It's About Time

My hiatus from printing and printmaking seems to be at end and I’ve recently entered an intaglio exchange in order to insure that I have a specific goal in mind to bring me fully back into the swing of things. I work full-time and, being single, must take care of the many household and other tasks myself. I found the need to focus my limited spare time on my health, specifically with regard to physical exercise. Not being interested in sports, I turned to bicycle riding knowing that this would eventually tie in with printmaking as I could ride where I could not walk or drive to get subjects for the copper plate. I now have a restored bicycle and have started regular riding. At this time of the year my riding has been greatly curtailed but the way has been paved and the journey begun so now it’s back to the stone and the press.

I have two small projects in process that will keep me focused for the foreseeable future. One of these is the result of a recent purchase, a very nice copper cut of a clock face. I need to mount it but if everything works out I may end up selling these in different colors and on different kinds of paper. The face is just the right size for popular-sized movements for all the clockmakers and horologically inclined out there. Hurry, time is short!

Cleaned And Pressed

I finished the restoration of the etching press last weekend but couldn’t get my camera, the Sony dinosaur with 3 ½” floppy disks, to work until today. I’ve actually been doing some letterpress printing in between but more on that later. I’ve got a few Before And After photos below as well as some detail shots. The Before is on the left and the After on the right. The quality as usual is poor and in some cases doesn’t do the cleanup job justice. For example, the face of the large cylinder on the bottom was completely covered with paint, which it should not be for use. It is now completely clean. The same is true for the bed and the cylinder, in addition to which they were both covered with rust under the paint. They are now down to bare metal again. In fact, all of the bare metal and bronze bearings that you see were once covered with paint, dirt, and grease.

Speaking of grease, I found on this press what one often finds on old machinery: grease in the oil bearings. If any of you have old machinery that requires regular lubrication remember that the engineers who design machinery design bearings for a certain type of lubrication and that you can’t just decide on your own to change it without consequences. Bearings designed for oil have channels and reservoirs and oil holes and are sized to work with oil. Bearings designed for grease are specially designed to do so and have appropriate grease caps attached, etc. Some people put grease in bearings designed for oil thinking that the grease will last a long time and they won’t have to oil it. This is completely wrong, especially the idea that greased bearings require no attention. Except for the first day or so, the grease will not keep the bearing surfaces coated with lubricant and the bearings will wear. That was the case with this press. Remember that bearings designed for grease will have cups with screw caps or grease nipples like the universal joint bearings on your car. The cup type will have grease in them and periodically the caps must be screwed down a bit pushing more grease into the bearings. In the case of nipples, a grease gun is used to pump more grease into the bearing. Bearings design for oil will either have open holes or caps with hinged lids. More rarely, there are oil cups with glass reservoirs that can provide a constant drip of oil and there are a few other types of automatic oilers. But the average printer will not likely encounter these. The thing to remember is to identify whether or not the bearing should get grease or oil and then use the correct lubricant; don’t substitute one for the other. If someone else has done so clean out the bearing completely and then use the right lubricant.

NOTE: In the above After photo of the press, that brown thing hanging down that almost looks like an extension of the cylinder blanket is actually the window curtain that just happens to be lined up with and the same shade as the blanket.

Two of the bed’s guide/support rollers were broken and have been replaced with new, machined copies. Most of these rollers were rusted or otherwise frozen but everything was disassembled and cleaned and now turns smoothly. Etching presses use felt blankets, usually three long ones of different thicknesses on top of one another. They perform several functions including soaking up sizing from the wet paper, pressing the paper into the incised lines of the plate, and helping the cylinder push the bed and plate through the two rollers. This particular kind of press has a D-shaped (half) cylinder and the top blanket is attached directly to it as the photo above shows. The other two felt blankets are held in place at the rear of the bed by the bars and thumbscrews shown in another photo below and pass under the cylinder. I removed those two for the photos. The blanket on the cylinder gets a lot of wear from pushing the other felts through the rollers and is therefore usually woven felt in contrast to the pressed felt from which the others are made. I was fortunate to have a piece of used woven felt that was once the cylinder blanket of an old galley proof press. It was filthy and is still stained as the photo shows. But I cleaned it by hand with Woolite and it is now clean and perfectly serviceable, if dark in color.

The above photo shows the air piston that helps slow the bed down on its automatic return to the forward position. I described in a previous post how that aspect of the press works. I had to make a new leather cup washer as the old one was almost completely destroyed. It was surprisingly easy to do and is basically the same kind of mechanism found on old hand-operated water pumps. There is also a rubber bumper directly above where the piston goes into its tube. The rear of the tube has an adjustable cap with a hole so that the amount of air exhausting out and thus the speed of the bed’s return can be controlled. Pretty clever, eh?

In the above photo if you look carefully towards the bottom center you can see the counterweight that pulls the bed back to the forward position. It is suspended from a leather belt that runs over a pulley on the rear support roller shaft. You can see the brown belt in the photo of the air piston. I made the counterweight from a large slug/cylinder of brass I had laying around. It’s about 3” in diameter and 8” long and weights about 25 pounds. I wrapped it in leather with a large wooden dowel so I could easily attach a screw hook for a D-ring on the leather belt.

In one of my previous posts on this press I described the mechanism by which the felts are automatically held up and out of the way. I did hook things up so it would work but the felts I have, scraps I had laying around, are not quite long enough for this to work too well, though it did work. When I’m able to replace the felts I’ll hook it up properly.

A few other things I did: I made a new arm for the wheel. One had gone missing sometime in the distant pass and a wooden replacement had been fabricated for use while it was a display piece. Fortunately I had a length of 1-inch bar stock and the correct screw-cutting die on hand so after some grunting and groaning and plenty of smelly cutting fluid the job was done. Cutting a 1-inch diameter thread by hand is not that easy. I also made wooden runners for it. I also decided to place pieces of leather between the upper cylinder’s bearings and the iron pressure pads. I’ve seen this and read about it in a number of places and it seemed a good idea. Supposedly it provides a slight amount of give and avoids undue strain on the press. Maybe. But it certainly doesn’t hurt.

I’m very happy with the press and am making some more test prints. I can’t wait to incorporate what I can do with it with my letterpress work. And I’ve got so much printing to do now, both letterpress and intaglio, that I will be quite busy. No more restorations for a while!

Playing Tag

I’m about 95% finished with restoring the Kelton intaglio press. Later I’ll post more about the adventure of cleaning and adjusting it, which turned out to be a bigger job than I had at first suspected. This was mostly because after it left its useful life as a working press it lay somewhere getting rusty before the next owner applied black paint to every surface whether it was dirty, rusty, greasy, or was supposed to be painted or not. They then used it for a display piece which is also what the next owner intended for it when he got a lobby. Since this lobby never materialized, I now own the press. The net result is that many things were frozen and a lot of paint had to be removed which revealed a lot of rust that had to be removed. In the end it was fine but time consuming.

