Crate a Keley 6x10 Letterpress

I’m planning to sell one of my 6x10 Kelsey Presses on ebay. It came from Kelsey to me years ago in a very heavy corrugated box with a wood base. Any advice for shipping a 95 pound Kelsey Press in this modern world?

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Hello Gil…. yes, there is a lot of advice / discussion on shipping Kelsey presses here on Briar Press.

As you know, they are easily damaged in shipping, especially the arm that drives the ink disk. BUT they can be shipped successfully. Here is a post about how I ship them:

http://www.briarpress.org/13536

and there are several others on here, too. Some methods are different, but we all seem to agree that they must be secured in a sturdy crate…. a cardboard box with packing bubbles just won’t do it.

good luck

Thank you Winking Cat! I had a feeling plastic bubble pack aint’ good enough. I’ll go for making a plywood crate with wood blocks and a final blast of liquid expanding foam. I bought this press from Kelsey in 1974 so I have a “personal” attachment to it - I don’t want any harm to come to it…

keep in mind 150lb is max for non freight shipping and must be cardboard boxed for normal price no wood showing.
I like to start with a U-Haul TV box it is 24”x 24”x 36 ” double wall box . build your wood crate to fit just in side. use a smaller box inside for your ink disk, chase and holder.
I sent one to China like this Fed-ex it did make it.
most shippers will not cover cost of a broken press only if it gets lost in shipping.

Thank you Todd! My 6x10 Kelsey is very special to me - not some of the junk on ebay. I plan to ship it by FedEx which I use for my printing business. I just received a Oki Digital Printer by FedEx Freight last Friday - 250 lbs on a pallet in a very heavy corrugated box with custom foam - no problems. Based on comments and several emails from Briar Press Members I think I can split the shipping on this press and not use the FedEx “big” truck to deliver a small hand press. I keep a pallet jack handy but I see no use for it on a small hand press