remounting cuts

Can of worms coming up? As you are implying *older style plates, cuts* from way back, there was basically 2 forms of Cuts, with variations, first was Copper variety process etched, normally for 4 colour work, came in from process House,s with progressive proofs for the Minders to go by.

In equal proportions mounted and ready to go, or UN-mounted and mounted In House (print shop) but in both cases, Flanged and Bevelled for mounting on hardwood.

Virtually every compositor had Plate mounting kit, consisted of tiny hand-drill, copious supply of 1/16” drill bits, usually slightly bigger drill bit as *Countersink* plentiful supply of “plate tacks” (normally kept in either Tobacco Tin, Snuff Box/Tin, or Throat Pastille tin, >non smokers, non snuffers<??? Tack Hammer and Plate dismounting tool, Vipers tongue device. Plate height gauge, often Home made, = Go or No Go, accurate to one thickness of thin packing.??

Zincos, Line drawing plates etc same route, but basically all mounted to .918 never over, always achieved with packing and impression adjustments.

Stereos,? slight variation(s) Stereos were/are, generally Pica, or 12 Point thick in 2 variations either, straight Stereos or process plated for longevity, but basically from the same source as *Stereos* for newsprint Rotaries, but still mounted on Lower base to .918

Mounting base, from way back was fairly simple, either on Hardwood , Oak, Beech, Hornbeam, etc normally end grain, as in genuine wood engravings,!! or Cornerstone style girder furniture, or Monotype Mounting quads, or Elrod mounting furniture, all completely interchangeable, with the added advantage that whole formes, pages, could be interspersed with any configuration of type, plates, ornaments, borders, etc.etc. Ad Infinitum.

AND, of course, all of the above can be utilised still, perfectly, with Genuine, Letterpress Printers double sided adhesive Tape around .003” OR carpet fitters Double sided adhesive Tape, usually around .003” but in both cases coming very, very, close to .918” as a laminate , base + plate + D.S.A.???

Sadly nowadays, most of the above seems to have been lost, opening the door(s) for the obligatory *baffle em with science* quote METRIC? and create the impression that >XXX-XXX< in the States and >XXXX XXX XXXXX< in the U.K. is the ONLY way to go.!!
Not exactly *cricket* or *The Queensbury Rules*

The above offered as *Best Shot* apologies for rubbish,!
Good Luck. Mick.

I tried to look for the old worms &-) but the Briarpress search engine is not working…

Dee, apologies my opening gambit was intended not literally, more an English expression, meant to imply, the first shot at starting the *Ball Rolling* for hopefully, many useful and informative posts, from many sources, which eventually helps the original enquirer, and many others, wanting to learn, including the author, happened several times in the last 3/4/5 years for which one tries to be appreciative.

Still learning and wanting to. Hit the *Deck* running and bawling the year W W II broke out, pulled the first impressions, Letterpress, 1953, aught to be able to quote with some degree of conviction, most things letterpress.???

Feel free, Please, to E mail through the B.P. lines of communication any time. Mick.

speaking of old worms, when you coming across the pond to do some fishing Mick??? still standing on the edge of the big pond waiting for you. Your “young” friend Dick.

Dick, Still Gonna give it a go, but the word has come down the grapevine that the *Coachman* may have been turned over to house a whole herd of “Kids” temporarily of course, we believe,!

And another thing, pictures from the *Printers Hall* sent anonymously, dont show You in a very good light,! perhaps it`s the angle of the Copy holding light on the *Lino* perhaps we should minimize the *Young* bit.??? >The still, very old Goat

Just unearthed a set of Lino Mats, (survived My burn up/Fire) are English Lino mats of any interest Stateside or should I try Don Black in Toronto, for a Barter for Monotype Matrix cases.???….Do Lino mats of English origin have the same designations/markings as Yankee ones, in the Same stated Face. ???

I really don’t know if we can use the English mats, i’ll have to check with my mechanic friend. We still have a few goats but now have a couple of alpacas, strange looking beasts, not very friendly, but then again neither am I.

Dick, thanks for looking in to English Lino mats, whenever, not too important, just interested for possible future negotiations.?

Alpaca,s up to a point, you only get back that which you put in.
They tend to be like Llamas, Spit in your eye, if you give them the chance, or the wrong look. So You be friendly and they (probably) will too.

Few years back, shared a workshop with a Buddy, (converted chicken sheds, but CHEAP, No CHEEP CHEEP fortunately,) had to pass through a fair sized farm, Country Estate in fact, at one time their Herd ran to several hundred, maybe 600 - 700, now downsized slightly, but an amazing sight, every colour under the sun, inc. many off-spring, always popular in the Visitors centre.!!

*****
As our sadly, now departed, Buddy,
>Stompin Tom Connors<
used to assure us, that Tobacco grew in the fields of “Tilsonburg” and He Got the *T* shirt etc, how far south or east, in terms of Latitude are you and the Alpacas, or put another way, will the Alpacas have to Kip next the wood-burner in the Print Shop.? and will you be able to *bottle the Methane*
*****

Lino Mats appear to be designated 24 Point, + E 3519,? nice (condensed) San Serif face with full Key Code, do I understand correctly that means they will only return down the Pie shute.?…..Thanks. Mick.

Hi DeeElling, I’m not sure of your location but I used to mount lots of cuts in the mid-atlantic region of the USA. We used specially made, very stable plywood that was milled to .852 inch. They coated it with a heat activated glue so all we had to do was cut the wood to size, lay the metal cut on the wood and put in a blocking press. A blocking press is just a heated press that puts pressure to bind the metal and wood together. I’m pretty sure the wood is still available and can be ordered with or without the glue.
If you have mounted cuts that you want to seperate from the wood mount, that were mounted in the fashion I just described, you would need to heat them to release the glue.
If the metal cuts were glued to the wood your going to have lots of glue and wood stuck to the bottom side of the metal so you may need to try a couple of different solvents to find one that will remove it. The bottom of the metal will need to be very clean to be level when remounted.
You will also need a good instrument to measure the thickness of the metal cut which can very but should be in the neighborhood of .064 inch. .064+.853= .917 which leaves .001 for glue. If your metal measures .065 or .059 you might need to adjust the thickness of the wood mount or be willing to adapt on press for the variation.
For cutting the image out of the metal we used a table router but for many images that don’t have large negative areas of image that would need to be removed you may be able to trim pretty close to the outside with just a band saw.
I hope some of that helps. Good luck
Bruce