what’s wrong with my new metal type?
Hi everyone,
I bought a press recently that came with some metal type. I’ve printed with it and I love the impression it leaves on the paper. Much different than the wood type I bought. So I decided to buy more metal type and ordered a few sets from skyline type. It prints nicely, but will not leave an impression. Not even on my thickest and softest stock. I checked the height and they both seem to b exactly the same height. I just can’t figure out why the used metal would work so much better than the new metal I bought. Feeling frustrated having spent so much money on it. Help? Thank you!
Valpovi, 2 or 3 possibilities your *seems to be about exactly the same height* not quite scientific enough if you are trying to run old and newly acquired type side by side or even letter by letter intermingled!!
Its almost certain that Sky will specify what height the product is from His Caster(s)
If you are intermingling, rule of thumb and naked eye or finger nail test will not tell the whole truth, keep in mind even Air Mail, Bible Paper, Tissue as make-ready can be the difference between print and not print!!! Maybe NOT discernable by naked eye??
Few Possible solutions, access to Analogue precision Type High clock gauge, Imperial Micrometer, Hand held “G” shaped Go/No Go gauge!! . . Or if all else fails construct you own, Not exactly Rocket science, (way back every comp on 4 colour make up made their own) simple hardwood “G” with about 3” inch throat, with careful construction, accurate to less than One thickness of tissue!!!
One more possibility, as an experiment, print a representative sample of letters, original and new side by side with no spaces and ascertain WHAT results,??? CLUES!!! Include side by side old/new Unused “X” “Z” “Q” Ligature, Dipthong etc Prove/Disprove any sunk or worn in use, common letters, maybe!!. Good Luck
If your old type is not very bold and the new type is bold or ornamental, you will have trouble getting a deep impression from the new type because the additional surface area being printed requires more pressure for the same amount of smash. You don’t say what the press is — but be careful, with most tabletop presses and many floor models, you can break them quite easily with too much pressure.
Bob
You should be aware that printing with heavy impression is something best done with a printing surface that goes in the garbage at the end of the job. This deep impression aesthetic is something that only came into fashion when photopolymer plates were in common use and with good reason- excessive pressure on lead alloy type will crush it quickly and easily.
DGM
Are the two forms being compared for impression the same size? A larger form will have less impression on a platen press.
My recommendation would be to use photopolymer for deep impression and metal type for kiss or light impression. With deep impression the face of metal type can become rounded due to the pressure applied and can break in some cases. This disfigures the type and the longevity. Printing new type with old type as stated previously has it’s challenges.
Casey
iLp
What should be understood here is that impression and surface area are critically related. Any press is set and adjusted for a certain distance to form height; imagine your hand could be set the same way. Ten newtons of force applied by hand through a 10”x10” block would have absolutely no affect on anything. The same ten newtons of force applied through a thumbtack might force it into anything softer than the thumbtack.
Imagine all the variations of surface area between a 10”x10” block and a thumbtack, and then imagine the differences resulting with diffferent type heights, thicknesses of paper stock, amounts of packing, press adjustments (and then once you start to get that, there’s the whole other world of ink and roller settings). Understanding all this is what makes a good letterpress printer.
If you are using a tabletop press, they have a limited capacity for impression, and as you increase the form weight, the press itself fails to keep up with demand.
One of the great ironies of the wonderful and celebrated Letterpress Revival is the currently prevailing belief that “smash” is good. Technically this is called ‘debossing’, and in the highest state of letterpress as a mainline industrial craft, the measure of correct printing was how little it debossed the paper. (Nevertheless, in virtue of the fact that letterpress is now an art, not a craft, we’ll chalk this one up to artistic license.) Having said that, I hasten to point out that foundry type is not designed or engineered for debossing, and will ultimately be damaged or ruined by embossing, debossing or foil stamping. In the day, these operations were accomplished using engraved plates of copper, brass, or zinc, which were much harder and more durable.
The major foundries of history all got their raw material from metal suppliers who were properly equipped to refine, assay and manufacture nonferrous alloys—type foundries themselves were not set up for this. The formula for type metal has been essentially unchanged for centuries. Here at Skyline we use scrap foundry type as our raw material—type reincarnation! But supplies of this are gradually drying up, and the day will inevitably come when we’ll have to turn to commercial metal suppliers.
