Nice work today, 31

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.

Linomite

I noticed a slight little build up of type metal on the pump plunger rod when I started casting this evening, and after a couple hours of casting lines this is what that build up became:

Linomite! It was enough to restrict the plunger from returning to its fullest upward position. Gotta keep an eye on this next time. I'm guessing that this happened because the pot was a bit too cool. I'll test the theory next time we cast. Otherwise, anyone out there have tips on how to prevent this?

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.