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featuring Zach Barocas, Christopher Rizzo, Mairéad Byrne, Andrew Mister, Rae Armantrout, Shannon Tharp, Aaron Tieger, Thomas Devaney, Julie Doxsee, Sandra Simonds, Jess Mynes , and John Phillips
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64 pages, theadbound
letterpressed covers, with a linocut by Jared Faulkner
$6.00
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it's purchasable at the effing website as well as the column over there to the right --------->
So on Monday me and some friends were in Ft. Worth to retrieve the new letterpress. It's the same as the one put together in the picture from the last post. Hard to tell but it weighs in at a little over 1000 pounds! We stripped it down in the previous owner's garage and lifted it onto a trailer with a bobcat, tied it down, and hauled it to Austin where we did the same thing in reverse. We had to strip it down so we could lessen the weight, fit it through my door in Austin, and give me the opportunity to clean it. We marked and photographed each piece we had to remove so that after I clean it we can put it back together exactly as it has been for the last century. The previous owner was a sweet old guy who'd operated this particular press for over 40 years and kept it clean and oiled. Couldn't ask for anything better.
I researched this machine quite a bit and sought high and low for advice on how to properly strip it down and move it and I made some friends with some remarkable printers - both active and retired -along the way. Thanks to everyone who lent me advice, equipment, and backbone for this. Amazing.
So here are a few pictures from the feat. I know there are other letterpress newbies out there looking for information on how to move old platen presses. Though I'm by no means an expert, I am happy to share with anyone the detailed logistics of how we did it and what we learned in the process. Most importantly though, we did it safely and no person nor tool nor press was hurt or damaged. (though my front yard got a little torn up from the bobcat wheels...) The first three photos below were taken by one Farid Matuk.
Rob Metcalf and Doug Warriner removing the roller arms. This is after removing the flywheel, ink disc, and rollers
Rob strapping the front half (about 500 lbs) to the bobcat. To get it in position we shimmied it one corner at a time and placed steel pipes under it and rolled it to the end of the garage
Doug delicately lifting the front half onto the trailer while we guide him
the front half after lifting it onto my front porch in Austin
all the pieces were put on thick plywood for cleaning, again, using pipes to roll the main chassis from the door
In a week or so after it's cleaned we'll reassemble it and put it in its place in the corner and bolt it to a fake floor we built so the 100 yr old oak floors of my studio aren't damaged. And remount the motor and I'll move the work tables and cabinets back into the room. And for peace of mind, though we are sure now it wasn't necessary, we installed extra support beams underneath the house to disperse the weight. Better safe than sorry.
photo from the Briar Press online museum
$10
$8
out of print
out of print
