We started off by looking over his (rust and blue paint-free) Vandercook No. 2 press that he saved from being used for parts! Through conversation my questions were answered as well as a wealth of more information was presented.
The picture below shows an ink reservoir filled with old ink on Bob's press. My university's does not have one.
This Vandercook press is from the mid 1930's and proves to be a very basic press, without the bells and whistles that modern presses have. First off, this is a cylinder press where the type (letters/numbers) is laid out on the bed of the press and blocked in to prevent any movement. Once the type is set into place, the print maker will lay out ink on the flat surface above the roller, roll the hand brayer in the ink, and then apply it to the type. Next the paper will be positioned directly on top of the type, either held on with grippers (a clip that holds the paper in place) or freely laying on top. Now is where the press comes into place, the printer maker will now use the roller to place pressure on the type so that the ink will transfer onto the paper. That's a pretty basic description as to how this press works. Now for terminology and details that go into the process.
The first step in prepping the press is to cover the roller in multiple pieces of different weighted paper, then cover with tympan paper. Tympan paper usually comes in large rolls which you cut a piece to size and wrap it around one of the dials inside of the rollers void, as you can see in the image below. Next is where you add the 3-4 extra pieces of paper between the roller and tympan paper, once those are in place the tympan paper can be dialed in on the other side. The purpose of adding the paper is to create enough pressure when printing so that the ink will fully transfer, this can be tricky to find the sweet spot as you don't want too little or too much pressure.
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The next step after setting up the pressure is to "lock in the type." This consists of getting your type in the order you prefer and then locking it into place on the press with a variety of tools: metal and wooden furniture, leading, quoins and quoin keys, and small bits of paper. Here Bob was giving me a demonstration on how to "lock in type" and below that is what the type looks like when locked in.
The type is blocked into a frame that allows it to be mobile, once set on the press it will be blocked on to the press itself. In the middle of the frame is obviously the type and the bigger rectangle pieces are called either metal or wooden furniture. The little silver bits that fill in the irregular spaces are called leading and come in different sizes. Lastly, the quoins are to the left of the frame, they are used on two perpendicular edges and expand by using the key, to further tighten the frame up. Once everything is tight the printer can pick up the frame and move it onto the press. Below is an image of the frame sitting on the bed of the press and Bob holding what is called a positive lockup bar.These are used on either end of the bed, like the frame it holds everything on the press in place. My guess is this, as well as a frame, is missing from the press I am restoring, which can be easily replaced by a handmade metal or wooden one. The difference will be that the handmade one will stay in place by having dowels stuck into the holes within the press rather than the lockup bar that expands to stay put.
Once the type is blocked onto the press and the typan paper has been set, the printer will hand ink each letter with a brayer and place the paper on top. Finally, the moment of truth, after the roller has passed over the letters, the paper is lifted to see how the transfer turned out. Bob suggested to use Van Son Ink that is specifically for letter press printing rather than the thick ink I have been using for intaglio printing. As for clean up, the water soluble California Wash is doable.
I find it fascinating that printmaking has its own measuring system. The bed of a press is called "point height" which is .918 inches. For a printmaking ruler, each measurement, a "point," is an increment from .918. Any type, across the board is that tall. The saw in the picture below is specifically for cutting furniture to size by using the "point height" dial which is fixed on the saw. Even for cutting the leading, there are slug cutters that are based on that measuring system.
Bob was so kind to teach me practically everything I need to know, he even gave me a tour of his presses and the work he does. I have found that I would love to work with photo-polymer plates in which I could print many of my ink drawings. If you're familiar with solar plates, these have the same concept behind them; water soluble and light sensitive.
As for the actual restoration, I will need to see what equipment I have to work with and what is missing. I will need to purchase heavy weight oil that will be squirted into the holes on either side of the roller so it runs smoothly. Removing the rust will be a huge part of getting it cleaned up. As for more of the clean up, Bob suggested that I go to Hammerpress in the Crossroads district of Kansas City, as that evening was First Fridays and talk with Ben. I followed his advice and ran into more great suggestions from Ben who has restored many presses. The first thing Ben suggested to do is check every tooth on the gears of the roller and the track it rolls on, if there is a crack or a tooth missing that can be a major problem. If everything looks good, the next step would to be to take the press apart as much as I can to remove rust and clean it up. He suggested to have a table at the end of the press so that I can detach the roller and roll it off of the press onto the table where I can clean it. It is important to put marks on the press as well as the roller to help line up where the void should be when putting it back together. For rust, wire brushes, WD40, and naval jelly was suggested. He gave me tips on what type of brayer would be ideal if I have a future in printmaking, explained different types of quoins, making a wooden lock up bar for the press and so on. As a final note, he suggested that I first print with lino just so I can get the feel for how the press should work and then try to master locking in type. After checking out my blog, Ben emailed me explaining that what I called guides "are actually safeties, like a cattle guard on a train, they keep you from getting pinched." Then recommended an orange stripper to get the paint off, as well as introduced me to NA graphics which looks to be a great resource.
After assessing my notes and contemplating what I learned from Bob and Ben, unless a tooth is broken off of a gear or is cracked, I don't necessarily think that the press is broken, rather missing a piece or pieces of equipment used for locking the type in.
