Just hired this new guy.

Saturday Night Pi(e)

Running mats into new-to-me Alumilite Magazines. This one appears to be warped/bent. Dang. These are probably some of the cleanest matrices I have in the shop. Kills me to have pied them. Hopefully didn't do too much damage. Happy Saturday Night Pi! 

Miter practice

I've been practicing mitering Linotype border using the Hammond glider saw. I almost took out a window here at Stumptown Printers when the miter vise clamp wasn't tight enough and a slug got away from me. Won't make that mistake again.

Proofing 10^440

Looking pretty clean so far. This type form will be used for a limited edition keepsake broadside celebrating 11 years of the Stumptown Printers' Arigato Pak.

Russian Made Linotype in Action

This is a great little video of a Russian made (?) line casting machine. Thanks to Bill Spurling for passing on the link. Check out the safety guard that flips into place over the mold and vise before casting.

Ancient compositor's knot

This is a set of space bands lovingly tied up by an operator of the Stumptown Printer's model 31 long before we owned the machine. It's an example of marlinspike seamanship by an old Linotype salt. I hadn't had the heart (or need) to disrupt this tidy knot before today, but we needed the bands and so this is the documentation of the touch of a craftsman from years ago. We brought the bands to the C.C. Stern Type Foundry to use with the machine there. I believe that the old salt would approve. 

Today's message to the model 31

I managed to get a couple lines off of the machine today, but printing, die cutting, hand bindery and prepress took the lion's share of shop time. I don't like to fire up the machine unless we have at least a handful if slugs to cast. Next time...

I'm in the process of tracking down belt material for the main drive belt. I stopped in on our local supplier Empire Rubber where the crew there presented me with a bunch of great info and options. Good guys and a good resource. With their help, I should be able to match the lacing and material. 

Update:

The belt that I ended up using was:

Empire Rubber's item number: 20045012

Description: 4/140 II Tan FSxFS 1.5" W

Flexco Clipper Lace was used, added to trim length of 78.5"

Close Up Of Litter Poems Proof 1

Close Up Of Litter Poems Proof 1, a photo by Stumptown Printers on Flickr.

Another photo from our Flickr archives. These lines were cast shortly after rebuilding the keyboard (the first time). What a thrill to pull these proofs and get satisfactory results from the machine for the first time!

Bicycle Transportation Alliance pin packaging

Bicycle Transportation Alliance pin packaging, a photo by Stumptown Printers on Flickr.

Printing from slugs cast on our Linotype. Spartan Book 10pt and 12pt. Looks fairly clean here, but as I recall we had to spend a bit of time removing hairlines.

Linotype Man (Have you lost your head?)

Linotype Man (Have you lost your head?), a photo by Stumptown Printers on Flickr.

Finished Print. Printed for the 2012 American Typecasting Fellowship Conference.

Linotype Man

Linotype Man 1, a photo by Stumptown Printers on Flickr.

Linotype form for "Have You Lost Your Head" broadside which was printed for the 2012 American Typecasting Fellowship Conference.