Hi, All, I just reviewed the wonderful document: ARSC Guide to Audio Preservation May 2015. 240 pp. $30 (print version) ISBN 978-1-932326-50-5 CLIR pub 164 PDF Download of Report (2.7 MB) http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub164/pub164.pdf On page 60 (PDF 72) it says, "Only bake tapes with metal flanges, as plastic reels may warp." It is true, they MAY warp, but in baking tapes in food dehydrators for over a decade, I may have had ONE plastic reel warp. This is a case of the lesser of many evils. One should not unspool a tape that needs to be baked as the mag coat may be found adhering to the back coat of the next layer. So I would suggest that the risk of having to cut a warped plastic flange is much lower risk than unspooling the unbaked tape. Thoughts? Thanks for the several references! Cheers, Richard -- Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask] Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800 http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.