Anyway, I was so anxious to try something I had never done before, namely intaglio printing, and so much wanted to see whether or not the press actually worked that I threw caution to the winds. After final adjustments Sunday afternoon I had things just together enough to pull a proof. The problem was that I had virtually nothing that one needs to do this; nothing proper that is. I had no intaglio ink, copper plate, tarlatan rag, hot plate, or blotting paper. And I had only watched some Youtube videos and read about the process in a few vintage books I downloaded free online. But fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

I did have a few scraps of felt and some 100% cotton paper however. Also some rubber base letterpress ink and a couple 2” diameter brass key ID tags that had been stamped with numbers. Into one of these I made some scratches to try the drypoint technique. The end results can be seen below. Keep in mind that I didn’t wipe off the (wrong) ink properly and that punched numbers are not the same as etching or engraving; also that I wet the paper too much and didn’t blot it properly; and top all of that the fact that I was rushing a bit to get it done after a long day. They may be some of the worst intaglio prints ever but in the above context didn’t come out too badly for some quick test prints. I certainly got a thrill from the “accomplishment” and the knowledge that the press actually worked. If you look closely you can see my backwards initials in the little scratched box in the second photo. These lines are extremely fine and it surprised me how well they showed up.

I’ll detail in another post the last stages of the restoration and have some photos of the restored press as well as a few more things I learned about it.

Sign Of The Time

The time in this case is somewhere in the latter half of the 19th century. I found a little time capsule in the Kelton copper plate press today. But let me lay some groundwork.

Presses of this type, especially older ones, needed the lower roller adjusted to come into contact with the underside of the press bed. This was done quite simply using shims under the bronze bearing blocks. Any hard, stable material will do, thick and thin pieces being used as required. Wood and paper were sometimes used but these materials are dynamic, expanding or contracting with changes in the humidity, and therefore not the best. A possible exception would be oiled paper such as tympan that is both hard and stable. Steel, iron, copper, and brass were all more appropriate choices.

I had disassembled the Kelton as much as possible with the exception of the lower roller. I was able to remove the bearing blocks and shims but removing the roller itself would require taking the main frame completely apart. This wasn’t necessary as I could clean everything with the roller in place and supported by two pipes. I cleaned the bearing blocks today and the shims and it was here that I made my discovery.

The press has been moved at least four times in its life including from the factory to its first owner. Adjustment of the roller would have taken place after that first move and I think I know enough about the subsequent life of the press to state that no one has likely changed this initial adjustment. The roller is very heavy and holds the shims in place quite securely. By the time I got it the shims were pretty much glued in place as well with the gunk of the ages and the paint one of the previous owners had sloped on to make it shiny looking. Further examination bore out that they were certainly very old.

On both sides they consist of small steel plates, a few brass pieces of two different thicknesses, and on one side two pieces of oiled paper, possibly tympan. While the steel plates were for the most part unremarkable, one of them contained some evidence of the craft for which the press was intended. An example of this craft in action can be seen in the circa 1860 illustration below of the press room of the American Bank Note Company in New York City.

Copper and other plates used for intaglio printing have a bevel filed at the outer top edges, sometimes at a 45-degree angle but more often one less steep. The purpose of the bevel is to keep the otherwise sharp right angle of the edge from cutting into the paper under the great pressure exerted during printing. Anyone who has seen an intaglio print will likely remember that the edge of the plate is visible at the outside of the image. Even today plates do not come this way from the factory but the printer files the bevel himself. What I found on one of the steel shims was this hand-filed bevel.

The plate is 1/8” thick, a standard gauge for printing, and approximately 1 ¾” by 2” though not a perfect rectangle but a rather accurate parallelogram. As you can see from the photo, there are two holes drilled into it and it has numerous scratches in it. On one side the bevel is a fairly consistent 1/16” wide while on the reverse the edge has only been filed slightly, a distinct bevel but just enough to remove the sharp edge.

I can’t explain the reason why this small plate was prepared as if it was to be used for engraving or etching a print on it. Perhaps it was done for practice. Or perhaps when making a shim for the press the force of habit took over when removing the sharp burr at the edges. I do plan on reusing the original shims now that I’ve cleaned them and if further adjustments are needed simply adding to those. But I’m tempted to replace this one with a new piece of steel.

The stories this press could tell and in some ways is telling, eh?

Look Out! Here Comes The Spider-Man.

If Peter Parker had wanted to be a print maker of a more ancient variety, he may very well have chosen intaglio as his medium. Had he done so he would have needed a copper plate press, sometimes called a spider-press because of its large spoked handwheel. I don’t spin webs of any size or catch thieves just like flies but I am in the process of restoring a vintage copper plate intaglio press. Eat your heart out, Spidey.

This press was built by the M. M. Kelton Company of Brooklyn, NY sometime from the 1850’s through the early 20th century. I haven’t been able to pin it down closer than that and have found little direct information on these presses. However, by doing a lot of internet research, piecing together tidbits of information including that gleaned form vintage photos and etchings, and disassembly and studying the press as part of its restoration, I’ve learned quite a bit. For one thing, this style of cast iron mass-produced press was used extensively by bank note companies as well as the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing throughout the latter half of the 19th century. One of the largest users in my own area was the American Bank Note Company which had a printing house in Brooklyn, NY in addition to it’s headquarters in Manhattan. Brooklyn is of course where my press was made. Below is a photo of the ABNC’s now closed Brooklyn plant as it looks today.





Another photo shows these presses in operation and there are dozens, maybe hundreds of them churning out paper money, certificates, stamps, and all manner of financial documents. These presses were not designed for artists but for production. The top cylinder was in fact only a half-cylinder, its cross section appearing as a D-shape. The bed had a weight attached to the back that in conjunction with a pulley kept the bed in the forward position. When turning the handwheel an adjustable cam on the right side of the cylinder engaged with an adjustable mating cam on the bed which started the bed through the two (upper and lower) rollers automatically. Intaglio presses use three felt blankets laid over the paper and plate in order to cushion the pressure and press the paper into the incised plate to pick up the ink. On this press, the top blanket is attached to the top cylinder and a bar at the rear of the bed holds the other two blankets that extend along the bed under the upper cylinder.





Additionally, there is an iron frame above the press with a cross bar on which is a pulley. The blankets attached at the rear of the bed are held together at the front end where a rope is attached that goes over this pulley and on the end of which is a weight. When the press is at rest the bed is in its forward (start) position and the front end of the blankets are held up in the air out if the way so the plate and paper can be laid on the bed. Then the handwheel is turned, the bed is engaged and goes between the rollers making the print at which point it is automatically released merely by continuing to turn the handwheel. The bed automatically returns to its forward position and the blankets are automatically drawn up out of the way so the proof can be removed. Anyone who has operated an intaglio press will recognize the time saved with this arrangement. While not necessary for artist’s proofs, it’s a definite advantage for meeting production deadlines.





