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Letterpress
This post is almost a year overdue (photos and video from February 2016). But it’s kind of lovely to look back on this very first print run from a bit of a distance. I haven’t printed nearly as much as I would like in the last 12 months, and so the photos and video […]
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Letterpress
I must admit, I was a little torn — to clean or not to clean? The ink disk had layers and layers of dried ink on the underside, testimony to many years of love and labour. I was seriously tempted to leave it there… but having come this far with the restoration, I decided to press on. […]
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Letterpress
Next cleaning session, next order of business: remove the platen for cleaning. The nut fastening the platen to the press is ginormous. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to undo it, as I’m sure it hasn’t been shifted in forever. I put so much pressure on the wrench, that when it finally gave […]
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Letterpress
I should have bought a bigger bottle of rust killer. Lesson learned. Today I had a crack at getting the two chase rust-free. I think they have come up well. They’re not pristine, by any account, but they are looking much better. I also gave the flywheel a going over, and I can now touch it without getting […]
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Letterpress
Well, here goes. First cleaning session down. Oh boy, it is dirty. Of course I knew it was, because every time I touched it, I would have to break out the Solvol (gee it reminds me of Pa). For the first week, I had zero opportunity to get out to the garage for a cleaning session […]
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Letterpress
This, ladies and gents, is my new toy. And when I say ‘toy’, I mean ‘monstrous and daunting new project’. This beautiful hunk of cast iron is a Cropper Minerva, made by H.S Cropper & co., Nottingham, sometime around 1880. It was gifted to me by a very lovely and generous friend and ex-work colleague, who […]