Print instructions

  1. Print at Scale = 100% (not "Fit to page"). Margins None or Minimum.
  2. Pages 1 & 2 = three fold-out strips, two-sided, flip on long edge. Both sides are centred on the page, so they register under either flip mode.
  3. Verify the ruler at the bottom of page 1 with a real ruler before cutting.
  4. Cut the strips apart on the solid lines. Fold on the two dashed lines (accordion / Z-fold) — it closes to 2.45 × 3.45 in with the tech sheet on the front and the legend on the back.
  5. Paper: 24 lb plain if the strip rides in the toploader with the card (three folded layers — thin matters). 32 lb+ if it lives in the binder or box.
  6. Pages 3–5 are bench copies: tech sheet, life-size condition map, and the worked example. Print those on cardstock and pin them up.

Conservation Tech Sheet — fold-out

SIDE 1. Cut on the solid lines, fold on the dashed. Panels: tech sheet · front map · back map. Print page 2 on the reverse, flip on long edge.
SCALE CHECK — this bar must measure exactly 2.45 in / 62 mm. If not, reprint at 100% with fit-to-page off.
Cardboard Alchemists Conservation Tech Sheet v2.0 · cardconservation.com · CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to use, modify and sell, but every fork must stay open under the same licence, with attribution.

Conservation Tech Sheet — fold-out

SIDE 2 — reverse of page 1. Panels: notes · process log · legend. After a long-edge flip the legend lands behind the tech sheet, so the folded strip reads tech sheet on the front, legend on the back.
SCALE CHECK — both sides must print at identical scale or the panels won't register.
Map the card before you touch it. The intake map is the only proof of what was already there.

Tech Sheet — bench copy

The record panel at ~2.7×, for bench work or the client file. The folded strip is the copy that ships with the card.

Condition Map — bench copy

Both diagrams print exactly life size — lay the card straight onto the page to transfer a defect position.
FRONT
CENTERING MEASUREMENTS
L·R /   T·B /
BACK
CENTERING MEASUREMENTS
L·R /   T·B /
Linear — trace along the defect
Modifiers
Point — circle it, letter it
WHOLE CARD WARP MISCUT TILT ROUGH CUT O/C FRONT O/C BACK

How to mark a card

One card, eight defects. Trace linear damage along its actual path; circle point damage where it sits. Every mark carries a severity numeral — 1 light, 2 moderate, 3 heavy — and an asterisk if it reads through to the other side.

ABC 123 3* 1 2 I 1 W 2 D 2 G2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
FRONT — intake, before any work
  1. Crease, heavy, both sides. Solid line traced along the whole break. Reads: 3* — severity 3, shows front and back. Fibres are broken; pressing will not undo it.
  2. Bend, light. Dashed line — the fibres are intact. Reads: 1. This is the one on the card that a cold press genuinely fixes.
  3. Scratch, moderate. Dotted line along the scratch path. Surface only — it never gets a severity above what the gloss shows.
  4. Print line — factory. Double line. Not handling damage, so it doesn't count against the owner, but graders still see it. Always distinguish this from a scratch.
  5. Indent, light. Circled I on the spot. An impression with no broken fibre — often liftable.
  6. Whitening, moderate. Circled W at the corner it affects.
  7. Ding, moderate. Circled D — an impact at the corner, distinct from plain whitening.
  8. Gloss loss over an area. Hatch the zone rather than drawing a line, then letter it. Reads: G2 across grid square B2.

Grid coordinates. Columns A B C, rows 1 2 3 — so the gloss loss above is "G2 at B2". Use them on the notes panel and in any write-up, and anyone can find the defect without the sheet in front of them.