The press is not large but it is heavy. This is partly because the upper cylinder is solid, and even though the lower cylinder is a hollow casting it is very large and has thick walls as you would expect on an intaglio press because of the pressure exerted during printing. Modern presses have rollers about the same size top and bottom but it was common in the 19th century for the bottom roller to be much larger than the top as is the case here. Altogether the press weighs between 300 and 400 pounds, though that’s just an estimate. In practical terms it will print a plate up to 8” x 10”. The presses most recent use was as a display item in a print shop in Long Island City, i.e. Queens. It had been coated in black paint right over any dirt and rust so it would be nice and shiny. It needs to be completly cleaned and adjusted, the paint taken off where it shouldn't be, and some minor repairs made but otherwise nothing major. I suspect it came from the ABNC in Brooklyn when they closed that plant which is not too far away from its display post.




I have several letterpress printing projects that are a priority at the moment but I’ve begun the restoration process on this press and hope to be able to experiment within a month or so. I’ve never done intaglio before so it will be interesting. Besides limited edition proofs, I want to use it to produce artwork for my letterpress journal and also for artistamps that I can perforate on my Rosback perforator. I’ve seen some examples of work that is a combination of intaglio and letterpress so there are a lot of options, even if I don’t have radioactive blood.

Cinderella, She Seems So Easy; “It Takes One To Know One”, She Smiles.

Not too long ago I was reminded that not all stamps are postage stamps that pay for sending a letter from Point A to Point B. Some are in fact fantasy postage stamps, made up by someone to represent a fictional state, country, or protectorate. Some are made to advertise commercially or for non-profit organizations. Some promote various causes, groups, or anything at all. Some are simply ars gratia artis. In the worlds of art and craft they are commonly know as artistamps. Philatelically speaking such non-postage stamps are called Poster Stamps or Cinderellas.

The first postage stamps in the 19th century were printed in sheets and cut one singly with scissors or a knife. With the invention and marketing of the pin-hole perforator, separating them became much easier. Today postage stamps are self-adhesive and peel off a backer. But as I was reminded that not all stamps must comer from the Post Office and be used for postage, I was struck by the idea of letterpress printing my own stamps and perfing them. This is what I have in fact decided to do. I’ve done a bit of research and the consensus from those who do this kind of work with a printing press as opposed to an inkjet printer (which some do use) is that a cut should be made with anywhere from 4 to 12 images in the standard stamp sheet format. Here's a nice example from Rachel Scott at Fox Paw Press:

http://www.foxpawpress.com/Printshop/giftshop/artistamps/artistamps.html

All sorts of ideas come to mind and my first effort will be a simple Front Room Press stamp I can apply to envelopes or most anything. It will be a good opportunity to learn how to design something on the computer and have a plate made which I’ve never done. But even more fun will be to actually print and use them. This was a lot of my inspiration to get my perforator restored. Now it’s on to the next step. I’ll keep you posted.

Holy Perforator!

The restoration of the perforator is complete and it actually works. Huzzah! Given the amount of rust and the condition of the punches it was no certain thing. For the most part cleaning was pretty straightforward if involved as described in my previous post. The punches and the holes they go in were the most tedious and troublesome part.

The perforator takes 365 punches about 1/32” diameter and 13/16” long. There are three parts that have holes for the punches: the punch holder, the stripper, and the die. So I had to clean out as best I could 1095 holes. I had soaked the parts repeatedly in WD40 after I finally got the punches out and after cleaning them completely I used one of the punches to scrape out the holes as much as possible. The last step here was pushing the punch through, wiping the WD40 off the far end, push it through again, wipe again, etc. until all of the extraneous WD40 was out. This actually worked pretty well and when I was done the punches all moved freely in the holes. The concern I really had was if they would go through freely when they had to pass through all three parts at once.

When these three parts were manufactured and the holes for the punches were bored they were clamped together in a jig and the holes bored through all three at the same time. The three parts were stamped with the same number so they could always be matched up. This is how alignment was always assured. Of course, a lot had happened to the perforator since it was new so it remained to be seen if this alignment remained.

I had picked up the replacement screws I needed and after the last one was replaced in the die I reassembled the stripper bar and its stiffener, reassembled the head, and then put the head back on the machine. I was almost done but looking at the punches I realized that I really needed to clean them down to bare, shiny metal and not leave them with any corrosion, no matter how minor. I was concerned about leaving them too long in the vinegar and salt bath because the surface of the metal becomes rough, if only mildly, and I wanted the smoothest surface possible to ease passage through the holes. What all this meant is that I would have to clean each punch one at a time. Fun, fun, fun.

Of the 365 punches the machine takes all had been present and I was able to recover 214 that were straight. There are perhaps 50 or so more that are only slightly bent and which I’m confident I can straighten out at some point and install. The complete row of punches is 24” long but even with only the 214 installed there are enough to perforate anything of a size I’m likely to need. I do plan on buying brand new punches in the near future because the ends on the old ones are not in the best shape and new punches will mean cleaner holes. But it punches good enough for any normal work, certainly not something the average person would notice.

Anyway, one by one using sandpaper I cleaned the punches, rolling them around with the tip of one finger on some chipboard while I sanded away with the other hand. I was careful not to sand in such a way to round over the edges on the working end of the punches but of course they weren’t perfect at this point anyway. This operation took episodes of Marcus Welby, Quincy, Kojak, Deal Or No Deal, the local news, two episodes of Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, and Ghost Whisperer to complete. Whew!

I installed the punches from the center of the head out so the pressure of the punching action would be centered. They went in better than I expected, with a few needing a slight helping hand from the tip of a screwdriver instead of my finger. I put oil on top of the stripper where the punches passed through and then started pumping the pedal. This was to break up remaining “stuff” in the holes and to lubricate things. I put some paper towels in harm’s way and stair-stepped my way to a cleaner, well-oiled perforator. I moved the paper towel with each step and it soaked up the excess “stuff” pretty well. It still leaves a slight residue on the top sheet but there is less each time and it works nice and smooth.

I had taken the tables to work to sand them with a pneumatic random orbit sander. This makes the work go fast and does a great job. The wood is cherry and was originally stained. Even though the tops of both tables had virtually no finish left it was intact on the underside and I found a match for it among some old cans of stain I had. I sanded enough to get rid of the dirt and paper that had been stuck to the wood when it had gotten wet, and to make everything smooth, but not enough to remove the patina. I stained it at home and then applied two coats of orange (amber) shellac, a traditional vintage topcoat. In the end I was surprised that the match was so close. I wasn’t worried about dents, bumps, chips, etc. because these tables have little affect on registration which is accomplished by the fences. Mostly the simply support the sheets.

