New Blog for 2018
QUICK JUMPS ---> JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUNE | JULY | AUG | SEPT | OCT | NOV | DEC Special Quick Links - The Prodigal Press Returns | Extended Roller Bearers | Web Site Updates | Paper Clamp |
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| January 1, 2018 And so it begins. Another year at the Excelsior Press. Another blog page to add to the last ten years' worth of record of some of what's gone on here over the years. I took a look the other night at the last nine year's posts and found it rather fascinating to recall all that has happened here in the shop over the past 9 years - so many wonderful people, so many neat printing presses... so much effort to move from the old barn here to our new shop - here on our own property... Nothing of importance has happened yet this year, but the year is just beginning - with many large and small projects lined up. Lots to do... Primary thought tonight is "damn, it's cold!" - yeah. 5-10 degrees fahrenheit. To me, that's cold. Not as cold at the 35 below at Phil's shop up in Saskatchewan, but plenty cold enough for me to complain here in New Jersey... So, no 2018 news to post here yet... BUT - last night's post - the final posts of 2017 might be interesting to some - including a 4-paragraph compilation of my own life - including what I got into besides printing over the years... January 2 -  Well. here's something that
should have been in the 2016 blog, since that's when I dug
them out of Paul's barn But better late than never, I
guess... My friend Paul also collects printing equipment.
In fact, he bough the machining and drilling patterns from
The Kelsey Company back when they had their auction, many
years ago. The collectoin does not include all parts for all presses, but there are many - for 3x5, 5x8, 6x10 & 9x13 Excelsior Models. This 5x8 body sample is from either 1957 or 1967 - since both dates are on it. These are not the casting patterns, but are just the samples used for drilling and machining the cast parts. Still, to me, these are a treasure - something actually out of the Kelsey factory - these are the patterns used to drill *your* Kelsey Excelsior (if it's a 5x8 made after 1957) And, they will be quite useful to me as I make smaller replacement parts... Let's see if our friend Pete Wilson recognizes this piece... January 4  Just what every print
shop needs - a tractor parked between the
Heidelberg and the C&Ps... Rough day today - no
printing. Just tractor repairs and snow plowing. We only
got 3-4" of snow, but with the wind, some drifts were 6"
deep. At the end of the first pass up our 125-yard lane, I hit the edge of the asphalt where it meets the gravel, and dropped the plow! After hooking up one of the little trailers to haul it back to the garage, I discovered that the locking clips that would normally hold the plow in place had not latched. All it took was a bit of a (big) bump and boom.... plow on the ground, held to the tractor only by the lift arm linkage. Needless to say, what followed was quite a few hours of tractor repair and plow re-mounting. Now it's attached properly - and will be for the rest of the winter... In fact, now that the New Series 8x12 is at its new home in Queens, NY, we might just use the space where it had been for the past two years to keep the tractor in out of the cold... starts easier that way... And now, the lane is clear and Cathy made it safely to work at her job as a night-shift nurse... ... and tomorrow's forecast high is 16 degrees fahrenheit at 2:00 pm... But there are only 75 more days til spring! ;) Jan 6 -   Brr... still too cold to work in
the shop. Plowed my way through the snow all
the way back to the Red Barn yesterday, so that I could
walk back there and look for a 5x8 Chase for a guy in
Virginia... Didn't get to do that, though. It was too
damned cold - and windy - to risk not making it back in
the 5-10-degree temps - with a -5 to -10 wind-chill. So.
No treks out to the shed until the temps warm up to the
30's in a few days.... Today, *at my desk* - it's only 27 degrees... warming up a bit with the propane space heaters, but not enough to be comfortable here - even with the 6 layers and heavy coat and flannel-lined jeans. I'm still damned cold! So. Five years ago, I helped out a woman in Wisconsin with some hard-to-find Colonial-era Caslon and some other items to "set type and print like Ben Franklin did."... A few months later, I received a surprise gift from Jane - a set of hand-woven woolen glovelets - possibly like Ben Franklin would wear when setting type in the winter. It was June, so I put them away - but kept them in the same box that Jane had sent them in. For years, they stayed safe in their box - and finally found their way into my "winter clothes" shelf here in the new shop... Lucky for me, I found them there this week - just where they should have been - and have been wearing them every day during these trying and very cold days... Every time I remove my outdoor winter gloves, I put these on right away. And, while I'm not setting any type this week (the shop is hovering around 30 degrees), I am able to sit down at my computer and type without my hands becoming numb in five minutes as they would without these glovelets.. So. On more "trick to printing in the cold" - if not actually printing, I could set type if I wanted to... Thanks, Jane. My fingers thank you, my email inquirers thank you - since now I can answer email... And now it's only 72 days til spring, and it's predicted to get above freezing again about noon on Tuesday.. Let's see how *that* goes... ;) Jan 9 - Tuesday - Spring Arrived today! 43 degrees f. Haven't seen temps like this in more than two weeks. We've been in the deep freeze since Christmas! Four more days ahead of 40+ degree weather. It's like spring! Get outside and get some stuff done! ;) update: This faux spring lasted five days, with temps reaching 60 on Saturday, then it was winter again - but still not so cold as it had been during this winter's deep freeze... Jan 13 - Saturday. Louis brought me a 6x10 Excelsior he'd been working on and boxes of spare parts and casting patterns. Some of these patterns will be off to the foundry next week for casting new 5x8 Ink Disks, Chases & Chase Beds, as well as some 3x5 Chases and ink disks and chase latches and perhaps some other parts that are ready to be cast. It's time to put some parts inventory on the new parts shelves! Jan 14 - Sunday. Drove down to Chester, PA today to pick up a little press  I found on Craig's list - an 1880's Daughaday
"Little Model" 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" chase platen press. I never
even knew they made this model, yet here it is! More on Daughaday Model Presses Jan 16 -  A surprise visit this afternoon from my friend and fellow letterpress printer, Barry Mueller. He hand-delivered this year's Christmas Card - and boy, is it a beaut. Nice, simple layout, perfect inking and impression; a perfect example of nice, crisp letterpress printing. Barry's a printer I look up to. His designs are simple and clean, and his crisp letterpress printing sets the standard that I aspire to...   Jan 16 -  A
New page for the web site - a page with
links to images and a pdf about the Pilot..- Also improved organization for other pages about the popular Pilot Press...  Today, I mounted this Pilot onto a set of oak rails. This makes it much easier - and safer - to move around the shop. At 165 pounds, it's far to heavy for me to pick up any more... Next, I'll re-mount the feed and delivery boards, check the platen level and then ink it up and check the roller height. Once everything's set to spec, I'll print a few jobs on it. After it passes all of our q.c. and "personal experience" checks, it will be time to build a crate to ship it to its new home in North Carolina... I'm gonna miss having this press here... And, of course, now I'll have to restore the next one - another Early Series "Thorp" Pilot, made by Chandler & Price prior to 1914... That will be fun, since just the other day, I installed the connections on the compressor so that I can hook it up to the new sand blasting cabinet. Finally, after more than two years in process, I'll be able to sand blast, prime and paint press parts - and then re-assemble the restored press in my new "Excelsior Press Museum Restoration Work Shop"! But first, I'll have to get this press all tested and checked out, and then build a solid crate for it - similar to the one shown on our "How we crate a Pilot" page... Jan 18 - A new invention.... and a major announcement... So I got an order for a set of our great Ipe wooden roller bearers. No big thing, it happens often enough... They are a great fall-back solution to many image problems caused by roller and inking issues. And, as usual, I wrote back and asked about just what specific image problem the customer was dealing with to require roller bearers as the solution.. I like to make sure folks get what they need as well as what they ask for... As it turns out, it was good that I asked because, in this case, there was no specific image problem to solve. The problem was a broken Chase Bed leg... Not serious:  "Hey Alan! The real problem I'm trying to solve is that one of the rail ends on the chase bed appears to have been broken off. I probably need a new chase bed, but I was hoping the roller bearer would fix it since I am just printing small images and don't mind losing be 1/4". Any guidance would be appreciated. I'm not sure if I can find a new chase bed. Images attached. - J."Aha! So there was no image problem, per se. That means that our standard wooden roller bearers - as great as they are - are not really what is called for in this case... In fact, the problem is a broken chase  bed leg... And, as far as
the problem of finding a new chase bed... Well, this
is the first big announcement:After years of promising to make new chase beds for the 5x8 Excelsior, we have done it! In the image to the left, you can see the first newly-cast and freshly-machined Excelsior 5x8 Chase Bed. Yes. We finally made our first one - with more to come - and relatively quickly now, since we have "broken the ice", so to speak and made our first one. More to follow... But meanwhile, back to the roller bearer issue and J's broken bed... The break in the bed should not affect the image. This break, however, could cause the rollers to dip a bit as they make the transition up the form and onto the ink disk. This calls for something a bit different. For years, I have been troubled by one particular problem with the design of the Excelsior. As the ink rollers come up the form, they roll onto the ink disk. However, the angle of this change in direction is pretty sharp - and extends the roller hooks as far out as they can go - and compresses the springs as tightly as they can be compressed. The result is that additional effort is required to "get over the hump", so to speak as the rollers move up and on to the ink disk. It's a pain and is probably the most annoying thing (well, at least for me ) about printing on a standard Kelsey Excelsior. Kelsey solved this problem on the 6x10 - twice. The first time was when they adopted the roller mounting system used by Cook on their Victor Press - later sold by Kelsey as *their* first Victor press. That system - seen mostly on Model Q 6x10s used an elbow-spring system, to maintain constant spring tension on the rollers without that annoying load of pressure caused by the two springs and hooks... It worked quite well. So well, in fact, that Kelsey made their own, similar system, which can be seen on some rare 6x10s. (And which we hope to eventually make available to the 5x8s with an easy-to-install aftermarket system... but that comes later...) The second time they solved the problem, they developed an improved roller mounting system for the last press they made - the Excelsior 6x10 Model X. This system is similar to that found on the C&P Pilot and other bigger platen presses. It worked quite well. But the smaller presses - the 3x5s and 5x8s were still made using that annoying double-hook system... And I always thought that it could be improved. Another nice feature of the original Cook's Victor are a set of roller guide rails that go all the way up to the top of the ink disk. Rails like this were used on the C&P Craftsmen presses and on at least one 8x12 that I have seen. I believe I once saw the patent for this feature - issued around 1930 or so... Daughaday presses also used these rails. Kelsey never did - but should have, in my opinion... But their chase bed is removable - and can be used as a lock-up surface, so I suppose there is a trade-off...  But I wanted to find a
solution for the smaller presses as well. And now I have
it! The Excelsior Extended Roller Bearer is designed to first, serve as a  standard roller bearer to
help the rollers roll over even the smallest of type forms
to eliminate slur. It locks up on the form just like any
other roller bearer, and is in fact fashioned on the
simple steel bearers sold by Kelsey, Chandler & Price
and others.But in addition, our new *Extended Roller Bearer" design offers additional support for the rollers as they roll up the form and transition onto to the ink disk. You can see the extension sticking up in the image to the left. It helps the roller get up onto the ink disk... whether or not the chase bed leg is broken.... AND, in doing so, it also minimizes the effort required to "get over the hump". It makes the press run more smoothly! I've only made one prototype so far and only tested it briefly, but it works so well that I will make a matching bearer and do some more intensive testing. But at this point, I am very, very excited at the possibilities of the new Excelsior Extended Roller Bearer system... more to follow... Mon, Jan 22 - Setting the Pilot to the best height for printing  Well.
