This year’s card (see next post) was not so much about printing as to remember a good friend. Phil was a general contractor and friend who helped me on technical issues with my presses. He would also devise any number of equipment that I dreamed up and had to have. We had many good times trying to figure out the solution to a problem. He also built a paper drying box for me, would put the die jacket on the press and alter tools, equipment and machines to my needs.

So maybe it was fitting that my Albion would quit on me while I was printing this year’s card. The leather straps that pull the bed under the platen finally gave out (we estimate they were around eighty years old). It should have been no problem to repair except there was no Phil. And no manual for a 100 year old press.

I consulted the books I had, including Gabriel Rummonds, Printing on the Iron Handpress. He gave a good solution but it didn’t work for me. I needed leather of a certain strength and thickness. I called my decorator, who rarely says no to me, and she called around.

She found the loveliest and amazing leather worker, Tony (http://www.yelp.com/biz/tonys-leather-goods-beverly-hills). After consulting together, he called around and went to the wholesaler early in the morning to get the leather I needed, then cut it to size and he got it to me within a few days. And with enough left over for a few belts.

Installation went smoothly and I had the press up and running within a day or two.  It is wise to take pictures before you dismantle or remove parts and take a good hard look at what you are replacing. With the old presses, you need to be resourceful and bring a lot of ingenuity to the problem. And don’t throw anything away before successfully making the repair. You can see in the pictures, the new natural leather straps against the one original remaining. The surprising thing is that with the replacements the bed travels down the rails smoother than before.

Am I upset with Phil for not being here? A little, but through my solo repair job, I enjoyed wondering what his solution would have been. I bet it would have been ingenious.