Next time I’ll explain more about what I plan on doing with it besides the obvious, i.e. making holes. One thing I did realize is that because the holes are so small, this is a nice vintage option for general jobs requiring perfing instead of the more usual slit perf. The paper stays together well but tears very easily. And it won’t tear up the press rollers. Oh, boy!

Stamp Act

I’m in the process of restoring a Rosback treadle-operated round-hole perforator circa 1920. It is 300 pounds of mostly cast iron with a 24” row of hundreds of tiny punches. Philatelically speaking it punches a perforation measurement of 12 which is, or rather was, the standard for U.S. stamps before 1914. Guess what I’ll be printing in the not too distant future? But more on that later.



While in generally good if typically dirty condition, the perforator had one serious problem: at one time it sat someplace where water was allowed to get onto the punch assembly. This assembly consists of three main parts besides said punches: the punch holder, the stripper, and the die. The punches are 13/16” long and a little over 1/32" diameter with a small head on one end like a brad. They drop into holes in the punch holder and down through the stripper bar. When the treadle is depressed the punches are pushed down through the stripper bar and into the die which has corresponding holes. Well, when stored at some point the head which carries the punch assembly was adjusted in such a way that the punches were pushed down below the bottom of the stripper. Add water, time, and neglect and presto! Rusted punches, punch carrier, stripper, and die plate. O joy!



Adding a bit to the sorrow is the fact that at some point someone with more physicality than patience tried to loosen the head and get the punches moving. To do this he inserted some kind of crow bar into the assembly and did what one does with a crow bar. While not loosening the punches it did have the affect of snapping the heads off four of the six screws by which the punch holder is attached to the head. His work apparently done, the perforator was left to get older. On the bright side the tables, while needing refinishing, are in good shape and it has both of its original fences with attachments. Also, it is not rusty to the same degree on all the punches.

Having disassembled and restored any number of antique machines in various degrees of decrepitude, I was reasonably certain that I could get it apart and that it could be cleaned and restored to use. The first step was to somehow get the punch assembly off the head and disassemble it. There was little point in cleaning anything else unless this could be accomplished. I sprayed on a liberal dose of PB Blaster “penetrating catalyst” and let it soak. I was prepared for a long process and this was the first step. Over the next three days I kept adding more Blaster and gently pried and tapped. No crow bar. During that time I was able to remove enough of the punches from both ends to get at the two bolts that hold the stripper bar to the bed. The stripper bar is attached to the bed and normally you can remove the entire head with the punches with the stripper bar remaining behind. But of course the punches were rusted to the bar. So in this case when I was finally able to lift off the head the stripper bar came with it.

Now I had access to the bottom of the stripper bar and after a couple more days of soaking I was able to tap the bottom of some of the punches to loosen them and pull them out. Just like pulling teeth, both descriptively and in terms of it being somewhat difficult. Keep in mind that there are literally hundreds of punches. I haven’t counted all of them yet but have got as far as 238. I got enough out finally to bend the stripper bar slightly and come at the screw heads of the last two screws holding the punch holder to the cast iron head using a right-angle screwdriver. More soaking and more tapping. It took a week but finally the last punch came out. Now all the parts needed to be cleaned down to original paint or bare metal. I don't like repainting unless absolutely necessary but I hate rust. I let the punches and some other parts soak overnight in a solution of vinegar and salt to loosen the rust up. Except for heavy rust this allows you to virtually wipe if off. In the process of removing the punches a number of them were bent or broken but I saved about 230 and I’m hoping they will work once clean. Replacements seem to be available from a couple sources and I’ve been in touch to get particulars. If the price is right I’ll replace them all and keep the old ones as spares.

Four screw heads had been broken off in the head and I had to drill out the remaining parts of the screw. I’ll pick up replacements at the hardware store. Cleaning itself was straight forward using WD-40; sandpaper; 3M green pads; a wire brush on a grinder and drill; and lots of paper towels. I’m not afraid to use sandpaper to get heavy rust off, stopping as soon as I get to bare metal. Then it’s the green pads and finally the wire wheel to make it nice. I used one of the old punches to clean out the inside of the hundreds of holes in the punch holder, stripper bar, and die plate. They weren’t that bad, the punches having provided some protection from direct exposure. But this part of the job was very tedious and cleaning the holes in the three parts took 5 hours. I did this in the evening while watching TV.

The main frame has been cleaned and the die plate reinstalled but for one screw that needs to be replaced. Once I get that screw and the others I need everything can be reassembled. At that point we’ll see if actually works. I hope to refinish the wood tables this week at work. More on that and what exactly I’ll be doing with it will wait for another post.

What’s The Buzz?

I’ll tell you what’s happening: printing. Yes, after a period of high stress at work that hasn’t actually ended I’ve gotten myself in the swing of things again, cleaned up the shop, and got the press running. A number of projects are now back on track including the upcoming first issue of my journal, otherwise known as a ‘zine for you non-hipsters. And that bit of news leads me to the events of today.

Friend-of-mine and very creative and talented artist Rachael Faillace expresses herself in many ways and I highly recommend you check out her website to see for yourself: http://www.rachaelfaillace.com/. I want to include original artwork in my journal and I asked Rachael if she would contribute a linoleum block print. The idea was that she would provide the cut image and I would mount it type high and print it. That way I could incorporate the cut in one of the two-page forms. She very graciously agreed and the result appeared in my mailbox a few weeks later. She had been working in her garden one afternoon and the bees flying from flower to flower inspired her. As planned, I made a cherry base for it at work and mounted the cut.

Today I printed the cut for the first time and the result can be seen above and I really love it. This is the first time I’ve printed a linoleum block since elementary school. I know it’s a common practice to print them with a platen press but I had several concerns. One was over the ink. Block printing ink sold for this kind of printing is different from the rubber and oil base ink used for letterpress and I don’t have any and didn’t really want to buy any. I also wasn’t sure how the linoleum would handle the strength of the impression and thought I might find myself in limbo, printing too lightly but not being able to increase the impression for fear of damaging the linoleum.

Of course, as is so often the case with premeditated fears, they were unfounded in the event. In fact, the block printed surprisingly well, at least to my eyes. The image itself is about 2” x 2 1/2”. I decided on a yellow colored cover stock and it so happened I had some pre-cut scraps from a print shop I help clean out. I believe it’s about 80 pound stock. So the final sheet is 3 7/8” x 4 ½”. Remember: never turn down free paper.

I’ll describe my basic procedure in case that might be helpful to anyone. If I had a decent camera I’d have taken a few photos. Oh, well. First I got the dirty work out of the way and oiled and wiped down the press. Then I redressed the platen with a new top sheet. Except in very rare instances I always replace the top sheet for each job. That way I’m always sure it’s clean and flat. My tympan paper at .012” is thicker than what is most often sold today which is .006” thick. When I got my first press and most of the contents of an old print shop there was a partial roll and one new, unwrapped roll. I haven’t seen the need to get something thinner and it actually works very well as it holds any kind of gauge pin very firmly and lays flat and tight.