I got the Pilot safely moved from the cart onto the
student workbench, but then discovered that it was still
too high to operate comfortably, so I did some testing
with the lift-cart and discovered that the ideal height
for me to operate this press was 24" from the floor. The
Student Cabinet I have is only 24" from the floor - when
it is NOT on the big dolly that lets me move it around the
shop. But that nice, large-wheeled dolly also raises the
work surface another 6" - which is OK for the Kelseys, but
not so good for the much larger Pilot. The grip at the top
of the Pilot handle, for example is a full 36" from the
base. When the press is mounted on a 36" work bench, that
puts the top of the handle a full six feet from the floor
- okay for tall folks, perhaps, but not for a short guy
like me... So I went out to the "Type
Shed" and found this nice little 24" high type cabinet
- which places the Pilot at just the right height for me
to operate...The lift cart let me easily slide the press from the Student bench onto it for height testing, then onto the 24" tall type cabinet for printing. Finally. Now I can do the test prints, (& get myself some new cards and calendar pages and samples for the presses new owner) and then begin building the crate that will protect this press on its way to its new home... ...In a hopefully warmer clime, some 700 miles down south... Wed - Jan 24 I just spent well over an hour unpacking a very safely packed 5x8 press that was shipped to me from Toronto. although the carton was burst from mishandling, the press was so well protected that nothing happened to it. But it did take me over an hour to unpack it. All of that effort gave me a lot of time to consider alternative ways of safely packing a 5x8 for shipping. Then I recalled my last visit to Gene Mosher before he passed away. Gene was the last owner of The Kelsey Company, having taken over from his father-in-law, Glover Snow in 1958... Gene had kept the last 3x5 they built - and it was packed up in their normal shipping carton - all done with corrugated carton board. And it was stable. Kelsey shipped their presses all around the world for nearly 100 years. I think they had a better way than we do these days. I'll be packing a 165# Pilot this week and will build a wooden crate for it. But I have a new idea of how to easily stabilize it within the crate. I'll be posting photos of that crating job - as well as photos of my new (Kelsey's old) idea on how to safely package a smaller (65#) press for successful shipping anywhere in the world... photos and updates to follow... Wed, Jan 31 -  Oh,
so cool... I just got off the phone
with Paul, up in Goshen, NY. He had listed a small press
for sale on Craigslist; I saw it. I bought it. It arrived
last week and is a beaut. A Sigwalt
Chicago No. 11.And, in the chase, I found the last form printed on this press, so many years ago. The type had been set for a business card, well-justified and still locked tight in the chase. And, the type looks good. I decided to put a new roller on the press, ink it up and print this card. So I googled the name on the card and found that the card was for an attorney in Goshen, NY. I still don't know how long ago it was printed... So then I wrote Paul back to inquire more into the history of this press and did he know of the attorney whose card was in the press? Yes, he did, indeed know the attorney, and in fact got the press from him when Paul and his wife bought the attorney's house some 30 years ago - when the attorney, who eventually became a judge, was 90 years old... Who knows when he printed those cards for himself??? In any case, we'll be printing some for fun - and to share with Paul and his wife who feel as though this press found its way to a good home in our collection.... And I agree! ;) Our new "Antiques Shelf" - with the Sigwalt Chicago No. 11 in the top left corner - next to the mortar shell I brought back from Vietnam in 1970, and the recent addition to the collection - a very rare Daughaday "Little Model" 3x5 press that turned up in south Philly - not far from where it was made possibly 100 years or more ago... On the top right shelf is the smallest press I have ever seen. It is a real "rail" style platen press - a Baltimore Printing Press Number 4. Only problem is it can't take .918" type, with a chase only 5/8" deep... That odd-looking device with the little flywheel, handle and pulley is not printing related. It's just something I stumbled upon at an auction and got for $3 - not even knowing what it was. But it looked interesting and, after a little tlc and oil, I got it working quite well. The handle drives the flywheel, the flywheel drives a chain around the shaft, which turns the pulley. Now, all I need is something to hook it up to. For now, it's just fun to play with... to turn the crank and watch the puller rotate at high speed... To the left of the little wheel machine, are some large pieces of wood type and some large engravings - in particular the "Bucking Bronco Cowboy" engraving. This is one of our favorite prints - dozens of visitors have gone home with their own copies. This engraving was found in a box of spare parts that came with a press I picked up years ago. The plate was bent, the base was separated, and it basically looked like junk. But I decided to see if I could rescue it.... I flattened the plate, re-glued the separated pieces of the base, nailed the engraving plate back onto the wood and basically brought it back to life - and I'm sure glad that I had the foresight and took the time to do it. This is one of our favorite engravings... along with the one my brother gave me years ago which says "Quality of Product is Essential to Continued Success"... good advice.  Wed, Jan 31 -
 Well, I learn
something new every day...
