De-pressing

It was a busy weekend and somewhat bittersweet. My old C&P 8x12 OS (1893) press was removed from the shop and hauled away to make room for my new C&P 10x15 OS (1892) that was brought into the shop the same day. I'm very happy to have gotten this press and it will be much more useful but the 8x12 was my first press, I spent a lot of time restoring it, and I liked it quite a bit. Sigh.

The weekend began Saturday morning (of course) when I drove with my friend Alan to northern New Jersey to pick up some presses and other print shop items. Alan does what he calls Letterpress Rescue as part of the Excelsior Press Museum. People cleaning out their parent's house or closing down their print shop often find Alan through his website and ask him if he can come and get their presses and equipment. Sometimes selling the items isn't an option for people and presses are often in the basement or even the attic where scrap metal dealers seldom venture. Instead of them going to the smelter, Alan adds the items to the museum shop or sells them so they will continue their useful lives and help fund the museum.

Thus we found ourselves hauling one C&P 8x12 NS out of a basement and a second out of the garage. In a shed there was some type in cases and about eight 5 gallon buckets of Linotype slugs, leads, and misc. heavy metal. Here's a bit of news: lead is heavy. Both presses had Kimble variable speed motors and were complete and in good shape, though in need of cleaning. Our adventure took the better part of the day and we got home (Alan to Baptistown and me to Milford, NJ) about 5:30.

Sunday morning we were off to the house of Alan's former print shop teacher in east-central New Jersey, a very nice man now 80 years old. Over the course of several weeks we had removed from his basement a C&P 10x15 OS, the press I am trading up to, two 1940/50's vintage Mutilith offset presses, a NuArc platemaker, Challenge paper cutter, type in cases and all the other detritus of a print shop. There was another Challenge electric cutter already in the garage along with a brand-new in the box Spinnet paper drill. Because we had prepped all this previously and had a rental truck with a hydraulic lift gate it didn't take us long to load up.

The next stop was my house where my 8x12 press was waiting on my back porch. On the truck it went and off came the 10x15 and right into the living room. Then back to Alan's shop where we unloaded everything and put it with the haul from Saturday. All in all it was a busy weekend. I plan to begin cleaning my new press this weekend and will hopefully have it running and printing by Christmas. I'm very anxious to move from setting up the shop to printing. The press is very nice and came with 6 chases, a Kimble variable speed motor, and a long and interesting history of job work.

The first photo below shows the two NS presses in front of my OS press in the barn where Alan has his shop, all lined up like soldiers on parade. The second shows a closeup of my old press. The third shows the main frame of my new press after we got it into the living room, otherwise know as my shop. As you can see, it needs some cleaning.

Let me mention that the three 8x12 presses are for sale. I can give you particulars or you can write to Alan directly about specifics and prices through the Excelsior Press website, a link to which is at the right of this blog page. In addition, the two Multilith presses are for sale, one is for parts but the other is complete and running and there are many, many (did I say many?) accessories, blankets, an extra brand-new motor, etc. that go with it. Alan's teacher used it regularly and had large stocks of all needed supplies. Also, both Challenge paper cutters are for sale, they're complete and nice. The paper drill and platemaker with several boxes of new carbon rods and vacuum pump are also for sale. As for me, I'm getting some type, cuts, and ornaments.

So it's not so de-pressing after all, eh?

Soldiers On Parade

Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot

New Kid On The Block

Cutting Out The Middleman

I've mentioned my friend Alan Runfeld and his Excelsior Press Museum previously and there is a link to the museum's website in the left column of this blog. He often receives donations and contributions of printing equipment for the museum. For the past several weeks I've been helping him clear out the basement print shop of his former high school print shop teacher. Some of the equipment will be incorporated into the museum but those things that would be doubles or even triples to what the museum already has will be sold to raise funds to help pay the museum's rent, electric bills, etc.

I thought I'd mention some of the items that will be coming up for sale shortly because as an amateur printer I'm always looking for things I still need for my shop and don't mind passing on a good tip. Perhaps I should point out that I have no personal interest one way or the other in any of these items or whether or not they sell other than a desire to help the museum. The museum has been of benefit to me as a printer and I know others who have also been helped by visiting the museum and taking part in its activities.

Now for the good stuff. Other items will be posted on the For Sale page of the museum's website but the three things I wanted to mention are two nice paper cutters and a paper drill. I don't remember details about the drill but it is brand-new and still in the box, never used. Both of the paper cutters were made by the Challenge Machine Company. One looks like it is from the 1940's and was made by Challenge for the Multigraph Company. It is a 19" manual cast iron tabletop cutter mounted to its original steel stand. There are a number of new wood cutting sticks with it and I believe an extra knife, as well as the original instruction manual. It is a very clean cutter and works great as I saw for myself when Alan's 80 year old shop teacher showed me a few things on it which was a real treat. It does have a safety release knob.

The second cutter is I believe from the 1980's but possibly even newer. It is also a 19" cutter but is a floor unit. The cast iron legs also make up the body where the knife holder, etc. is mounted. This is an electric cutter and is also in good working order. It has cutting sticks and possibly an extra knife as well. It has all sorts of safety features.

Alan will be posting complete information and pricing sometime soon but I just thought I'd mention them here. Please contact him directly if you're interested. Also, if you can possibly visit the museum please do so, it's a great place and Alan is very knowledgable and loves to teach. Maybe you'll even see me there!

A Watched Ludlow Never Melts

I spent some time at the Excelsior Press today with my friend Alan. We changed the wiring on one of his Ludlows and then fired it up. While waiting the 50-some minutes it took for the full lead pot to melt the type metal Alan completed some of the work for local municipalities he's been doing since the 1970's: padding, perfing, numbering, cutting to size and boring holes in multi-part dog and cat licenses.

By the time that work was done the Ludlow was ready to go and we had some fun playing with mats and hot metal. I ended up with about a dozen Front Room Press slugs in 36 point Umbria. This may lead to a new Art-Deco motif for the Press...NOT! But it was a lot of fun and the slugs will be interesting to print.

We're going to cast and print specimen sheets and Alan will be starting a hot metal casting service. He has dozens of mats so has a great selection. Look for this soon at the Excelsior Press website, a link to which is in the left column of this Blog. I also should mention that Alan has some presses (including Kelsey's), type cabinets, furniture, and many other accessories for sale. Even some nice smaller -size planers I made at work; I'm a cabinetmaker in my real life. In particular he has several nice 2/3 size type cabinets available which are great for small spaces. All proceeds go to the Excelsior Press museum. Check out his website to see more.