After that I went to the stone and locked up the cut using a spider chase to save a bit of time by using less furniture. I prefer using the chaser method of lockup as I think it’s more secure, especially with type. I snugged the quoins, planed the form, tightened the quoins the rest of the way. I checked to make sure they weren’t overly tight and had sprung the chase by trying to rock the chase from corner to corner. Finally, while not as critical as it would be with type, I checked for lift.

I put the rollers on the press, taking a chance by only using two for no other reason other than it would be one less to clean. I wiped a dab of ink, in this case Van Son rubber base black, across the ink disc with an ink spatula and then ran the press to distribute the ink. Then in went the chase and I pulled an impression on the top sheet. I always pull an impression on the top sheet for setting the gauge pins. I wipe the wet ink off with a rag and mineral spirits and then a bit of talcum powder (actually baby powder from the grocery store). It’s then very easy to measure out the margins directly on the top sheet and draw lines to place the gauge pins. I find this method to be fast and accurate. I laid out my margins by measuring the height and width of the image and the height and width of the paper. I subtracted the one from the other for each dimension and then divided by two. That gave me my top/bottom and side margins. I drew a line directly along the lower edge of the image on the top sheet and then did the same thing along the top edge of the image using a drafting square. Then I measured off the margins I had worked out and drew lines parallel to the first two the width of the margins apart. Those were the lines I would use to set my gauge pins.

I generally use McGill’s double-grip pins so after placing a sacrificial piece of pressboard under the top sheet I used a makeready knife (basically an X-Acto knife) to cut an approx. 1” slit. Then I inserted the pins, lined them up with the layout lines, and tightened them in place. I removed the sacrificial pressboard and placed a sheet of the stock I was going to print in the gauge pins. I use the sacrificial pressboard so I can easily press through the top sheet with the knife without damaging the pressboard in my packing which I reuse as many times as possible. Waste not; want not.

I set the grippers; in this case one would be able to hold down the right side but the left gripper had to stay to the outside of the far left gauge pin. So to help strip the sheet off the form I ran a rubber band between the grippers so it would lie across the top portion of the sheet in the margin area. Turning the flywheel by hand I cycled the press through slowly and pulled an impression on the test sheet. This also made sure that the packing was not too thick and showed me on the test print that I wouldn’t need to make any further adjustments. I adjusted the left gauge pin slightly and pulled another proof.

Thus did the printing commence.

"You may fire when you are ready, Gridley."

This is about my first broadside and my first-time participation in a letterpress swap. In the spirit of Commodore Dewey, the printing of this innocuous sheet was something of an epic battle. Before the swap was a glimmer in any one's eye, about a year ago I decided I would try and print one of my favorite poems as a broadside. That was back when I had my C&P 8x12 with the poor rollers and worse Morgan Expansion truck tires. It was the first form of any length I had set.


My concept was to create a broadside in the style of the 17th century following examples I had seen. Thus the black letter Old English text and the Caslon title. The border was not exactly in a style of that age but was the closest I had. I picked a Strathmore all-cotton laid paper I got with the press along with most of the original equipment for my shop.


A number of problems cropped up right away, things that had not been so evident on the small forms I had printed to that point such as a business card. First was the roller and truck issue as it affected inking the form. The perf cuts in the rollers were bad at one place and created a white line that moved around slightly. The truck tires being out of round caused their own difficulties. And to add insult to injury I realized that the platen I had so carefully adjusted needed tweaking. I could deal with the platen but had to live with the rollers and trucks for the time being, not being able to afford replacements. The texture of the laid paper did not help. But for all of those things, it ironically still printed as good as some of the cheap and quickly printed originals I've seen. It was certainly readable, if no acme of the printer's art.


Fast forward to the present day and the advent of my great 10x15 press with good rollers and steel trucks. Now you would think hey, now we're cooking with gas, right? Well, sort of. Everything certainly went much better and the print was far superior. But the fly in the ointment was that I had taped the rails to get the rollers adjusted and had been pretty happy with the business cards I had done but I should really have taken more time to experiment. I had signed up for a great letterpress swap (letterpressswap.blogspot.com) and was pressed for time (no pun intended) so even though they did not come out as well as I would have liked and as the press is capable, they're OK.


What I needed to do and have subsequently done is to remove a couple layers of tape from each rail so the rollers would press a bit more into the form. Once I did that I got great inking and nice prints without makeready using the same form. Not that it couldn't have used a touch of makeready here and there to really get it just right. The type was a bit worn and though I replaced a number of sorts it could have used a little onionskin here and there. So the moral of this story is to take your time and go the extra mile.


As my first real project I was reasonably satisfied and I learned a good deal more about what constitutes basic adjustments. You can see the results for yourself below. Wild exclamations of approbation and constructive criticisms are welcome.

Noteworthy

I finished the run for the new pad sheets today, about 600 in all. That's the longest print run I've done to date and it went very well. Among other things, doing some of these mundane print projects gives a lot of practise feeding the press. If I haven't mentioned it before, I run the press at 14 impressions per minute which is very comfortable for me. The experiment of leaving the Van Son rubber base ink on the press overnight was successful also. I know this is "common knowledge" but it's nice to have it verified by my own experience. The top photo shows my first pads which I printed on my old 8x12 about a year ago. The bottom photo shows the revised heading. I not only like that heading better but they printed somewhat better as well, though I'm not sure how much of the difference can be seen in the scans. I'll be gluing them up in the next day or two. It's a simple and fun project and besides the potential advertising value they make great gifts and are useful to have around. I made them using offset paper cut offs so they basically cost me only my time. The faces are Old English, Caslon, and Stymie.

Saturday Night’s Alright For Printing

While working on several larger projects still in the design stage I’ve been printing some more mundane items. I ran off some more business cards and this evening I reset the form for the heading on my notepads and started printing them. I’ll finish the run tomorrow and then start gluing them up.

I thought I would record how I did these, which will show my usual procedure for setting the gauge pins and grippers, among other things. I have been forced to return to the use of my vintage digital camera so please excuse the poor quality of the photos.

The first photo shows the locked up form in the press. I invariably use the chaser method as shown. Because these pads are basically the same as printing a letterhead, the head of the form is at the bottom of the chase and slightly below center. This will allow better inking of the form and more even pressure. The pads are 5” x 8” and about 1” of the sheet stuck out the top of the platen.

The second photo shows the topsheet after the gauge pins have been set. Note that I like to use the McGill double-grip pins, as they are not only easy to set but easy to adjust. I’ve used the spring type before and have a few other kinds including the quad type for certain circumstances. I’m also fortunate in having a set of McGill extension gauge pins which hang off the lower bail, extending below the platen and thereby allowing especially large sheets to be held and printed.

