
Speedy Cut

That ought to do it, don't you think?

Nobody here ever seems to talk about Dick Blick products.

http://www.dickblick.com/categories/blockprinting/

They offer at least two types of rubber, E-Z-Cut (3/8" thick and white) and Soft-Kut (1/4" thick and gray). They also offer at least four types of linoleum for carving.

My first attempt at buying linoleum -- Nasco's Softoleum -- was such a miserable failure that it's not likely I'll ever purchase anything called linoleum again. But the pictures included on Blick's site seem to indicate that their stuff is usable for some sort of carving and printing process.

I carved linoleum long before I started carving rubber stamps. The linoleum is typically used for print making. In most cases these prints are much larger than you average stamp. The secret to carving it is to mount it first. If you try to carve it before mounting it would certainly be too flimsy, but when it is mounted it can be great. However, some of that stuff can be really tuff to carve and does contain stuff that will dull you blade quickly. The last block that I carved was with the grey stuff from dick blick though and it was amazing. Compared to regular linoleum, it cut like butter, was capable of very fine details and holds up just as well as the real stuff. FWIW :-)

Bubba

FWIW I pulled out some old bocks from my print making days to see how they would work as stamps and... they didn't. I tried one made with the gray stuff and one made from the regular lino stuff and the problem is that the image doesn't want to transfer at all. They both seem to ink up nice and evenly with my Marvys, but will not transfer that image to paper. I tried stamping and rubbing and neither one seems to work. Back when I used to make prints, I used a heavy oil based ink and placed it on the bock using a rubber roller, then I placed the paper on the bock and used a speedball baron to transfer the image. I guess the stuff just doesn't work very well with stamp ink.

Bubba

The gray stuff works if you use a pigment ink. Dyes don't work at all.

Larva Lady/Zelie Zips