There is a
place for soft
packing when printing with metal type - like,
for example, when printing with a 36 point calendar
font with lines around the numbers and all. It makes
for a large form - approx. 5x8 - large enough to print
against a very soft packing without punching the paper
too hard. The image to the right does not do the print justice, but take my word for it - or click the link to see a larger image - the print came out well. The form uses a 36 point calendar font (less the #6) with some very worn 36 point Sans Serif font that came with an old sign press. Believe me, that font is worn... And this form did not print well with the normal packing of 3 sheets of oiled paper, two sheets of coated book paper and 2 sheets of bond. I was about to tear into it and do some serious make ready after I'd leveled the platen, but while leveling the platen, I considered the new owner will be using this press to print wood engravings - which are commonly printed with plenty of soft, fluffy packing between the wood and the platen or cylinder that is applying the pressure. So I tried something new... I backed off the platen an additional 1/8" and cut a piece of coaster board to fit as packing - thick, soft, fluffy coaster board. I would never have done this for type, but I was thinking about the wood engravings and not this form. I had to print this form anyway - to test the level of the platen. I was quite surprised when I got this pretty near perfect print right off the bat. The soft packing did a fine job of bringing out the image, but did not cause the metal type form to punch through the paper. And, it did not require much pressure at all to get a good, solid print. So. The old dog learned a new trick today.... Thursday, February 1, 2018 The second month of 2018 begins - already. It's shaping up to be a good year. So much has been accomplished in the new workshop, so many presses and parts have finally been organized, most of the machinery is in place and working and, although I still need to bring over the Bridgeport Milling Machine and the Hammond Glider Trim Saw, and set up the band saw(s) (one for wood, one for steel), the roller casting station is done and usable, and there are fewer and fewer "obstacles to production" than there had been for the past 2-3 years. It really is pretty exciting to be back to work in a meaningful way... Of course, there's also the Vandercook #4 Proof Press. Since Roberta's SP15 is now at its new home at Old Dominion University, I've been getting by with this nice little Nolan proof press, but it can't hold a candle to the Model 4. I need my proof press!!! Oh yeah - and the old American-made Upland (Jotul-clone) wood stove is set in place and only waiting for the chimney stack to be put through the wall and connected... Soon, I will not have to rely on these little propane space heaters - and the $19/tank to fill them each - that's $38 nearly every other day! I have acres of woods - plenty of downed trees - good cherry and other wood - to burn, so soon our "heating system" will be augmented by a wood stove - using as local a fuel source as can be. The really good news is that it's up to 40 degrees outside, which made it easy to warm the shop to 50-60 - warm enough for printing or anything else that needs to be done in here... And, spring is now only 47 days away! Wrapping up the test printing on the Pilot today. I had fun last night printing calendar pages and two-sided coasters. In fact, I kept looking for different papers to print on. It was fun, but this letterpress printing can be addictive at times. I didn't close the shop and head in to the house until after 3:00 am! ;) Next, it will be time to crate this press. I have some ideas about the crating... Since the optimum height (for me) of the bench for a Pilot would be 24", and since the crate will be just about 24" high, and since the crate needs to be very, very strong.... Perhaps it could be built to not only safely house the press in transit, but also to serve as the mounting bench when the press gets to its new home. Richard has already built a nice 35" high work bench, but I suspect that might be a bit high for comfortable printing. This will give him an option. I also plan on trying a new idea I had for stabilizing the press in the crate... Rather than frame it out with 2x3s or 2x4s as I have done in the past, I'm designing a plywood "collar" that will fit around the press and come right out to the sides of the crate. Kelsey shipped their presses around the world for about a hundred years, and at the end, their shipping container was simply a double-walled carton with a cleverly designed insert of corrugated board that held the press in place. Seems like a good idea. Of course, the cost of die-cutting corrugated board for inserts is prohibitive, but I believe that the same goal can be achieved using a 1/2" plywood collar. I'll update with photos showing what I described above - as soon as I have one cut out and available for photos... February 9, 2018 - Friday A very exciting day for this old man in his little print shop in rural New Jersey... The Prodigal Press Returns!  The story begins four years ago,
when we were asked by our friend Emilano of Brendan
Bri Props (Newsies)
- to supply "the sort of printing press that would be
found in a printing office in England - around 1750 or
so"... It would be used as a prop in the Broadway Musical,
Amazing Grace.None were to be had for less than $30,000, so the answer was to fabricate a screw-drive reproduction of a Wooden Common Press. see: blog.2014.html#aug
And then, a few weeks ago, I received an email from Karel van der Waarde in Belgium. He is putting together a Worldwide Census of Wooden Common Presses and wanted to include the one we built. But where was it? Last we had heard, the show had closed and it was in a warehouse somewhere. Our new friend Seth Pilipski of BB Props took it upon himself to find this press and return it home. Which he did. He found it, had it picked up and returned to their Little Falls, NJ warehouse and Friday morning we received a phone call "Your press is here. Will you come pick it up?"  An
hour later, I was on my way to their warehouse with a
trailer behind the truck, for the most exciting press move
I ever went on.... The Wooden Common Press - coming home
like the Prodigal Son!  By 8:00 pm, it was back in the
barn...And it looks none the worse for wear. A little tlc and I will begin doing some test printing on it - something we simply didn't have the time for when it was literally pulled out of my hands and loaded on the truck, heading to stardom so many years ago. And, the first display for this prop-turned-museum-piece is expected to be at a the National Museum of Industrial History where we expect it to be placed right in front of the mural depicting this same model press. After that, it may go on loan to the Washington's Crossing State Park Visitor's Center But in any case, it will soon be a "printing" press and from now on, we will keep close track of it!!! Thursday, Feb 16 -  Had a visit today from Frank,
Kara and Andria - from the new National Museum of
Industrial History - an affiliate of the
Smithsonian Institute located at "The Stacks" on the
grounds of the former Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, PA.They came, we chatted a bit and got to know each other. We went across the road to the farm to see the Wooden Common Press and... as hoped for, they were impressed. It looks likely that it will be on display at their museum this spring and summer and that we'll be working together while they/we present their May-October display about printing in America... Tuesday, Feb 20 -  One of the things
we discussed last Thursday was printing some
coasters for the museum. Well, as it turns out, I just
happened to have this classic old engraving of the Stephen
Daye Press (compare with our press in photo above)
- And, the engraving was just the right size for
coasters.... So I made some for myself - with only
"Excelsior Press.org" Imprinted. But then I felt a bit
selfish, so I changed the text to read "NMIH Bethlehem"
and printed some for them as well.... update:
3/1: It appears that we have more than one engraving of this popular "Stephen Daye" press - better known as "Wooden Common Press" press image in our collection - even some Ludlow Slugs cast for us by our friend Dick Goodwin. Those are smaller, with an 18 point image... And, we just found - and purchased - a set of 3 mint-condition US Postage stamps that show the same style press as well. Wed, Feb 28 - Found an interesting link in my letpress feed yesterday... - from a member who uses the nickname "Tacitus".. He reports an organization dedicated to listing printing museums in Europe. The Association of European Printing Museums I was amazed. There seem to be 200-300 museums dedicated to - or a least focused on - printing... It also includes museums in the U.S. Quite a list. Seems like any country you may travel through will have something of interest to printers... Thursday, March 1 - Well, spring is coming. Still some chill in the year, and suggestions of more snow - but only a tease. Winter, as we knew it these past few months - is going away. Ground temperature is maintaining a respectable 50 degrees, which means soon it will be time to begin dedicating part of our day to gardening. And, this year, we plan on getting things started early - so that we can enjoy some early harvests. Yes, spring it is. And about darned time... Saturday, March 3 - Website updates: I've just finished linking most of the Kelsey-related pages to each other - and a whole list of platen press subjects. Most of the new pages also have a navigation bar at the top left to help the visitor navigate through the site. This site has needed that for years. It grew too carelessly - wasn't planned as well as I taught others to plan their sites. I kept thinking that "some day, I would fix this." But that time has come. I have begun. The new directory includes links to important sections - more to be added, of course, but it's better organized than the old index.inner.html - which is still there, but superceded by the new directory. The new Platen Presses page and directory are coming along well, with links to information about different platen presses and their manufacturers. The Kelsey Company pages are now pretty well linked to each other, which should make finding information easier, and casual reading convenient. Here's the new typical navigation bar - set at the top left of all recently-edited pages HOME -> DIRECTORY -> PLATEN PRESSES - > KELSEY COMPANY > Kelsey Press Subjects Wow! I just discovered a Google feature that will give you a full image catalog of every photo on this web site. Here - try it: Google EXCELSIOR PRESS Image Catalog This is pretty handy. I just used it to remind myself just what's on this old web site. It's been around for about 20 years now, with 9 years of active blogging. It's becoming a resource. Use it! ;)  Another link - to see all the 264(!!!) pages on the site in one rather long - but searchable - list... is this one - Google EXCELSIOR PRESS Web Site Pages List Sorry, folks. Looks like my site is not "mobile friendly". Well, *I'm* friendly. Now I gotta make my web site more friendly, to, eh?.... Maybe it's too old to be friendly... hmm... It was friendly in the past. It didn't change... The world changed... interesting.... Am I getting too old to be friendly? I hope not. But times change. Maybe some people who expect faster responses mistake a slow old man with being an unfriendly old grouch... i wonder? March 21 - ANOTHER NOR'EASTER!!!! @#q$# This is the fourth in 3 weeks!!! And, every time these things blow in, they bring snow - LOTS of snow... More than I really have time for. On 3/2, we had a "last snowfall" of 4" (not bad). But on 3/7, we had 7", today, we hit 11" at 6pm and it's not stopping! I've had to neglect the shop and all of the folks waiting (ever so patiently) for presses, parts or supplies and instead have had to spend yet another full day out on the trusty old Cub Cadet (with 14 hp and a 3' blade) , clearing the 125-yard-long lane as well as the 10x50 yard parking area and some trails across the yard to the sheds. And, then, I had to climb out onto the shop roof again and remove that heavy, wet spring snow from the roof. Now I have impassable drifts outside the side door. Update: 3/22 - Blue sky and sunshine today. A nice day to do cleanup of all the snow piles hastily pushed "out of the way" yesterday. But now it's begun melting and there are rivulets of water coursing through my little swales and ditches, heading down to the creek... Update: 3/24 - just heard on the radio that the snow storms of March, 2018 may have set a record for most snow in March - going back 40 years or more.... more than 20" and 11 days of snow... Yeah, spring did seem a bit late in coming... But it's sunny today, with skies of bright blue... and much of the 12" of snow we dealt with on Wednesday has melted away. And NEXT WEEK - 55 degrees and sunny!!!! It's about damned time! I've got work to do.... Update: 4/2 - 5" of snow! Will winter never quit! March 24 - Student Protests - "March For Our Lives" As a gun owner in a rural community where the sound of hunting rifles and pot shots is not uncommon, I tend to shy away from this gun debate a bit... but I guess that's actually shirking my duty as a citizen. So. Here I am, taking a stand - not against all gun ownership, but certainly against the violence and mayhem made much more likely due to the proliferation of automatic weapons - especially, but not limited to those in the hands of people who simply cannot be trusted with them. We grew up with guns in the house - on an open gun rack in the living room, in fact, and we learned to respect them. No one ever expected that anything would ever be needed beyond a shotgun and a .22... I carried an M16 for a year while serving in Vietnam. It was an automatic weapon and would fire on fully automatic like a machine gun... But that was in a combat situation in the jungle - not in my home town in America... And, yes. I was only 20 years old at the time - but I had been trained in the safe use and care of my weapon. I had military training and that makes a difference. Kids - even 20-year-old kids - should not have access to such weapons without close supervision and intense military training in their use and care. So, in honor of those brave kids taking to the streets today.... in protest of our elected leaders' sellout to the NRA and the greater gun lobby, I have a new idea for a bumper sticker to put on the back of my pickup truck - and for my dump truck with the Easy-Rider gun rack:
Sorry, if the wording is
crude, but the subject is filled with crudeness and
strong words carry more impact...
