trouble with wooden type?
forgive me for asking what must be a very ignorant question, but i was trying yesterday to print wooden type on a vandercook, and although inking the type was fine, when i tried to print, the paper wouldn’t actually go over the type. it would stop short as though the type were too high, which makes no sense.
i’m sure i’m missing something extremely obvious, but, any comments?
thanks!
For sure something is too high and the first concern is that you might damage the wood type.
1) The wood type may have swelled and is, in fact, too high. It might just be one letter that is the problem.
2) You may have too much packing on the Vandercook cylinder.
3) The combination of the packing on the Vandercook cylinder and the thickness of the paper you are trying to print on adds up to being too high.
Check your wood type against some metal type and see if it is noticeably higher.
Make sure the bed of the press is clean when you before you put the type down.
Then always start the first print slow. Work you way up until you get the print you want.