So with all this being the case, I personally put a mojo on all Skyline type so that it will kiss, not punch. ;)
Sky Shipley
Skyline Type Foundry
With foundry type as with monotype, make love, not war.
Thank you Sky for all the information you provided in your post!
Nancy
Ducks In A Row Press
Thank you everyone for the input.
Letterpress is now an art(?)
And I don’t really give a *art.
It was once a respectable craft,
And I’ll be a person forever daft.
I’ll still print with a soft kiss
So my efforts will not be amiss.
Losing my poetic license long ago,
I had sense to put it in escrow.
And now I must ask the word fairy,
‘Where is my rhyming dictionary?’
Without it I’m lost for all time,
Taking me a long time to rhyme!
*********************
Advice to Newcomers to the trade, craft, art, profession, hobby, pastime, whatever you wanna call it…
SMASH PHOTOPOLYMER,
NOT HAND SET TYPE!
Save the type for
The real Printers!
Stan, Stan
The Poet Man*
*Still handling lead type, kerosine, gasoline, benzine, carbon tetracloride, inhaling fumes from a Ludlow pot in the confines of a small print shop. (And with no ill affects!) Risking my life and limb hand feeding a mid-1800’s Gordon Jobber. Sorry, no loft, studio co-op, kickstart financed project or any other uppity name.
I have a stinky, foul-smelling PRINT SHOP! I get ink on my hands, elbows, shirt sleeves.
Yes, Sky, Smash is good, but my cardiologist says: “NO” to getting smashed1
Stan, Stan, The Poet Man, that carbon tet is nasty stuff, you should stay away from it.
dickg:
In my apprentice days, (yes, there was a Federally-funded apprentice program then) they told me that carbon tet can bring on sterility or affect my virility. I didn;t know what to do then, now it really doesn’t matter!
Printing was once considered an art:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53177163@N00/7030768143/in/photolist-bHhwqp...
and despite the best efforts of William Morris, the Goudys, Grabhorns, John Henry Nash and a host of others, letterpress should now just be a craft? That’s like being an auto mechanic. Surely letterpress printers can elevate themselves and their work above what is produced in a “shop.”
Fritz
dickg, et al:
On second thought, I think possibly it might have been the Thalidomide. The morning sickness I might have tolerated =, had I thought to quit while I was a head!
Stan
(Nevertheless, in virtue of the fact that letterpress is now an art, not a craft, we’ll chalk this one up to artistic license.)
Sky Shipley
Does “printing office” sound a notch above “shop” or “studio” or?
THIS IS
A PRINTING OFFICE
CROSSROADS OF CIVILISATION
REFUGE OF ALL THE ARTS
AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF TIME
ARMOURY OF FEARLESS TRUTH
AGAINST WHISPERING RUMOUR
INCESSANT TRUMPET OF TRADE
FROM THIS PLACE WORDS MAY FLY ABROAD
NOT TO PERISH ON WAVES OF SOUND
NOT TO VARY WITH THE WRITER’S HAND
BUT FIXED IN TIME HAVING BEEN VERIFIED IN PROOF
FRIEND YOU STAND ON SACRED GROUND
THIS IS A PRINTING OFFICE
by Beatrice Warde
Depending on your location, please feel free to change the following to your preference.
armoury civilisation rumour
Stan, I’ve used most of your chemical list except for carbon tet, it does have some affect on the body, my skin has wrinkled, my hair is gray, my eyes can’t see very good anymore, my stomach is bigger, my strength isn’t as good as it once was.
dickg:
Strange that I have exactly the same symptoms.
I guess I can blame my age (78) for some of them
Last week my doctor gave me six months to live. I told him I couldn’t pay my bill, so he gave me a year. Thanks to Henny (take my wife, please) Youngman for that one.
Some cures and/or relief for our symptoms:
Wrinkled skin: exfollient, cucumber and sour cream salad applied topically.
Gray Hair: Grecian Formula.
Vision ARMD: shots directly into eye every two weeks.
Bigger Stomach: Doctor says Liposuction, I say no.
Strength: I’m still looking for the Charles Atlas course, remember the back page of the comic books. At that time I was the 98 lb. weakling.