April 25, 2018
 - Big Day
today... Today I delivered "The Prodigal Press" to it's new temporary home at the National Museum of Industrial History - a Smithsonian-Affilliate Museum on the grounds of the old Bethlehem Steel Plant in Bethlehem, PA. The story begins with the return of the prodigal press" (Feb 9 post, above). This is a Wooden Common Press that master woodworker Paul Nichols and I built about four years ago. It was precisely built based upon plans we got from The Smithsonian (by way of Harris/Sisson's book on the reproduction of Ben Franklin's press by the Smithsonian in 1984.) The press is an authentic Wooden Common Press - as was used throughout the world from about 1600 to about 1800. It is now on display at NMIH, and I am very, very proud. For me, this is perhaps the highlight of my career. The previous highlight of my career was four years ago, when we built this classic printing press. It will be on display at NMIH from May-October, 2018 as part of their new installation: "Hot off the Press: Papermaking and Printing" On Friday night, it will become the center point of the Supporters and Sponsors Reception and Preview from 6-8 pm. After that, it will be a regular part of the display - at least until October, 2018. Once inside, it was placed directly in front of the 6' tall mosaic of the Stephen Daye Press - rescued from the walls of the Bethlehem Steel Printing Plant.
April 27, 2018 My neighbor Andy called me today to see how I was. He hadn't seen a blog post all month and was a bit worried about me. But I am fine. I have just been unbelievably busy this month - mostly preparing for tonight's big event. But, as of tonight, the biggest, perhaps most important project of my career is completed.... It monopolized my time for more than just the past month, but during April, it seemed to be the only thing I focused on - and now it's completed and I can begin to catch up with some rest and begin to fulfill some promises that I must keep - supplies orders, parts to make, presses to restore - all that daily routine I've been enjoying so much since I got the new shop "pretty much" equipped and "pretty much" organized...  Tonight, I spent the evening printing on a hand-fed, treadle powered Chandler & Price - which I do quite often here at the shop. But this time, I wasn't at the shop. I was at the National Museum of Industrial History, demonstrating Letterpress Printing to a crowd of museum donors and supporters at the Reception and Preview of their new display about Printing and Paper Making. It was quite an evening.... In the background of this photo is the working scale model of a paper making machine that was comissioned for the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia back in the 1930's. It is now out of storage and Museum Preparator Frank Sattler of NMIH is putting it back into service. He was fortunate enough to have found a man who actually operated this functional paper making machine when it was on display at Franklin Institute - and who knows many of its secrets.... Soon, we hope to be making paper and printing on it at the museum...  Also added to the
display were some precious artifacts from our own
archive: The 18"
Brass Line Gauge given to me by my friend Richard Brodney -
from his own collection - in 1974. Also on display is
a simple composing stick with the name of Ed Davis set in
the stick. Two years ago, I helped his son and widow
find a new home for Ed's Print Shop. As part of the
arrangement, Mrs. Davis gave me Ed's collection of
printing text books, some interesting engraving and
some type - which I used to set his name for a label
on the book case which now holds this precious
library. I thought it fitting to include this little
artifact in the display....So. Photos of this evenings event will follow, I hope. I was a bit pre-occupied and didn't take any myself, but I have been told that photos were taken. Let's just hope that I get some good ones to share with you. And tomorrow, I get back to work and catch up on all of those promises left unkept as I focused so closely on being prepared to help my new friends at NMIH make this evening's Preview and Reception a success. I think we did. Long day. Exciting Day. Time for a break, and then to get back to the routine I have been enjoying here for so long... and the relaxing pace, which, quite frankly, I have missed... P.S. While we're on the subject of "Colonial Era Printing", here's a great article published by the Anitiquarian Book Sellers of America - the ABSA April 28 - 7:00 am  Back to the shop today, now it's time to get to work cleaning up the Hammond Glider Trim-o-saw model BGR78 that we now have set up and operating in the new shop. This is a big deal, since I use this saw to produce many of the items I supply to other printers. Not only do we trim wood furniture to make our furniture font kits - and leads and slugs for our lead & slug font kits, but I also use this saw when manufacturing the Excelsior Chase-Base and Ink Roller Bearers and other items - which now will go back into production to fill some long-standing orders.  We are also working on this beautiful old 7x11 Golding Pearl No. 11 - which we will put back into service and print with here in the shop until someone comes along who wants it enough to pay the selling price of ... tbd... I will be casting new rollers for it and adding a treadle and an ink fountain. I've already worked on the feed boards and some other minor items. Once I cast the rollers and mount the treadle, I will begin printing with it. This press will be a joy to use - for me and for whoever might come to try it, buy it and take it home with them... (No worries; I have another in the barn to take its place once this one finds its new home...) May 2, Princeton, NJ  I spent the day in
Princeton in a beautiful
little studio at the home of a professor of literature
who already knew how to set type but now knows how to
lock up the type that she sets, set the gauge pins
easily and accurately and then print the text on
her like-new Kelsey Excelsior Model X.The photo shows what must be the most beautiful non-Hamilton type cabinet/work bench that I had ever seen. Next to it is an equally impressive - gently cleaned and oiled, but not actually refinished - original Hamilton 2/3 sized cabinet with sloping type bank. The presses are a beautiful Kelsey Excelsior Model X and a nice-looking, but effectively non-functional orange 9x12 Craftsmen Monarch press which will need some serious work to make it usable... More on that story as it develops...  May 4 - Had a nice visit this afternoon with Bob Bozzay - who also began printing when I did - back in the mid 1960's - in the shop his father and uncle had already operated for thirty years - since they were boys. But. The press he printed on is one I had never heard of before - a very rare Baltimore No.4 Jobber - The press is going back into regular service now and needs a new set rollers. They are an uncommon size, but we can cast him a set. The last set of rollers he has on it were made about thirty years ago... Now it's time to freshen up this old press and prepare it for display in the museum at East Jersey Olde Towne in Piscataway, NJ - an historic village made up of a collection of salvaged old buildings from around Middlesex County, NJ It will be on display as a working shop in a building near Farley's Blacksmith Shop Bozzay Brothers - Job Printers since 1929 Robert Bozzay's father and uncle started a printing business in their basement in 1929. -
... and one rarely seen today - and not to be confused with the similarly named, but very small Baltimore No. 4 Rail Press Bob reports that they got the press in 1929 and it may have been sold to them by The Model Press Company in York, PA. That would be interesting...
May
8 -
 Frank sent me this photo of the press surrounded by students visiting NMIH. Now, this is what the press, the display and the museum in general is all about... A new generation actually seeing - and touching - a working printing press just like the one that Steven Daye, Ben Franklin and countless other American, British and European printers used from about 1600 all the way into the middle of the 19th century. Although by 1800, the Wooden Common Press had basically been replaced by the more modern Iron press, they were still being built, sold and used all the way into the 1830's - and perhaps later. This press was built in 2014, but is essentially the same as any other Wooden Common Press built between 1600 and 1830... We no longer refer to this press as "a reproduction of Ben Franklin's Press" as much as simply a Wooden Common Press just like the one that Ben Franklin had used in England - it was just built in 2014 instead of 1725... but its construction was based upon plans that had been used to reproduce The Smithsonian's "Ben Franklin Printing Press"... so they do have that in common.... And, to prove that this is a working printing press, Frank has been using it to do some printing - of an old form found in their C&P when they acquired it... Tuesday, May 15 -  Had a great visit with Rebecca and Marvin from the Union County Historical Society Museum in Union County, Georgia... Marviin learned how to move a large Chandler & Price - easily and safely using only a bottle jack and two pieces of pipe - and Rebecca learned how to use the C&P for demonstrations once Marvin safely moves their press to its new location in the museum... Rebecca was very relieved to learn that there was no need to "know math" to center a line of hand-set text - just fill out the empty space in the line, then physically divide the spacing used to put one half in front, the other half at the end of the line and voila! A perfectly centered line - no math or measuring required. It was a quick visit, but we covered a lot of ground - Rebecca learned to hand-set foundry type, (centered), how to lock up the form, set the gauge pins, ink up the press, print and then wash up the press... And then we got them back to the bus depot up on Clinton in time to catch the bus and return to NYC and their flight home to Georgia. May 18 -  Just got the ego-swelling flier from NMIH - I guess they think I know what I'm doing with an old platen press, since they've enlisted me as the "expert" for their "Meet The Experts" presentation in June... Actually, it will just be me setting type and printing on the old C&P - not terribly exciting for anyone who's ever set hand type or used a full-sized C&P - or visited the shop to see it done here, but for folks who have not seen this operation before - or perhaps even for folks who may have seen the procedure at some time in their own distant past - it should be fun. - Especially considering the great response we had from the visitors who attended the invitation-only "Reception and Preview" presentation at NMIH on April 27... (above) May 22 - Just came across this entertaining short video of Rick Holdt demonstrating letterpress printing on a sign press. Pretty impressive results... and a pleasant interlude from my own day's work... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVz1N55C4oM&spfreload=5 And here's another - on Platen Press Makeready - and it's really, really good! Looks like it was done in the fifties... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZeTXsN4IK0 June 18 - Busy, busy month. Been too busy doing things to report on them...  We had our big day at NMIH on