Once my basic packing is set I usually pull an impression on the topsheet using a piece of old-style carbon paper. Normally ink would be used but I’ve found that I’m usually not printing on the same day I’m dressing the platen and getting things ready for a print run. So the carbon paper let’s me print on the topsheet without inking up the press. For those times when I am printing the same day, I pull an impression with ink and then wipe the ink off with a rag and mineral spirits, drying it with baby powder.

The print looks a little light in the photo but the entire form is actually visible. Using a line gauge I drew a line across top of the form. Using a drafting triangle along that line I drew the other line along the left side of the print. I had determined on a layout sheet what margins I wanted and so measured out that distance at two points along each of those two initial lines. Then I drew lines connecting those marks as shown. Then I attached the gauge pins to the top sheet. The double-grip pins require a single slit in the paper to insert the tongue that I cut with a make ready knife. To avoid damaging the pressboard, which I reuse as many times as possible, I inserted under the topsheet an old pressboard saved for just this purpose. Once the cuts are made I remove that board and set the pins as you can see in the photo. Using a sheet of the same stock I’m going to use for the run I take a trial impression, check the margins, and adjust the gauge pins accordingly.

The third photo shows the setup for the grippers. I set the right gripper so it would cover the right side of the sheet and the left gripper far enough over to put some stretch into the rubber bands and generally keep out of the way. I used two rubber bands stretched between the grippers, one at about the center of the sheet and one towards the bottom, i.e. the top of the platen. In combination with the gripper tongues, this proved to work fine.

The fourth photo shows the delivery board towards the end of the run with some of the printed sheets. It also shows a magnifying glass and four rubber fingertips. I kept an eye on the prints and noted when they seemed to print lightly. I then threw off the impression and looked at the print with the glass. Usually my eyesight was proven correct and I had to add some ink to the press. I got the fingertips from Staples and use them in place of the traditional glycerin and/or sandpaper rubber-banded to the fingertips. I put one on the index and middle finger of each hand. They really work great. You can move sheets around with a very light touch and help keep the sheets clean.

The last photo is simply an overall view of the press after I finished the run. I still have about 300 more to do but will wait until tomorrow. This is also an experiment since I’ve left the Van Son rubber-base ink on the press. I’ve never done this before and tried to print the next day though it’s supposed to be OK. We’ll see.

Once the sheets dry I’ll scan a good copy and show you the results. By the way, note the long ink fountain on the press. I finally got this cleaned up and mounted. I’ll take better photos and post them another time.

It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over

A week ago last Sunday I printed my first real project. It was for a letterpress swap and only ran to about 75 sheets but was the first thing I’ve printed in “bulk” for distribution. Everything came out reasonably well and I was very happy with the way the press worked. During this process I learned, or perhaps was reminded of something, I thought I’d share here.

I made a previous post describing how I adjusted the platen on my press at the time I restored it. I adjusted it at all four corners using a machinist’s gauge and I spent considerable time loosing and tightening the platen bolts until everything was set to the gauge. And in fact when I printed a small business card form, it was just fine.

When dressing the platen and before inking the press my practice has been to use a sheet of the old-style dark blue/purple “carbon” paper with a test sheet to pull a proof, turning the flywheel over by hand while holding the two sheets between the platen and the form. Once I’m sure everything is where it should be I ink the press and pull an impression on the tympan that I then use to set the gauge pins following the usual procedure.

The form for my project had a printed area of about 4” x 6”. I had locked it up in the chase slightly below the centerline as is normally recommended. When I pulled the proof using the carbon the impression, while generally even, was lighter at the top than the bottom. For a second I was surprised considering the care I had used setting the platen. But then I realized that an actual form introduces a variable and especially the size of the form.

The answer was to adjust the top two platen bolts very, very slightly to move the top of the platen towards the bed. I then took a trial impression and made another very small adjustment until the impression was truly equal. In fact, the impression was so good that I didn’t feel I needed makeready and so proceeded with the run. Looking back I think there were one or two things I would have spotted-up but in general I was satisfied with the impression. I saved my proofs and will scan them and a copy of the final print and post them tomorrow when I have more time.

So while gauges provide a useful starting point the proof, as always, is in the printing.


Followup: Just to be clear, once I get the platen properly set, and I'm hoping that has now been achieved, I don't expect to have to adjust it again except in extraordinary circumstances. But having recently disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and initially adjusted everything, I'm not surprised it required a bit more tweeking.

The usual means of adjusting the platen is to lock up either four large sorts, one in each corner, or a foundry type border all around the edge of the chase. Then test proofs are taken on the tympan and adjustments made accordingly. I have nothing against that method but when I tried it on my old 8x12 I personally didn't have much success. When I made the adjustment with the method I've also now used on my 10x15 things worked out very well.

Keep On Truckin'

As some of you may know, I haven't done as much printing as I want to do because my old 8x12 press had two problems: I only had Morgan Expansion trucks with worn-out tires and I had rubber rollers that were not only slit badly in some places from perf rule but slightly concave in the center and slightly hard from age. I could print with them but mostly only small forms and even then they had some problems. I couldn't afford to replace either tires or rollers so did the best I could on a limited basis and spent a lot of time organizing and setting up the shop in general knowing that would pay off later.

I posted here how I recently traded in the 8x12 Old Style for a 10x15 Old Style that I restored. In this case I had steel trucks but the rollers were all bad and again, I couldn't afford to buy new ones. Fortunately my friend Alan recently loaned me three rollers from one of his presses, two of which I have and the other I mistakenly left in his shop. I had adjusted the platen for a standard packing as I've described in an earlier post and all that remained was to compensate for the fact that on this press, as on many older presses, the rails were manufactured less than type high. In the case of Chandler and Price, 1/16" less. This weekend I was determined to get the press printing so I could begin some of the projects that I've been wanting to do.

The steel trucks I got with the press were 1/16" oversize from the standard that came with the press when new, meaning that they were 1 3/4" diameter. They are actually stamped "oversize" on the sides. C&P offered oversized and undersized trucks as options according to their early catalogs. The rollers that came with my press when I got it were therefore 1 5/8" diameter so they would be type high. My friend Alan has a 10x15 New Style the rails of which were also 1/16" below type high. He had been using the rollers he gave me on that press which are 1 3/4" diameter and, since the steel trucks he was using were the the normal diameter trucks C&P supplied with the press, 1 5/8" diameter, he had taped both the trucks and the rails to bring them to type high. So in order for me to use his rollers with my trucks I would only need to increase their height by 1/16". I decided to do this by taping the rails.

I know there is special tape sold to do this but of course that costs money. I thought long and hard about what kind of tape I wanted to use. My friend had used duct tape with good results but I decided to try something different. I bought some metal tape at the hardware store, the kind used to tape the joints of metal ducting; basically metal duct tape instead of cloth duct tape. The metal is very thin and easily cut. I decided to use this because I thought it would provide a firm, smooth surface that could be more finely adjusted because the tape is so thin.

