A small wholesaler's starter bench

A small licensed distributor does not need every iron. It needs the two or three that cover the most jobs, with room to add volume later.

Start with the Deluxe mini solid bar. It is the most versatile iron in the shop, one iron that stamps singles, twos, 6.4s like Virginia Slims, and cube packs, on a polished brass bar for smoother, faster transfer. For a bench that stamps a mix of formats in small runs, it does the most work per dollar.

Add a single stamp iron for corrections. When a transfer comes up light or a decal lands crooked, it re-stamps one pack at a time without tying up the main iron. When volume grows past what a mini keeps up with, a 10-stamp 2x5 iron parallelizes the bench, a full row of ten per press. Buy it when the carton count justifies it, not before.