June 16 - "Meet
the Experts" - where I was the expert for
the day and visitors got to see the entire process
of setting the type, mixing the ink, pulling
proofs, and then locking up the form, setting the
gauge pins and actually printing post cards on the
treadle-operated old Chandler & Price. Some of
the visitors got to print some post cards
themselves...Here, Paul Mancino keeps his hand on the impression throw-off lever as he focuses intently on the platen while the press opens and closes to print another post card. Paul came all the way from Monroe, New York to spend the day at the NMIH Printery, and had a chance to print his own post card keepsakes from the day... Bob lived through the transitions from hot-metal to digital composition and printing. For him, this was a strep back into a past he was already aware of, but had nver participated in himself - until he came to NMIH... More photos of part of the group that attended our little presentation/demonstration:
June 25 Today - exciting news from Frank at NMIH - They are making paper! - Using the 30-foot scale model paper making machine that was built for the Franklin Institute back in the 1930's and restored to operating condition by Frank Sattler of NMIH. This evening, I received a text reporting that they made paper today! Success - after many trials and efforts and adjustments, the machine is now working - making paper that Frank is already printing on at the NMIH Printery in Bethlehem, PA... June 25-  Ok. I finally "knocked it out" last night... a short photo-essay page illustrating adjustment of the micrometer side guide on the Hammond Glider Trim Saw - geeky stuff, but hopefully helpful to other Hammond Glider owners.... ../HammondGliderTrimSaws/HBFGR-78Microgauge/index.html June 26 -  I made a post on facebook the
other night - something I rarely do and certainly
not often a printing-related post on my personal
page. But this one was important, and I wanted as
many old friends to see it as possible. Facebook's
good for that...So. Basically, it's this shop apron on the right. This is an apron that Mary Ellen made for me when she worked in the old print shop... about 35 years ago. It's barely worn, but that's because I don't generally wear an apron while working, and this is the one I kept on hand for "dress up" and photo-shoots... But now it's on display at NMIH as an "artefact on loan" from "the collection of Alan Runfeldt".. Sitting there in the same building that houses mostly items on loan from The Smithsonian or The Franklin Institute (as well as from The Excelsior Press Museum Print Shop, of course...) I thought it was cool, so I posted it and shared it on my facebook page. And wow, the responses we got! A number of former employees - as well as old friends of the Excelsior Press gave it likes and/or posted some very touching comments. I guess there's a place for facebook in my life after all... June 28. Fifteen years ago today - June 28, 2003, "Alan Finally Settled Down"... after years of bachelorhood, I finally found the right girl and got married... To "my lovely wife", Cathy... Today is our Fifteenth Anniversary... and she is still putting up with me... ;) Lucky me; Lucky US! June 29 -  Prepping for tomorrow's big event - The opening day of the annual Kutztown Folk Festival - which is the oldest continually-running annual folk festival in the country.  This
year, one of the big attractions will be the 10x15
Chandler &
Price and the 5x8 Daughaday Table
Top presses - printing Kutztown Folk Festival "Go
Dutch" coasters at the NMIH
(National Museum of Industrial History) tent. TV film crew arrives at 10:00 to record the set up. Should be fun.. (and hot!) Barry Mueller of Mueller Letterpress will take the first shift. I'll take over for the 2-8pm shift... Frank Sattler,
"The Guy Who Builds Things" at NMIH made the
treadle for the C&P as well as the platform
for us old printers to stand on as we print... And where better to locate an old print shop, but right near the tractors and farm equipment displays... (South-east corner of the fairgrounds, btw - just behind the welcome center.) June 30, 2018  Wow. Kutztown was fun! But hot and I must admit, I was pretty darned tired by the end of the day... But we had fun and were very very  well
received... Here are links to two short videos of
our friend Barry Mueller (https://www.facebook.com/muellerletterpress/)
printing coasters at the NMIH tent at the 2018
Kutztown Folk Art Festival... Excelsior
Press Video Directory 11-year old Matthew had so much fun printing coasters on the 6x9 Daughaday, that he printed the whole stack of blanks we had on the table! And I'll bet he never forgets the experience... Same with 6-year-old Samantha who could barely close the press - but she printed her own coaster! We had visits from old guys who took printing in high school, old printers who'd "been there, done that", and even an old Linotype operator who was thrilled to hear that Frank got the old Linotype running at the museum... a worthwhile visit in every way - and it continues all week! July 1, 2018 - Letterpress on TV! - regarding interviews at Kutztown... Just got word...
 UPDATE:
7/8/18: Apparently, lots of
folks saw the long version
of this report on WFMZ-tv. Frank
& I staffed the tent at Kutztown yesterday and
we had quite a few visitors who told us that they
had seen us on this report. July 4, 2018  Busy day, today. It started off
with me delivering a fresh-cast set of ink rollers
for Bob Bozzay's
unique Baltimore
No. 4 Jobber at his new shop in the
village of East
Jersey Olde Town in Piscataway, NJ - near
Rutgers.Update 7/7: Although we installed the new rollers on the press - and they at first appeared to solve the problems he'd been having, we also discovered a related problem - one of the roller hooks was not retracting as far as it needed to so that it would hold the roller tight against the form or the ink disk. Bob, a retired mechanical engineer, tackled the problem by removing the complex roller hook assembly and cleaning the tracks. And he did find the problem - debris jamming the troublesome hook mount. He fixed that, and it solved the problem! Now his old press is printing as it should - and as it did for his Dad and uncle when they ran their little print shop in the basement some 80 years ago! After finishing up at EJOT, I headed out to NMIH in Bethlehem to join Tom Langenfelder and his presentation on Anastatic Printing - as was used in 1840 to produce an exact duplicate of the Declaration of Independence. Then I spent some time looking over Frank Sattler's shoulder as he fiddled with the now-operational Linotype he just got working - well, mostly. The mats were not sliding down the channel as smoothly as he'd like, so he was troubleshooting the mechanism - a common practice among Linotype operators for 80 years... Update 7/6 - Frank found and solved the problem - a small cam hanging up the "first elevator". He fixed it and now the Linotype is aligning matices as it should and working like a charm... Next step is to melt some metal and begin casting slugs - which should occur during this coming week...  And then, after
this already long day - and after racking up over
120 miles on the old red truck, and visiting
two museums, I came back to the shop and found
this online... The
interview at the Kutztown Folk Festival with
Karen Mallet of WFMZ-TV .... Kind of
embarrassing to see this skinny old man speaking
excitedly about letterpress printing, but Barry
looks good even if I appear a bit goofy, so I
guess it's real. Check
out the video.. |
||||||||||||||
| July 7,
2018 - Another exciting day manning the NMIH tent at the Kutztown Folk Art Festival. We had many visitors who told us that they had seen the WFMZ-tv report (see link above) on our  working
press display. We got "good press" and it drew more
folks to the NMIH tent... We met more folks who quickly
became excited about letterpress printing - and many older
guys who had learned to print in high school... or had
worked as printers in the past - including a younger
woman who had help her dad by hand-feeding his treadle-powered 10x15
Chandler and Price in his own basement print shop when she
was a girl... We also met many, many younger folks who had
never seen such a machine - and often had to answer the
question "what is that
machine and what
does it do?"
(I guess they hadn't seen the sign...). They were
interested to learn what it was and what it does and were
thrilled to be able to print their own coasters to take
home with them... Larry and Chuck, who had been manning the tent all morning, graciously stayed way past their scheduled end-of-shift to help out and continue speaking with our visitors... And here's Frank - who hadn't even been scheduled to 'work' at the tent on Saturday, but stayed all day to help me represent NMIH and show folks how it all worked. Here, he can be seen helping one of the young visitors print her own coaster on the 140-year-old Daughaday Table Top Press. 
Many mothers (or spouses) took photos and videos of their
own kids (or spouses) printing coasters on the old
presses. Although the table-mounted Daughaday was quite
popular, and was set up for visitors to "print their own"
coasters, I did allow some of the others set a blank
coaster in place on the C&P and pump the treadle and
throw the impression lever on and off of impression as I
held the flywheel and turned it slowly help them get a
feel for pumping the treadle.. When the platen opened and
the press had stopped moving, I told them to reach onto
the platen and remove the now-printed coaster. They were
thrilled and will not likely forget the experience any
time soon - particularly if their mother, father, friend
or spouse was taking pictures - or videos of us as we did
it together...As the crowds began to thin out towards evening and we began cleaning up, we had a rather long visit from a very inquisitive 9-year-old local boy - who spoke with a clear - and thick - and apparently local Pennsylvania Dutch accent - and who was fascinated by how the big press worked - particularly how the treadle powers this 100-year-old 1250-pound cast iron and steel machine. Although I don't think he was actually "bitten by the printing bug" - as so many of our younger visitors appeared to have been during the day, I am certain that he will remember the action of the treadle as it was pumped to turn that big flywheel and make that big old machine operate - with no external source of power...  