I measured the length of the rails and then cut the tape into 24" lengths, slightly longer than needed. The roll of tape is about 2" wide so I cut these lengths to the rail width of 5/8" on my 26" paper cutter. The knife went through like butter and because of the thinness of the metal and the buffer between each layer the adhesive and backer provided I don't think it affected the edge much. In any case, the knife is almost due to be changed anyway.

One by one I laid the strips on the rails. I started with 10 layers per rail and then started checking the height with a straight edge laid across both rails and a type high gauge as I added more strips one by one. When I got it just about right with the gauge I put the rollers on the press and used them with the type high gauge for the final adjustments. I stopped when I could feel a bit of pressure on the gauge from the rollers. In the end it turned out that the left side required one more strip than the right. As I was making the final checks, I ran the press for a bit to press the tape down well and avoid movement through compression later. I was pleased with the end result. Since the tape is metal it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb; it's smooth and hard; and should I need to make adjustments later it will be easy to do so. It was also inexpensive: the roll cost about $3 and I have enough left for at least two more presses.

Of course, the proof is in the pressing. Today I locked up my business card form and inked up the press and pulled some proofs. I was very, very happy with the results. The photos below will show the reason. I used my standard packing only with no makeready. Now a small form should probably need little to no makeready anyway but the fact that it inked and printed so well right off the bat was very encouraging to me. This is especially true after my experiences up to this point with the limitations of my old trucks and rollers. I was also pleased that my platen adjustment seemed to be just right. Naturally when I print a larger form problems may show up but I'm certainly satisfied at this point.

The top photo shows a proof pulled on a lightweight bond paper. I used Strathmore 100 percent cotton laid paper for the proof in the middle photo. I had difficulty with that paper before with my old press so wanted to try it again now. Needless to say, it looks really good. There is a speck of something on the R in my name from the scanner. I decided to try something larger so locked up the cut shown in the bottom photo which is about 3 1/2" x 6". Again, there was no makeready and I thought it came out pretty good, a nice even print at least. The cut is damaged on one corner so there is a break in the border at that point. I'm also afraid the scanner added some bands of color to the photo: oh, well. These photos may not show the details sufficiently so I'll probably post them to Flickr where they can be enlarged.

Now I need to pick up that third roller and then start on my projects.

Pedal Power

Those of you who noticed that the photo of my new press in my last post showed the motor speed control pedal just sitting on the floor, and you know who you are, can rest easy in the knowledge that a base as shown by the photo below has been installed. The wood is the same as the runners: hickory. You may recall that I made my composing bank out of hickory that we had laying around at work and the same is true here. It's overkill for this application but it was available and is certainly strong and good-looking. You'll notice I ran a cove moulding around the top edge of the runners to add a bit of detail.

Transfiguration

Here it is in all its naturally lighted glory. It was a lot of work but I'm pleased with the result. Everything is running smooth and easy. I didn't keep close track of how long it took but I would estimate at least 30 hours.

The platen was out of adjustment so I took care of that too; I'll have to make a final test once I get rollers and pull a few test proofs. To make the initial setting I set a machinist's sliding wedge gauge to type high with a micrometer. I then stacked up a pressboard, three sheets of bond and one sheet of tag and had them slightly hanging over the edge of a table. I placed the gauge on top and took a reading of the total thickness with the micrometer. This gave me a reading of about .945. I wasn't really concerned with the actual number but with getting an accurate reading of a standard packing and the height of the type combined. I reset the wedge gauge accordingly and then clamped it in a Vise-grip for a handle. Then I used it to set each corner of the platen so the gauge slides in snugly: easy in and out but no play.

On my old 8x12 I tried at first the standard four-corners lockup with large sorts to adjust the platen but this didn't work well for me. I adjusted it a second time using the above method and it made a dramatic, positive difference in the impression. It did so well that I never had to make another adjustment other than standard makeready. I used this method because those were the tools I had. I chose the packing I did because that is what is recommended in the standard works, with slight variations. I substituted bond paper for book and I left out the cover sheet. I did this to allow for a bit more adjustment with the packing when dressing the platen. I'll see what a few proofs look like and experiment with different packing and then make any final adjustments if necessary. I don't want or intend to adjust the platen often. I want to have it at a setting that is as versatile as possible for whatever I may want to print.

An interesting discovery is that this press, like my 8x12 and other older presses including Pearls, has rails that are lower than type high. I've never yet discovered a reason why the presses were made this way and have not been able to come up with a reason myself, but it seems this was fairly common. What this means in practise is that the rollers and trucks must be different diameters, in my case the trucks need to be 1/8" larger than the rails. This of course flies in the face of the standard view that rollers and trucks must be the same diameter to prevent slurring. Personally I don't believe this view is correct. I think the usual argument from physics/mathematics is wrong. In fact I think physics/mathematics proves just the opposite, that the relationship to the axis at any given point is the same. Clearly some presses were made so only rollers and trucks of a different size would work. If slurring and imperfect work was a necessary result these presses would have ended up in the Ancient Press Graveyard long ago and clearly they were. Some Pearls especially seem to garner high praise for even fine halftone work. What does seems obvious is that some presses, mostly older, use rollers and trucks of a different size and most newer presses use the same size. I don't think it matters in terms of the work produced, only in terms of what will work on a particular press, even the rational for these differences has been lost in the dim past. In any case, I will use 1 5/8" rollers with 1 3/4" trucks like the printer before me did for over 20 years and the printers before him did with this press.

Today at work I made a wooden base for the motor's speed control pedal that will attach to the right runner. I'll post a photo of it once it's installed. I'm pricing out rollers at this point. One quote I've had so far is about $450 for three rollers. OUCH! I've since recovered from the shock with only minor relapses and am pursuing my search further. I am hoping to find something in the $200 to $250 range. I'd even settled for a set of good, used rollers at this point. Hopefully I can get a set by the middle of January. They'll be rubber and I'm going to use the original cores that came with the press. Hopefully that will save a few bucks.

I have a few days of vacation tied in with the holidays and will probably lock up a cut, ink it with a brayer and pull a few impressions. I can't wait to be fully up and running and working on some projects. By the way, I'm looking for a spider chase, book chase, and skeleton chase if anyone has any for sale.

It's Alive!

Just a brief and photo-less post to announce that the press is completely back together, clean, oiled and belted to the motor. I turned the switch on about 1 a.m. this morning and like the Miracle of Christmas it ran. This is my first experience with a variable speed press motor so I'm getting used to it slowly. But I had it turning at 15 impressions per minute without trouble, the speed I'm most comfortable with for now.

I still need to make a wood extension platform to attach to the right runner for the mechanical foot pedal that controls the motor speed but I'll do that Monday. I'll also post photos Monday along with the details of the final adventures I had getting things completed. Ahhh. I made my Christmas deadline. Now I just need some rollers! Anyone have any old but usable ones they'd like to donate to a poor printer? They need to be 1 5/8" diameter however. I'll explain that later.

