Spring cleaning in Autumn

After a crazy week in the bindery, completing 10 of my boxes for the ongoing challenge in 10 days(with the aid of plates in most cases.....more about that whenever "A" can get the pictures...didn't even have time to take any)I am taking the time to address tool and equipment maintenance.
Paul from binderytools.com changed out the blades of the chopper, brought a new set, refinished a nipping press, and got me started stripping and replaning my 3 laying presses.
I had been waiting for the time to sort out the laying presses, due to the fact that all 3 had been covered with a layer of varnish...the large one was sprayed(including the wooden screws!!!)with a layer of Polyurethane.
All I will say about that is, if you are going to buy bookbinding equipment, depending on where you get it you will have to ask how the wood has been treated or finished.
In short the polyurethane rubbed off the cheek leaving an uneven surface, scorched the bottom of the plough, the pins eventually becoming clogged-up with small flakes of a white residue, it remained idle for almost a year.
I took great satisfaction in taking them all apart and sanding the cheeks back to the raw wood, and applying a treatment of linseed oil.
so to recap...DO NOT VARNISH YOUR BOOKBINDING EQUIPMENT...FROM BACKING BOARDS AND LAYING PRESSES, TO SEWING FRAMES...
The box challenge continues a pace with some new titles(hunter s.thompson, martin luther king, more fitzgerald)and a new deadline......20 by december 31st, so watch this space .......

Big IS Beautifull

Those of you out there that have had occaision to work on large over-sized books will appreciate the various problems and challenges that the forwarding presents.The boards I got from France two years ago were dissappointing. The rubber biscuits uneccessary and cumbersombe, they were different heights when locked-up, and they were fabricated from poor quality ply-wood. (It is fair to note that this may not indicate the standard of quality offered, and may just have been a one-off slip).
However , I am a fan of the French style, namely boards made with a substantial shelf, gripping the spine approx 1" proud of the cheek of the press , avoiding the undue brutality of pressure, whilst also making it easier to work on the back of the book.
Having been since unable to source large French-style boards fabricated to code, from good quality material, I decided to make my own.
*NB-there are larger boards out there, but made to the english style, and I found that having a more substantial shelf made it easier to position the book in the press.
My freind Josh Harris and I produced many prototypes , and have finally decided on a design , and have produced a couple of finished sets.
The finished board is 20" long by 7" wide , with a shelf 1"x1.5" that sits ontop of the cheeks.The shelf is attached to the main board using biscuits(they`re not just glued on!).The wood used is a beech, 1/4 sawn for strength , and air-dried for the prevention of warping.The boards are also made with a tapered finish, again unlike my french ones. I am unsure if the tapered finish is unique to england(I'm sure it`s not?!), and also whether an un-tapered finish is unique to the French-I suspect that there is no hard and fast rule and there is a lot of overlap.
The boards photographed are made of white oak , this proves an expensive prospect for production.I know Josh is working on using cheaper alternative material such as plain sawn beech, this may prove a winner, and if so I'll sign on, but I will have to wait and see how these would turn out and perform.
The jaws I decided to make in steel , and not brass....Steel is harder to keep clean , but longer lasting, and I guess longevity is more important.
All in all , the boards are a real piece of work , and I'm very happy with the end result.
We decided to offer the boards for sale ourselves, thereby avoiding uneccessary mark-ups from retailers, allowing for a more affordable price.
Again, I must stress that this was not a for profit enterprise, I simply was motivated to produce a good quality tool to the best standard.
We are selling them for $400. Before everyone gasps in disgust, I can confidently state that I am to date unaware of a Backing Board anywhere that comes close to the quality of this one`s fabrication.
Some of you may feel that its uneccessary, and I do agree that they are a luxury for most, especially these days, but I do insist on and attest to the fact that they have made my life easier.
Plus, they're pretty sweet.....

Storing finishing tools

So we are 2 months in the new building in Williamsburg , and there is still a lot of work to be done in getting the bindery ready.The wooden floor was refinished , walls painted , we painted the door red.(i figured we could use the good fortune)
The rest of the building is actually a building site , as they are still working on the bottom 2 floors for Talas .We only got a phone line last week , and we wont have the internet until february , and it has not been uncommon for me to spend days not binding , but building thresholds , and pouring concrete!!
One of the challenges we face right now is storage. So with this in mind , I came up with a good solution for storing your decorative finishing wheels. I have seen this kind of thing in binderies before .
Clipped to the wall , they are easy to see , reach and get at , and you don`t need to build a cabinet .
If you need to move them , just remove the wooden boards and screw them in elsewhere, so they are portable too!I made wooden panels covered in suede to protect the wheels , and prevent them from scratching and hitting the wall.I hope to fill the whole wall!!!!!!!!I looked in all hardware stores for the particular horsehoe spring clip.....you can only get them online