END OF THE DAY At the end of the day, when the visitors had all headed home, the sun was heading down and this part of the world began to cool off a bit, we closed up shop for the day. And, although we really enjoyed representing NMIH and showing folks how the old printing presses worked, and really enjoyed the visitors we met throughout the day - and revelled in their excitement and enthusiasm, we were pretty tired - at least I was... and we were both ready to close up shop and head on home... Here's Frank at the tent - and me, too... (click on any of these images to see larger views.) We also noted - for the record - that positioning the press at the front of the tent - and exposed to direct sunlight and the heat it brought with it, did swell the new rubber ink rollers on the big press so much that we had to repeatedly add black vinyl electrical tape to the rails to compensate for the continual swelling of the rollers in this heat... Of course, on that press, we were dealing with the very delicate adjustment required by the use of the relatively shallow photo-polymer plate. The metal engraving on the Daughaday was cut deep enough that any swelling that may have occured on those smaller 1.25" rubber rollers had no detrimental effect.. And so ends our adventures representing the Smithsonian Affiliate National Museum of Industrial History - and Letterpress Printing - at the 2018 Kutztown Folk Art Festival. And, now back to our regularly scheduled programmer, or printing, as it were, at the much smaller Excelsior Press Museum Print Shop and Press Restoration Facility... ie. "time for Alan to get back to work! ;) So much to post; so little time.... A lot has transpired since our return from the big event at Kutztown. Sunday, July 15 - NMIH  Tom began working on the
Fourdriner Paper Making Machine as an
intern at The Franklin Institute when he was quite
young. Now, he helps other folks make paper on their
machines... and helped Frank restore this machine at NMIH.Here, they demonstrate the press in operation - and make paper which Tom rolls up at the finish end of the operation while Frank monitors the feed at the beginning of the operation. Although the machine is fully autmated, it still needs careful monitoring. Making paper from wet raw pulp is a pretty tricky operation. But they did it. And they do it... Making Paper at NMIH.   Henry Fourdrinier received his patent for the earliest version of this machine in 1806. Its use revolutionized the printing industry as much as moveable type did in Gutenberg's day, Ottmar Mergenthaler's Linotype machine did (replacing movable type) in 1888 and the wooden Common Press did beginning around 1600. Once rolls of paper were available, press engineers developed the now-popular "web presses" that skyrocketed production efficiency and resulted in the rapid production and increased number of pages that produce today's daily newspapers. So. Movable type, hand-made paper and the Wooden Common Press - circa 1550. Fourdrinier paper making machine and cylinder letter presses - circa 1800. Linotype setting began around 1900. By the year 2000, all that were left of this evolution in printing was the modern Fourdrinier machines - which still make the bulk of the world's papers. Today, typesetting is done by computer and printing is done on high-speed offset presses or full-color digital printing machines. With the current display at NMIH, we keep this history of printing alive...  July
15 - Printing on a
basic galley proof press can be a pain since
inking is an issue and there's just no way to hold the
paper in place - until now. The photo here shows our new Universal Paper Clamp locked up in the form of the Nolan Proof Press at NMIH. Now, the paper can be clamped into place within just a few picas of the actual type form - and now, TWO COLOR prints can be made on this press with excellent accurate register. Also shown are a set of our new "Proof Press Roller Bearers". (24 point slugs with "Roller Bearer" written on them...) With these in place, it's easy to ink consistently using a hand brayer. Without them, one side tends to ink heavier than the other, resulting in a less-than-desireable print. These will both be available soon on our Fundraising Page.  July 19 - Glenn Babecki's father had printed with these two Kelsey 5x8s and a nice selection of hand type until his death in 1983. One is a Model N from 1939, the other and new style Model O from 1952. It was interesting to compare these two presses, since we know where their entire history and they came to us fully intact. Glenn's been holding on to his Dad's printing stuff, since 1983, but never used it himself and finally decided that it was time to sell it to someone who would. Well, we might not use them ourselves here at the shop, but we will certainly put them back into good operating condition - possibly even do a full re-manufacture restoration - and find someone who is looking for a 5x8 - as many folks are these days. I told him not to worry - these presses have an interesting future in store for them...  July 19 - Just thought I'd post this intriguing photo of the print shop at night - as viewed from the house... Nothing much to say except that while walking out the shop tonight, I was struck by the drama in the scene... It really feels nice to walk out here in the dark and look into the shop with the classic hand-fed platen presses dominating the doorway and light emenating from the work shop to the left. Sort of a "still life of my life"..  July 20 - Our old friend of the shop, Nicholas was up to visit his folks again over in Pennsy this week, so he made his annual pilgrimage to the Excelsior Press to see what was new since his last visit... He's been busy teaching and helping out at a number of museums in his area. He's passing on the old letterpress skills that so many folks seek these days. Good for him! One of the things that caught his attention was this poster that we had printed a few years ago. It's part of a matched set. This one says "Right Here" but points to the left... Some folks get a kick out of the irony, but actually, it had a practical purpose. Both signs pointed down our lane - one from the west approach to our mailbox, the other viewable from the eastern approach. Printing them was really easy, too, since the engraving that prints the arrow was "mitered for type" as they used to say - the inside was open, so setting type in there was easy and reversing the arrow direction simply meant lifting up the engraving and setting it back down - reversed this time... We used them, and then we just kept them around the shop cause they are fun... If you click on the photo of Nicholas in the shop, you can see a larger version - including, in the shadows in the back left corner of the shop, a painting done by my old friend Richard Brodney. Richard died many years ago, but his family had a lasting impression on my as a young printer, and although an artist, Richard was also involved in letterpress printing for many years himself, working as art director in union shops where he developed the concept he taught me of "the indestructible design" - a design that could be printed by pretty much any printer, requiring no special skills beyond what the trade required. Basically, he designed his work with the printer in mind and kept his often exotic designs practical for the printer who would print them... He also began with a 5x8 Kelsey when he was a boy back in the 1930's & '40's... In 1974, Richard gave me a 100+ pica-long brass line gauge, which is currently on display along with other of our personal collection at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, PA. Thursday, July 26 - At the museum, we're preparing for ten days of printing during Bethlehem's 35th Annual Musikfest. We'll have the C&P out front of the building and will be printing a mono-chromatic version of the new 2018 Musikfest Poster. It took some work, but Glenn did manage to convert a single-color blob of color into a recognizeable poster of discreet, idenifiable elements. See the transition below:
 First day of MusikFest,
2018 and the 10x15 Press used at
Kutztown is now set up in front of the building at NMIH.
We are printing the poster seen above on this old press
and handing them out to visitors who are stopping by on
their way to the music stage. Many who stop by remember
this press from high school, jr. high or a job they had
when they were younger. Many more have no idea what it
is until they see it running and printing the posters we
are handing out. Our youngest printer-to-be - young Addy
from Nebraska is not likely to soon forget the thrill
she had as we printed a poster together - she inserted
the paper, I turned the flywheel as she pumped the
treadle, and when the press opened, voila! Hot off the
press! She printed a poster! July 27 -  First
Prototype - Excelsior Double Grip Gauge Pin - When
our regular supplier of Megill's Double Grip Gauge Pins
informed me that they were out of stock and had no plans
to resume production of our favorite Paper Guide - the
famous and quite popular Megill
Double Grip Gauge Pin, we were stunned and
quickly decided that someone had to do it... So, we did. After studying an original Edward Megill Designed Gauge Pin from the beginning of the 20th century, a plan and process began to form and I went to work. Within an hour, we had developed this functioning prototype Excelsior Double Grip Gauge Pin. Sure, it's rough and couldn't be used as it is at stage one, but once the lower blade is trimmed back and the zinc alloy nuts and bolts are replaced with properly dimensioned brass thread and an oversize, knurled brass nut, we may be in the ballpark and might just get an improved design working and then quickly go into production. The trick was to figure out how to mount the brass tongue in such a way that it was firm, but movable. By drilling holes in the flat stock before bending - and bending with a purpose-made jig that enables a true, tight 90 degree bend - and stiffening reverse bend, we were able to make this functioning prototype. As soon as we can get the fine thread brass rod and nuts and perfect the mounting process - which was a mystery until our friend Frank Sattler suggested a rivet, rather than welding approach, the final challenge was met. Now we're just waiting for some test stock to come in and a quote from the sheet metal fabricator to make the flat blanks, and a device, rather than just a jig - to manage the bending, we can move ahead and perhaps become a manufacturer of gauge pins! July 31 Well, it started out easy enough... This press was recently restored and only used in the shop and that one time I loaned it out to be used at an outdoor event to print coasters... But it came back pretty much the worse for wear - even my type was smashed! How they did it, I don't know and I don't even want to ask.. But I had a couple in California who have been bitten by the bug and wanted to buy and use this press - now. This summer. I had to get it cleaned up and shipped to them... I was just going to change a broken gripper arm spring on this press. But the spring had broken off inside of the gripper bar and would not come out. When I tried to drill it out, I was careless and ruined it. So I had to make a new one... So I made a new gripper bar to go with the new spring I had just made... And the press was dirty - ink everywhere as well as some dirt, dust and general grime from being handled outdoors after sitting exposed in a print shop for a few months, so I started cleaning it as well. It needed it. I couldn't ship a press like this... Then I noticed some chips on the paint of the handle, so decided to touch them up as well. But as I began sanding around the chipped areas, I noticed that the paint was very thick and the gray primer beneath it just kept making the sanding to prepare for a black touch-up not as I'd have liked it to be. So I took it off - the whole handle - and took it over to the wire wheel - and removed all of the paint - stripped it back down to bare metal with plans to repaint it. But first, I wanted to figure out why the primered paint had chipped, so I did some tests on the handle - different cleaning prep - mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, acetone... and soap and water as this new high tech primerless paint from Rustoleum suggested. So. One side in this new paint, the other side - divided up into thirds by painter's tape - primed and painted as was normal procedure. Next day, I took the handle out of the paint booth and tapped it along the freshly painted surfaces - gently, with a small hammer. Everywhere I tapped the primed & painted side, it chipped. On the other side, however, with this neat new high-tech paint - no chips at all! It was better than the old process and old paints. One light coat, and it covered beautfully. This is Rustoleum's new "Painter's Touch" 2X ULTRA Cover Paint+Primer. Good stuff... But, at this point, I figured "might as well pull off some more parts, polish the roller hook passages with the wire bristle bore brush from the gun-cleaning kit, spin the hooks themselves through a Scotch-Brite pad to make them sparkle a bit and generally remove and clean up other parts. I'd had to remove the two short mounting shafts on the platen base and the big shaft in front in order to remove the handle, anyway. Might as well clean them up, too.." And, so it went, deeper and deeper into the spiral until the press was pretty much fully disassembled.
