Thursday, August 2, 2018 -- Heidelberg Video
Here is the condensed version of a video we shot to record the acquisition of our 1931 Heidelberg 10 x 15 in 1994, the video also tracked where all the parts came from as we took them off.
The shop was actually in the backyard of a residential neighborhood with its own street address, it had pre-dated any ‘modern’ zoning laws in the area. The business was run by Ted and his father, Stan Ram, I think Stan started in the 1920's, but I'm not sure; of course, this is all gone now.
This was the second press we moved to Pygment Press but much more challenging. To get the machine out it had to be taken apart and moved to the street where our truck waited. As you see in the opening scene, there was a steel porch post to the left and a steel-hulled barge boat to the right in the driveway, about 36” or 37" apart if I recall correctly; how many press moves have been blocked by a boat! Tools included ‘come-along’ chain hoists, a furniture-moving dolly with straps and a heavy-duty engine block lift. The base was the largest piece, maybe weighing about 500 or 600 pounds. As a comparison, the heaviest part on my 8x12 dismantled Chandler & Price weighed in at 125 pounds.
Even with the video, we found one part that did not get reassembled. I’m the one that took it off, too. It goes somewhere near the upper fountain, on the right side where the inking roller is. Any hints (see the next picture)?
Miscellaneous stuff:
I really like the look of black and white linoleum or vinyl tiles on the floor, as seen in the video. When we finished the floor in our shop, I went looking for this, however all the home renovation stores carried white or black square tile with "flecks" in them of other colours. I'm not sure if this was for their manufacturing process, i.e. easier quality control, or they assumed the customer had dirty floors and wanted to camouflage the dirt. But it doesn't convey the same feeling, so we went with 'off-white', with flecks of course.
Ted kindly wrote me into his will for any type that was left over, to share with another printer. There were some interesting faces that came out of the shop, including a full range of Miller & Richard's "Trajan Bold". This was used for the cover of my blurb on the Monotype Super Caster (see my Flickr photos elsewhere for a look at this beautiful type face). A paper cutter came from the shop, which was repaired and sold for a reasonable price ($100) to a Canadian letterpress printer just starting out. And I got the Brehmer stitcher, too. Thanks Ted.
That is Stan's picture at the end of the video.
Thursday, August 2, 2018 -- Heidelberg Video
Here is the condensed version of a video we shot to record the acquisition of our 1931 Heidelberg 10 x 15 in 1994, the video also tracked where all the parts came from as we took them off.
The shop was actually in the backyard of a residential neighborhood with its own street address, it had pre-dated any ‘modern’ zoning laws in the area. The business was run by Ted and his father, Stan Ram, I think Stan started in the 1920's, but I'm not sure; of course, this is all gone now.
This was the second press we moved to Pygment Press but much more challenging. To get the machine out it had to be taken apart and moved to the street where our truck waited. As you see in the opening scene, there was a steel porch post to the left and a steel-hulled barge boat to the right in the driveway, about 36” or 37" apart if I recall correctly; how many press moves have been blocked by a boat! Tools included ‘come-along’ chain hoists, a furniture-moving dolly with straps and a heavy-duty engine block lift. The base was the largest piece, maybe weighing about 500 or 600 pounds. As a comparison, the heaviest part on my 8x12 dismantled Chandler & Price weighed in at 125 pounds.
Even with the video, we found one part that did not get reassembled. I’m the one that took it off, too. It goes somewhere near the upper fountain, on the right side where the inking roller is. Any hints (see the next picture)?
Miscellaneous stuff:
I really like the look of black and white linoleum or vinyl tiles on the floor, as seen in the video. When we finished the floor in our shop, I went looking for this, however all the home renovation stores carried white or black square tile with "flecks" in them of other colours. I'm not sure if this was for their manufacturing process, i.e. easier quality control, or they assumed the customer had dirty floors and wanted to camouflage the dirt. But it doesn't convey the same feeling, so we went with 'off-white', with flecks of course.
Ted kindly wrote me into his will for any type that was left over, to share with another printer. There were some interesting faces that came out of the shop, including a full range of Miller & Richard's "Trajan Bold". This was used for the cover of my blurb on the Monotype Super Caster (see my Flickr photos elsewhere for a look at this beautiful type face). A paper cutter came from the shop, which was repaired and sold for a reasonable price ($100) to a Canadian letterpress printer just starting out. And I got the Brehmer stitcher, too. Thanks Ted.
That is Stan's picture at the end of the video.