I am looking to get an easel to uses with my Beseler 23C. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the four and two bladed easels? I can see that a four bladed easel will make it easier to crop an arbitrary area of the image without having to move the easel around on the base board. My concern, however, is how do you insure that the paper is held in place the edges parallel to the blades if all four blades can be moved?

Also, from a purely practical point of view, what is the largest easel that I can effectively make use of with a Beseler 23C (non XL model)?

-- Peter Schauss (schauss@worldnet.att.net), May 03, 2002

Answers

buy the 4-bladed easel. don't worry about the paper being held in place. they are designed to do that.

-- r (ricardospanks1@yahoo.com), May 03, 2002.

There is a slot in the easel to place the paper. I would agree with Peter and go with the 4 bladed type. You can print up to 16 X20 prints with a 23C. My students do it all the time. However the price of a 4bladed 16X20 easel is not cheap. Check out ebay.

-- Ann Clancy (clancya@attbi.com), May 03, 2002.

Buy one new, if you can't see it in person....it's easy to get the blades out of whack, through careless use....when 4 blade easels get old, they're often not square....unless you can adjust the blades--some models you can--you'll be forced to measure them & tape them in place....Saunders makes great 4 bladed easels, but they can get really ragged out if used & abused......

-- dk thompson (kthompson@moh.dcr.state.nc.us), May 03, 2002.

I agree about 4-bladed models, but suggest doing a search on Ebay for one made by the long-defunct Albert Specialty Co. of Chicago. Before bidding on any used easel I went to B&H to look at all the new models they had in stock. I was very dissapointed at their flimsiness and decided to keep using my old 2-blade Kodak easle (a real tank!). However, I saw an old Albert 11 X 14 on Ebay and decided to take a chance since the price was very low. It is really well made. The only problem, a black baseboard, like many old easels, was easily solved with a layer of white "Contact". I don't know if they make a 16 X 20 model, but if you don't need an easel that large the Albert 11 X 14 is great.

-- Robert Marvin (marvbej@earthlink.net), May 06, 2002.