August 4 More Kelsey Presses! The other day, I added a new work bench to the shop. Now I can display one of each model of Kelsey presses I work on... The first on the left is a little Kelsey Junior, then, in order, from left to right: 3x5 Old Style, 3x5 New Style, 5x8 Excelsior, 5x8 Victor, 6x10 Excelsior, 6x10 Victor and at the end of the line is the 6x9 Cook's Victor the original Victor designed by Cook and the sold by Kelsey into the 1950s after he took over the Cook company in the early 1900's... Not shown is the 5x8 recently restored and due to ship to San Diego this week. It's the one described in the July 31 post above... I will be posting an animation of its reassembly soon. It's fun to see the parts disappear from the table and magically appear on the press. I'll post a link to that one when I get around to making the page... It is now also mounted on a beautiful natural wood base that's been covered with 5 coats of Minwax Polyurethane. Although it looks innocent enough, that finished base has proven pretty nearly impervious to ink and solvents in our tests.  Behind the Kelseys are two Morgan Line-o-Scribe "sign" presses, sitting one atop the other. These are actually, economy proof presses - but were made for printing small signs and point-of-sale cards in most major department stores in the days before the advent of computers and laser and ink jet printers... These days, we use them as proof presses. August 6 -  Casting
Rollers again. After a long hiatus from
casting (due mostly to
the big move and a rough winter), we are now
casting 20-durometer rubber ink rollers for each of the
small presses we support- and others as well. We are
casting .80", 1" and 1.25" inch diameter rollers, as well
as some other, less common diameters. We recently cast a
set for an uncommon Dorman No. 4 Jobber for Bob Bozzay at
the East Jersey Old Towne museum print shop, cast 2 5x8
Craftsman rollers and 2 5x8 Kelsey rollers tonight and
will be casting some Pilot rollers within the next few
days. Yup. The roller-casting operation is once again
fully functional, with all the tools, parts and supplies
finally brought over from the barn - and now set up in a
dedicated "roller casting" work station with everything we
need to cast rollers - including notes on casting and
lessons learned over the years.Need rollers? We are casting up 3x5, 5x8 and 6x10 Kelsey as well as Baltimore and Sigwalt rollers to keep in stock and are also doing custom casting of rollers for other table top presses - and some brayers - as well. We have about a dozen old brayers that we picked up over the years and casting new rubber for them will be on the schedule very soon. Our rollers are different from the ones sold by other retail sources; most of theirs are actually made by one or two larger roller companies who wrap sheet rubber around the shaft and then vulcanize them. Not a bad process, but mostly needed for high-speed presses and generally of 30-durometer or harder rubber. Ours are different. Our rollers are cast using a Urethane mixture that allows us to make rollers with many of the same positive characteristics of the classic - and fussy and sensitive "Composition" rollers, but without the drawbacks of a gelatin composition. Our rollers are size-stable and long-lasting, but have the same softness and tack that is so desireable for small letterpress rollers... I do believe they are something special and offer an alternative to those available elsewhere.  August
6 - I knew that Glover Snow had taken over operations at Kelsey Co upon Bill Kelsey's death and that his son-in-law, Gene Mosher had taken over operations sometime around 1960, but this little blurb in Kelsey's own Printer's Helper from 1969 documents the timeline clearly... (from the donated
collection of Chuck King, Meriden, Connecticut )
August 7 - Tuesday  Lilly Jensen began printing on her C&P Pilot in South Carolina, but recently moved it - and her self - to Philadelphia - a growing hotbed of letterpress printers.... One day recently, she found herself visiting a friend in Frenchtown and decided to track down this reclusive old printer that she'd heard about who has a collection of presses in an old print shop out back on his propery... Her friend is our local Frenchtown Librarian, Kelly Pickering - who took this charming photo during their visit here last week... Possible Titles for this photo:
One more new post to be fleshed out - the Last Day of Printing Bethlehem Musikfest Posters at NMIH...  August -3-12, 2018 - NMIH moved one of their 10x15 C&Ps out onto the NMIH Plaza each day for the 9 days of Bethlehem's 35th Annual Musikfest event. Each day, one or two of the museum staff would man the press and print posters for visitors passing through on their way to the main stage. I was there printing for the opening day and on the last day. It was fun. Our poster uses the original multi-color layout as its basic design, but individual elements of the poster were modified by NMIH's graphic master, Glenn, to "work" when printed in one color on an old letterpress. Yes. It worked - nicely. Glenn then sent the art off to Hodgins Engraving for a very nice metal photo-engraving of this classic design. August 14, 2018
 August
23 - Back to work....After weeks of one little thing after another, Liz' press (see prior post from July 31)is finally on its way to San Diego. In order to make everything she and her husband Russ would be doing with the press familiar to them when the press arrived, I shot some video instructions... And, to make it so that they would be able to print "right out of the box", I included my own chase and type that I used to print her some "Happy Birthday Liz" coasters as a good test of using the press. I printed some coasters, plunked a sleeve of 100 more blank coasters into the box for her to print on when the press arrives. I shot short videos of all the steps involved, then washed up the press, took it apart, boxed it all up and sent it on its way to San Diego. As I did all of this, I kept shooting more little videos, which are now on Youtube as part of a playlist which you can view (if you are interested) by clicking this link to the "When Liz' Press Arrives" series of basic videos. And, now that this project is complete, I can begin catching up with other projects and most importantly, begin keeping some of those other promises I had made which I had been unable to address while I was so intensely focused on getting this press safely on its way to its new home... I have rollers to cast, parts to make, parts and supplies to ship and a lot of unread email inquiries to catch up with. So now, it's back to work.... August 27 -  We had some charming visitors today from the University of Pennsylvania.... Mary (on the left) manages the Letterpress Studio at Fisher Fine Arts Library. Lynne (on the right) is the Curator of Printed Books at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. They will be working together to put together a mobile printing capability in support of a big project next year regarding Walt Whitman's work. Specifically, they want to increase their selection of presses in the "Common Press Studio". To that end, I will be doing a full restoration of a 5x8 Kelsey Excelsior and cleaning up this large Line-O-Scribe flatbed press to pass on to them. This will give me room in the shop to finally bring over the Vandercook Model 4 from the old shop. Gosh, I miss that press. I really need it here. By mid-winter, it should be here in the shop - and I will feel like a real printer again... * Lynne did tell me, btw, that in their collection at Penn, they do have some of the works of my first mentor - and an early influence on my own interests in letterpress printing - Joseph Ishill of Oriole Press. Mr. Ishill printed books in his basement shop not far from my home in Berkeley Heights. He would let me watch him at work when I visited him in the early 1960's - when my only press was a 3x5 Kelsey... In those days, I had no idea of his importance to the private publishing community. Now I do. August 29, 2018 Projects update:
 August
31Tim Dunn sent over this photo for help in identifying this device... It was sent to him by an antique collector friend who thought it was some sort of printing press... Looks like bindery or mail room equipment to me... (click image or here for larger view) - Perhaps some sort of signature collator - for assembling signatures in sequence or something similar. more detail can be seen in the larger image... Please send us your thoughts about this odd-looking machine... Update: 9/5 - So far, three respondents have suggested that it's some sort of typesetting machine - perhaps for setting - or distributing individual pieces of foundry type? Still on a quest to learn more about this uncommon device.... September 5 So. I got an email from Cliff up at the The Stone House Museum in Belchertown, Mass. They have a beautiful old Early Series 10x15 C&P. ... with a broken platen... Repairing a break like that is not trivial. First of all, the gripper arm shaft brackets must be perfectly aligned so that the shaft can rotate freely. Second, the bale mount must also be perfectly aligned so that the bales snap closed with just the right amount of tension, since they have to hold the drawsheet tight to the platen.... What to do? I described the repair process that would work, but it would be a challenge to any welder; finding a replacement platen would make life much easier for Cliff and is likely to work well. So. I sent out a broadcast request to the members of the Lettpress email group and had some very encouraging responses. The platen on the right was found in Bob's Press Parts Pile and he's graciously offered to send it to the museum for the cost of shipping alone. That shipping won't be cheap, but in the end, the cost will likely be much less than hiring a welder - and the result is almost guaranteed to be success. It looks like Bob's platen will need some cleanup - sand blasting and repainting would be nice, but a wire wheel should do fine as well.
