For beating some papermaking fibres, a Hollander beater is essential. One of the brands preferred by hand papermakers is the Valley Beater, originally made by Valley Iron Works, but still available new from Voith-Sulzer (last time I checked). They are…
Author: kpmartin
Monotype pump head disassembled
As part of my project to add a pump latch to my Monotype Composition Caster to allow casting of larger type, I decided to take apart the pump head so all the parts could be cleaned properly of decades of…
Guillotine knives for sale
I have four guillotine knives, but I’m not even sure what brand or model they are for, nor whether they have been sharpened so much they aren’t useful any more. They are actually two pairs of essentially identical knives. The…
The big monster printing press
This press is our latest acquisition. It actually came from what are now the premises of KwartzLab, the former home of Pandora Press. This machine is a Thompson-British Automatic Platen Press, weighing in at about 1525kg (3360lbs). It fills the…
Our workhorse printing press
The press we do most of our work with is a Chandler and Price 7×11 Old Style. This is a hand-fed treadle-driven letterpress. When we got the press it was set up for motor drive, had an ink fountain, but…
Our smallest printing press
Our smallest printing press is a Kelsey Excelsior 5×8 Model U tabletop press. When we got it it was suffering from fire and water damage. Most of the paint was worn off, there was rust all over, and the rubber…
…and Calligraphy too!
A few weeks ago Lily’s kindergarten class held a muffin sale, but she was home sick the day they were supposed to make the sign for their muffins. So I pulled out a fountain pen and a sheet of hand-made…
Papermaking presses
We have two presses which are used in papermaking to press excess water out of the sheets and also to make the sheets thinner and denser. The one we use regularly is actually a power hydraulic 30-ton arbor press assembled…
An evening at KwartzLab
One local group that I am associated with is called KwartzLab. This is the local “maker group” in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Essentially it is a group of members who rent premises and keep tools and equipment there for use by…
Missing WordPress account notification e-mails
I’ve spent several days now trying to get notification e-mails to go out when a new blog user is created. Finally got it working. I’m posting this in the hopes that anyone with the same problem will be able to…
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