Glad to see tradition is still alive and well
By chance I found this site when surfing the web and it brought back so many memories, I started my printing apprenticeship over 60 years ago (a Printer Devil with an apprentice of six years, but now well and truly retired), and had to learn type setting, poster setting with wooden type, use the Eagle hand press, wooden qoins, mallets, shooting sticks, planers, page cord, nuts, muttons, thicks, thins, hair spaces, forms, chases, type cases, type racks, linotype, page make up, page pagination etc. the site brought back so many images of a time well gone but being preserved and the all pervading smell of printers ink and paper, which all printers at the time said it gets in your blood for life. But then progressed to linotype, then DTP on Macs but printing lost something on the way. The image of the rule and the setting stick are about 60 years old.
Setting stick and rule-1.jpg
Welcome to the site of the bent double toothless braindamaged lung rotted cancer ridden disciples of the great printed works ……………. Well speaking of some ….
Input is always required here and you have an ear or two …
Help feed the mass of members here with tales and hints they are always very much appreciated .
Note. banging out ceremonies dont seem to appear here though i am not sure some should !!
If you like this site you will like Dave Hughes Metal Type site, he has lots of pictures of old composing rooms, fun to look at, who knows you might see your picture there.
Welcome, Austin! When you said “Eagle hand press,” did you mean a Columbian hand press with an eagle on it, like this one at the International Printing Museum?
I set type by hand and I’m sure I will have questions for you. In fact, I’m wondering if you might have a look at the question I just posed here under the heading “Typesetting tips wanted.”
Thanks,
Barbara
The banging out ceremony is not something to forget, when I became journeymen 55+ years ago banging out was the most colourful of ceremonies, first you were de-bagged, then liberal handfuls of bronze blue ink where applied to your neither parts, with handfulls of paper punch circles from the bindary, then wheeled around the comp room in a bin or anything else handy, not something you went home and told your mother about, incidently the banging was from any metal object that came to hand from galleys etc. banging on any cabinet, stone bin (no plastic then) and the noise was horrendous, but the first part was dropped when you reached retirement age, but not the noise then you had the whole of the print works there from comp room, machine room, binders, my early years of print 60 years ago was a very closed shop and even talking in public printing terms where used which confounded eavesdroppers. Will regail you with more as I remininsce on the past.
The bronze blue was dropped in favour of padding adhesive in my case but i got the paper punchings and was not able to leave till the floor was clean ,trouble was in the cleaning of the floor more bits dropped off you !! Bronze blue was by then linked to cancer so i got off light !!
Padding adhesive is almost a good substitute for females waxing kit …….