Time To Rearm

The restoration of the press is coming along nicely. I told myself I wanted to have it running by Christmas and I think I'll meet that goal. I'm almost desperate to begin printing on it but for a while at least I'll have to take comfort in the old maxim: patience is a virtue. I need to get my roller cores recovered and I won't likely be able to do that until after the first of the year.

As you can see from the photos I'm at the point where I'm putting the arms back on. I had started cleaning, step by step working my way from the lower back of the base upward. I used my old standard cleaning supplies: 3M green pads; WD-40; rolls and rolls of cheap paper towels; 150 grit sandpaper; and elbow grease.

My goal is almost never to strip things down to bare metal and restore it to factory new. It's an antique and has years of working patina and character that I try to preserve as much as possible. That much being said, I remove all dirt, built-up oil deposits, rust, loose paint, etc. I file off all burrs and make sure all machined surfaces are ready to rub against one another again with only a layer of fresh oil between them. When I find something so worn as to affect seriously the operation of the machine I repair it or replace it. I readjust all settings as necessary.

All of these steps are important, perhaps the last more than any. Over the years modifications get made to machinery, some good and some bad. People who don't know any better make adjustments incorrectly or don't repair things that should be repaired because they don't know any thing's wrong. For example, on the right lower leg of the press bed where the shaft that connects it to the base goes through there is a threaded hole. This is for a bolt that tightens against the shaft so the shaft and the bed casting move together. I wouldn't have ever known this if the presses had not been disassembled and I wasn't thoroughly cleaning them which is when I discovered the hole and asked myself: what's this hole for? The bearing surfaces for this shaft are actually in the base where there are oil holes. But in both this press and my old 8x12 these bolts went missing sometime in the distant past and the holes were filled with crud (sorry for the technical term). This meant that the bed had moved on the shaft when the press was running, at least part of the time. There are no oil holes in the bed casting at these points so the shaft and journals in the bed would simply wear down no matter how much oil was put in the oil holes for this shaft in the base. So it pays to study about and thoroughly go over a machine: know your press.

The press was moved in pieces on different occasions, the bed coming first. It had been laid on a standard furniture dolly and I rolled it out of the back of my van onto my back porch and up through the French doors into the living room by myself. Did I mention it was heavy? It was heavy. The base I had help with and we used the usual 3/4" pipe method to get it off the truck following the same route into the house.

I started on the base and when that was done I pulled and slid it sideways onto more pipes so that it was lined up with the spot where it would finally rest. Then I rolled the bed behind it, cleaned the legs, bed face, and sides as well as the shaft. Then with a bit of heavy-duty fiddling got the holes lines up and pushed the shaft in. Using the heavy tie-down strap you see in the photo as a come-along I raised the bed high enough so that I could get under it enough to lift it up into place. Did I mention that it was heavy? It was heavy.

I tied the bed and base together as you can see in the photo for safety and then finished the cleaning. I made sure the press was lined up where I wanted it to go and then pushed/rolled it back to almost where you see it sitting now. I hadn't yet replaced the oil, grease, and dirt soaked original runners but did that next using some hickory we had laying round at work to make new ones (It's good to be a cabinetmaker). Using the scissor jack from my van and a 4x4 I lifted first one side and then the other, swapping the runners out. The I rolled the press back the rest of the way to where you see it in the photo. I then jacked up the back and removed a couple pipes and then did the same for the front. It ain't goin' anywhere now.

I'll leave the tie-down strap on until I get the drive shaft in and pinion gear and flywheel on. Though the side arms limit the movement, the drive train keeps the bed from simply flopping back. One more arm to go and then the drive shaft, etc.

I described all of this in some detail to show that there is no magic to doing this kind of work by yourself nor is the machine a living thing waiting to attack. Mechanical experience is definitely a plus but common sense goes a long way. You have to think and be careful but if you can't do that you shouldn't consider printing anyway since you're likely to lose some fingers. You also don't need to spend a lot of money or possibly any money to move a press and restore one. Except for the cleaning supplies, which were very inexpensive, it cost me nothing. I used short boards I had in the basement as ramps to get things from the van to the back porch and then up the stoop of the French doors. I also had several lengths of old 3/4" pipe from some pipe clamps but Home Depot has them cheap or perhaps a neighbor has some. The tie down strap I had from years ago from some other move. The jack came from my van. So if you're thinking of getting a press but the idea of moving it and setting it up intimidates you, ask some questions and use your head but you can do it!

E Pluribus Unum

The many separate parts you see in the photos, once joined back together in a perfect harmony of one, will be my newly acquired Chandler and Price 10 x 15 OS press, built in 1892. This is in fact a trade-in on my current C&P 8 x 12 of the same vintage. The 10 x 15 belonged to my friend Alan's former print shop teacher and since Alan's shop has a 10 x 15 but not a restored 8 x 12 we've swapped.

I had thought some day I would want a larger press so I could print larger forms and feel more comfortable doing some die cutting. But I had not intended to go out actively looking for some time as I'm still getting started on the 8 x 12. But this was a perfect opportunity and I'm very glad it came along. I'm very excited about getting it up and running. The only thing I'll need is new rollers as the original composition rollers are no longer any good.

You don't see the main body of the press because it's still sitting in the garage near the basement we hauled the press out of. Alan took some photos of this effort that he's going to post on his Excelsior Press website. But I'm getting started cleaning these parts so that in a few weeks when we get the rest of the contents of the shop with a big truck I'll have gotten a head start. Last night I managed to get the flywheel off the drive shaft. It was stuck pretty good but by drilling out the key I was able to do it. I also cleaned the feed and delivery boards and gave them a coat of shellac.

Shellac is a great finish. The original boards were finished with it and I used a rag and denatured alcohol to rub them down thereby removing the dirt from the finish while leaving the aged patina. A couple of coats of new shellac will make them as good as new as far as use goes but they will still have all the character of age. Shellac is made from the secretions of the Lac beetle in Southeast Asia (no, I'm not kidding) and has been a common furniture finish for a few hundred years. Usually amber in color (thus "orange" shellac) it is dissolved in denatured alcohol which acts as a vehicle to carry the pigment to the surface. Because the alcohol evaporates quickly you can often sand and re-coat with a half hour. It's an easy finish to use and repair. You can still get it at paint stores and even Home Depot.

A Real Borderline Case

In between coats of shellac on my composing bank I've been cleaning out, sorting, and redistributing my borders and ornaments. I was very fortunate when I got my press and much of the equipment for my shop to get this border case will all kinds of borders, ornaments, fractions, etc. It was completely disorganized and filled with dust and dirt, but fortunately no type lice or corrosion.

The quality of this photo is much better than my usual because I borrowed a camera from work. If I would have composed the shot better I would have captured the other side of the case too which is also fairly full with different kinds of borders. But I'm just grateful for the clarity.