Last week, Chris emailed me in search of a set of roller hooks and springs for his 8x12 C&P. As it turns out, Paul at Bindery Tools had a set, sent them to Chris and with a little coaching from an old printer who deals with these sorts of repairs, Chris was able to install the hooks and springs and convert his "die-cutter" back into a Printing Press, as was intended when it was made.  Friday, Sept. 7Claudia came by the shop today with her friend Emily to try out some spiffy new features I am developing to enhance productivity - and quality - of work done on Galley Proof Presses.. And, as part of the test/demo process, we printed one sheet - twice - to check the accuracy of the register of my new paper clamp device...  And
here it is - "Two
Passes!!" - She printed the sheet, removed it,
set it back into the guide/clamp system, and printed the
same sheet a second time. Register was so damned good that it looks like it was only printed once. But this sheet was printed twice. And, if some of the letters - or a line - or an ornament or anything had been printed in a different color, the images would still align perfectly with the first color pass... I am pleased, to say the least... Click on the photo for a close-up view... of the photo I have very proudly named "TWO PASSES!!" Look at the dot over the "i" - you only see one, although this sheet was printed twice. This is what's known as "dot-register" - and is about as good as it gets.... and an old press that had no register system whatsoever - until now...  Saturday, September 8 - And, my cousin G�ran from Sweden arrived at PHL later Friday evening, so on Saturday, we had some fun in what he refers to as "Alan's Retro Print Shop"... He picked out some ornaments - including one he found and recognized as a stylized version of the Norse image of the Tree of Life - Olde Swedish version...  So
then, we set some type, cut down some nice blue paper and
printed some cards for him. So, he got to pump the treadle
and run the press - and he learned to set type as well! We come from a long line of printers - all the way back to before 1800! It was Goran's research that first, found me, and which eventually brought the American and Swedish branches of the Runfeldt family together for the first time in over 100 years. And then his research established the Swedish Connection of printers which lead to a very exciting adventure... September 14  So. My friend Chris - the hard-working, "git 'er done", super-knowledgeable contractor stopped by and complained that I hadn't installed my wood stove yet and winter will be here before we know it...  Then he offered to help do
it - right now. Of course, I agreed - and now, the job is
nearly done and we're almost ready to light a fire in
there. To me, this is a big deal. Last winter was really
rough in here and I burned through a lot of propane - and
still froze...But now I know that this winter, I'll be burning up some of that wood in the many large piles I have around here. And when that wood's gone, I've got plenty more around our 3 1/2 acres... So. This will be a warmer winter. I am pleased... and relieved. September 15  Driveway and Apron Paving I didn't really have the time for this, but when the paver who was doing the road out front offered me a tri-axle load of asphalt millings for my lane - delivered for free - I could not say no. But time is of the essence. If this stuff stays in that big pile for too long, it becomes a solid mountain of asphalt. My Cub Cadet snowplow/bulldozer and grader got the job started, but after two days and only 30 feet of lane covered, I realized that my little hobby machines were not quite up to the task.... So then, today, my friend Kevin surprised me with a visit on his big backhoe/loader and proceeded to help me spread the tri-axle load of asphalt millings that the paving company had dropped for me two weeks ago - and which had proven to be too big a job for my little Cub Cadet snowplow/dozer. But not the spreader I built and have on my other Cub Cadet. Spreading was no problem, but moving the big pile of millings into place for spreading was too much for my other Cub... So. Today- with Kevin's nice shiny, almost-new backhoe/loader, we spread asphalt millings on the lane (125 yard gravel lane) and filled the troublesome area shown in the photo which used to turn into a small pond after any serious rain. Now, it will stay dry in this section.... And next, we are preparing to lay an apron in front of the shop. After 4 years, I will finally have a smooth surface in front of the shop so that I can move machines in and out and into my workshop as needed - something else I'd been wanting to do for years, but all of a sudden came to fruition. Not much printing done in the shop Friday and Saturday, but two very important projects are finally coming together... Yeah, it feels good... September 16  Announcing the newly-named Excelsior Cushion Quad Guides. We've been making, using and selling cushion paper guides for years, but they never had a name - or a label - or even a distinctive look - until now... To learn more about them - and read the story of how they came to evolve into something so fancy - with their name printed on them... Excelsior Cushion Quad Guides. P.S. Mr. Henry has nothing to fear. There is no plan to market our quad guides through any other retailers, as are his. They will be available only to Excelsior Press customers through this web site... September 16 - afternoon...  .My friend Kevin came back again today - Day Two of our "repair the lane, make an apron for the shop" project... This all came about because Kevin called to tell me that the crew doing the paving of our road would have a lot of free asphalt millings which I could have - delivered - just for the asking... Normally, when I need asphalt millings, I take my dump truck the the stone yard, pay $25 or so for a load, then bring it home. But that takes me about two hours. This was a full tri-axle load (5-6 times what my little dump truck can handle), and it was free - delivered. I couldn't say no. But, at the same time, my little Cub Cadets, as tough as they are were no match for this big of a load, so Kevin came up with his big Kubota to help out... And then he came back again today, to do some more....  In the
morning, I had already graded the lane, using the grader I
built to use around the property - but mostly to maintain
our 125-yeard-long ravel lane. I recently added a
long lever device that now allows me to raise and lower
the blade without leaving my seat. When the lever goes down, and is held down by a loop on a line, the blade goes up and out of the way. I can move around without scraping anything. But, when I release the lever, the blade goes down to the ground and the 2-25-pound Linotype Pigs give me 50 pounds load to hold the blade down as we plow along.. It works well...  But when Kevin came, we
began working on making a smooth, solid "apron" out side
of the shop. This will make it much easier to move
equipment in and out of both the print shop and the work
shop, and I have wanted to do this for a long time. Today,
we did it! I am thrilled! Still some work to do - "manicuring" the surface, re-working it once it gets packed down - the normal stuff. But when it does pack down permanently, it is the next best thing to as asphalt or concrete pad - but at a fraction of the cost... These things sometimes take time, but what a thrill when a plan comes together and a wish becomes a reality. ... and no more stumbling over the 3/4" gravel that had been there since we built the shop.... instead, a smooth surface.. Life is good! Oh, boy. Have I been busy! With so much to do in the shop, I've had a few weeks of matters that have kept me out of the shop. I've fallen behind on printing jobs, fabrication projects and shipping of orders... Here's why: photos and report details to follow.... Sept 17 - began a new web page - a work in progress - "Things we make here"... Sept 19 - visit to Roberta's to gather the goodies she's sharing with us. Sept 22 - another day at NMIH.org - Frank is casting lines of type on his Linotype... Sept 25 - a visit to Star Printing to evaluate their old equipment Sept 27 - a visit from Jack Dold - who brought his Baltimore No.10 press from Indiana for a roller "fitting"... which led to many updates to our Baltimore Presses page... Sept 27 - updates to our Paper Clamp system - magnets! Sept 27 - more work on the prototype inking unit for the Nolan... Sept 28 - Drove out to Myerstown to pick up our new Lincoln AC-225 arc welder and old Buffalo drill press. More tools. Hurray! ;) Sept 29 - Kevin came back to do some more work on the lane and take his backhoe/loader home again... Sept 30 - making an Excelsior Chase-Base, more Ink Knife Holders and a nice new feed board for the Pearl... ... also began work repairing the roof above the print shop - before the rains return - critical! ... rollers to cast - LOTS of rollers to cast - for current orders and to restock common sizes... October 1, 2018... another month begins... (can I catch up?) No, not yet.... On the roof today. A leak in the roof lead to water dripping through the upper room, onto the floor up there, and then down onto my type cabinet - the one which holds the wood type! Can't have that! So, today, I am a roofer.... worked past dark with the help of my really neat led headlamp, then back on the roof on Tuesday to finish up... Maybe now I can get back to work in the print shop and ship those orders that are filled and ready to mail, restock the ink knife holders and begin casting some of that growing list of rollers needed around the country... ... and begin printing all of those forms that came in recently. I'll be busy on the Heidelberg for quite a few days as well... Does it never end? I sure hope not! ;) ...but unless I keep the promises I've made - and ship the orders that have come in... folks will give up on me and this steady stream of work - work that I enjoy and actually do quite well - could end... I can't let that happen! Oct 4 - Well, the roof passed the test. A few hours after I came down from the roof, it began to rain, and wow, such a rain storm - thunder and lightening and more - lots and lots of rain over night. But I am pleased to report that when I came into the shop in the morning, everything was bone dry - both upstairs and in the shop... My treasured font of 8-Line Goudy Bold wood type - and all of the other wood type in that cabinet - is safe once again. I'd like to do some more on the roof before the snow comes, but we're good for now. However, all this climbing on the roof and moving around the very heavy rolls of roofing material seem to have taken its toll on this old man's back and energy in general. The job got done, but darn, I guess I really am getting old... Back's been stiff and sore and I've been "recovering" from the effort for quite a few days now... BUT I got those rush-order forms done and some of the supplies orders shipped out just in time on Friday. They should arrive at the client's offices on Tuesday according to the USPS tracking reports... There are still 3-4 more cartons' worth of forms to number, pad, trim and pack as well as a number of additional parts and supplies orders to fill and ship... Work goes on... Slowly, perhaps, but it's getting done... Oct 8 -  Here's a photo of a rarely-seen press these days.... It's a Lee Press, made by Challenge Machinery Company in 1931. I don't know the sheet size, but it seems pretty big. I am posting this image here to show to a gentleman who has contacted me from clear around the world - from Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is searching for a flatbed cylinder press with which to print thin sheets of aluminum. This may be the press that can do it for him... Click the photo for a larger image. October 17 - NMIH First,
I must apologize to those people are waiting for me to
ship them parts or supplies; I am behind schedule due to a
variety of events, including a large rush printing job and
a very important meeting that took place at NMIH today.  And
what a day it was! I was invited to NMIH today to meet
with Ken Kuwalsky and Paul Gough of the .918 Club Printing Museum
in Lancaster, PA, Frank Sattler of NMIH in Bethlehem,
PA and Frank Romano of the Museum of Printing
in Haverhill, Mass, near Boston. We discussed museum
matters and boy, did I learn a lot. Oct 19 - Some videos or The Whardale Printing Press - an interesting machine...
Oct 20:
QUICK JUMPS ---> JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUNE | JULY | AUG | SEPT | OCT | NOV | DEC |
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