I know that most high volume letterpress printers have Challenge Guillotine Paper Cutters but for those who letterpress as a hobby or have a small invitation business the XD 500 is a good cutter for the price.  You can find these cutters online and on ebay for about $140.  It has a 12 x 12 base and it capable of cutting 300 sheets of 20lb paper.  I find that it makes nice clean cuts on Crane’s Lettra paper.  It obviously does not compare to a cast iron Challenge or the like but if you have very little space or on a budget this cutter works well.  If I have to be really picky, some negatives are that 1; when you first go to use it be prepared to throw out your first couple of cuts since they load grease up on the blade and 2; since Lettra is so soft when you lock down the paper, the bar leaves a minor dent on the top (or bottom depending on how your looking at it) of the paper.  I am a perfectionist so I do notice it but it really is insignificant. Again, I find this only happens with soft cotton papers such as Lettra.

We know that everyone has their own personal style and what better way to express it than through personalized letterpress stationery. Dolce Press is now offering custom personalized notecards in a beautifully wrapped wooden box. Our customers have their choice of flat or folded cards, font, ink color, envelope color, envelope liner color/pattern, and box color/pattern. Please call Dolce Press at: 516.353.9284 or email contact@dolcepress.com to place an order today. Each box comes with 30 cards and envelopes for $120.

Update: For more information on Makeready, check out Cromwell’s manual, “Makeready … the details and the techniques“.

After adjusting the platen and planarizing the press I thought my problems with uneven impressions were over. Unfortunately, I was very wrong! A couple of months back I had acquired a large amount of type and finally got around to using it when I had to make personlized stationery for a client. It became very apparent that I had some dishing on my platen when I went to use my 48 pt font. I noticed that the letters “D” and “l” were barely impressing the paper (oldschool printers, please don’t take offense). So now what do you do? The answer is make ready, the process of building up certain areas for even impression. Since my “D” was making less of an impression than my “l”, I cut a piece of 20lb copy paper for my “D” and a piece of tissue paper for my “l”. I take an impression on my tympan and then with a glue stick or make ready paste, adhere the pieces of paper to the letters than need to be built up on the tympan. Make sure the pieces of paper are exact.

The picture below is of my make ready.

Finished Product

There are alot of different tools out in the market to score paper.  Such tools as bone folders, line scorers used by scrapbookers are great for cardstocks and plain paper but does not work too well on 100% cotton paper such as lettra.

A good way to score a card is right on your letterpress machine.  There are scorers and perforated lines you can buy that you lock up right in your chase.  The only problem you might run into is denting your platen.  You do not have to be concerned if you are not constantly scoring but if you are, you can always dedicate one press to scoring and perfing. But lets face it, for some people its hard enough to get your hands on 1 press.  If you have a manual press such as a C&P pilot or Kelsey you can just use less pressure on the lever.

A recent post on the list in regards to scoring led me to these 2 alternatives. 
http://www.scorit.com/
and
http://www.thelineboard.com/the_perf-it_score_board.htm

Please feel free to share other ways of scoring paper.

I found this clip and thought it was interesting as well as educational. It is a 10+ minute instructional video on the proper way of using a composing stick.

It is a nice start to the new year here at Dolce Press. Over the holiday break, with the help of my boyfriend and my brother, we managed to move a 8×12 Chandler and Price oldstyle from Massachusetts to New York. With helpful advice of Letpress members and the step by step instructions from Green Dolphin Press, the press was disassembled, moved, and reassembled into our shop.

I have to say, since the C&P is an oldstyle, it weighs a little less than the new style (not by much but i’m sure it helped) Since the press is over 100 years old, we were weary about completely disassembling the press so we just removed the bed from the frame so the press was in 2 pieces. We hired a towing/rigging company to winch up the press on their flatbed truck and they transferred the press onto our 24 foot Penske truck. Once the press got to our studio in NY, the press had to be fully taken apart since we had to bring it down a narrow hallway. Following the extremely helpful information found on the website of Green Dolphin Press we were able to disassemble the press beautifully.

Here are some helpful tools we would recommend if you are going to be disassembling a C&P; 12 inch long 2 inch diameter pipe (we purchased at lowes for about $10),300mm wrench, hammer, solid cylindrical object (i.e. end of a broom stick), WD-40, fine grit sand paper, flat head screwdriver, a saw, and excess 2×4 pieces of wood for propping up objects.

These are the step by step instructions from Green Dolphin Press.

1. If possible, locate the press so there is at least five feet
of open space behind it, three or four feet on the flywheel side,
and a couple feet on the front and right side
2. Remove feedboard and delivery board
3. Remove platen
a. Disconnect gripper assembly by removing wheel riding in a
slot attached to the left side of the frame
b. Remove nuts from adjusting bolts under corners of the
platen
c. Lift platen off (may take a little gentle urging with a pry
bar)
d. Leave adjusting bolts in platen (don’t turn) unless they
make moving difficult
4. Remove treadle if there is one
a. Unhook from main shaft
b. Remove brackets at rear of press
5. Close up press and tie bed and frame sections securely
together with strong rope or wire
6. Remove ink disc and supporting brackets
7. Remove fly wheel and shaft
a. Pull belt wheel from end of shaft opposite flywheel, if
there is one
b. Pull gear from end of shaft opposite flywheel (you may have
to heat it with a propane torch to get it off)
c. Remove bolts from shaft retainer plate on flywheel side of
frame
d. Pull shaft from frame–slides out on flywheel side taking
retainer plate with it
e. Flywheel may be pulled from shaft for ease in moving
8. Remove throw-off lever and linkage if there is one
9. Remove brake if there is one
10. Remove motor if there is one attached to the press
11. Remove back plate connecting roller carriers. Don’t let roller
carriers flop down
12. Remove side arms connecting bed and frame
13. Remove roller carrier actuating arm on flywheel side of press.
Hold left roller carrier to prevent flopping
14. Remove roller carriers
15. Untie bed and swivel it back onto the floor without dropping.
Careful, it’s heavy, you may want some help
16. Wedge blocks of wood between arms of bed piece and the floor,
as close to the frame as possible
17. Drive out shaft holding bed to frame. Some presses have
collars with set screws to keep the shaft from moving. If
so, loosen set screws before driving out shaft

If you must strip down the frame (NOT recommended):
1. Pull the gear or wheel on the left side of the frame. Go
easily, using heat, penetrating oil, WD40, prayer,
profanity, or anything else you think might help. Be
careful not to push the shaft to the right as you’re
pulling the gear.
2. Hold the platen block so it can’t flop and move the shaft to
the right until the platen block cam rider disengages
from the main gear. Carefully ease the platen block down,
letting it pivot toward the rear of the press. Finish
pulling the main gear and shaft as a unit.
3. Remove the plates on each side of the frame holding the platen
block (remove bolts and lift plates off)
4. Carefully lift off the platen block
5. Unscrew nuts on ends of cross braces and the frame should slip
apart

Hope these instructions are helpful, I know that it helped us.  If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us, we’d be glad to help if we can.