Waiting.... waiting... waiting...

The hardest thing about buying an antique printing press (after having actually found one, that is) is the art of moving of it. They are pretty tough machines, but really, after being around for centuries do you really want to be the one who destroys it by dropping it off the side of a trailer? There are only a handful of professionals who are able to move these giant monoliths of machinery. And they are expensive, often abrupt and grumpy old men that don't quite appreciate your enthusiastic calls of 'Hi, remember me? You didn't call me back' I am still waiting on one guy to call me back in 5 minutes. That was two and a half weeks ago!

So I managed to secure a guy this weekend. For an early pick up on Sunday. I am keeping everything crossed that this actually happens and he turns up when he is meant to.

Two presses to move, one going in the carport the other going in our spare room. I am hoping the flywheel is relatively easy to remove of the samson so it can fit through the door. If not, I will have to rethink my whole setup

As I purchased these presses over a month ago, I would like to have them and start working on bringing the C&P up to scratch and familiarising myself with how they work without losing a finger. I am still waiting on my ink, paper and plates from the US and about to put in an order for more paper. So much paper. I just feel like I am floundering at the moment. Not really going forward, not going back exactly. Just in printing limbo land. Waiting. And getting more impatient by the second.

In the meantime I have purchased a guillotine. An Ideal 3905 manual guillotine that I got off eBay. They are a great brand and have nothing but praise written about them. I would have loved an electric guillotine, rather than the push down lever, but unfortunately I don't have a spare 2.5K to spend. But at least this way I can give up my gym membership and still get amazing Madonna arms!

I am picking the guillo up on Saturday and will put it to good use right away as I want to tackle edge painting this weekend.

So many different methods are out there and there is a bit of a secret printers business surrounding the actual method. From what I have researched and managed to get out of people, a spray method is the best. First step is crisp, even cut stacks of paper. Enter the Guillotine.

Kxx