Archive for the Kelsey Tag

Restoration Update: Painted Lettering

Last week was a detail-oriented week for the Kelsey press. Once the black paint had dried, I went over all the raised lettering with a tiny brush and silver paint. I used the same kind of paint as I did on the rest of the press. I chose silver because I really wanted the letters to pop out and match
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Restoration Update: Watching Paint Dry

Nothing much is happening with the Kelsey press lately, and I wanted to explain why. The paint that we chose dries from the Outside In. So I am literally watching paint dry and I have no clue how long it is going to take. The next step, once everything has officially dried, will be to sand down and add a
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Restoration Update: Sandblasting, priming, painting

This past weekend was a big one for my little Kelsey press. After taking the whole thing apart, each piece of the casting needed to be cleaned of all the old paint, and re-painted to prevent rust and protect it from grease and printing ink (not to mention to make it look prettier!). Luckily, Doug has access to a sandblaster
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Restoration Update: The Press in Pieces

The first step in figuring out what needs to be done to the press is to take it all apart. So that’s what we did this weekend. The mark of a good tool is simplicity. The fewer parts, the better it works. Amazingly, the press only has about 25 parts in total (Half of those are cast body parts, the
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My own personal Oregon Trail, part 2

We made it back home to Oregon all in one piece! We did not die of dysentery, nor break an arm. And, while we did not receive any awesome fictional points to add to our treasure trove, we did acquire a FABULOUS Kelsey Excelsior 6″ x 10″ tabletop printing press. Unbelievably, the press appears to have all its moving parts.
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My own personal Oregon Trail, part 1

Does anyone remember the old video game Oregon Trail? It was designed to teach children about the realities of life on the Oregon Trail, from hunting for your supper to dying from dysentery. While I have no plans to die of dysentery anytime soon, this trip to California was like my own personal Oregon Trail game. We literally were trading
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Picking up my Kelsey Letterpress!

The time has finally come! Tomorrow I am driving down to a teeny tiny town in California to pick up my very own tabletop letterpress. While I have, and love, my little etching press, I have been coveting a letterpress. While a floor model C&P would be ideal, something like that would definitely not fit in my apartment. Amazingly, my
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