Hi Christina! Don’t you love your Pilot? I love mine! I use sewing machine oil. It’s not “eco-friendly” but it is light and doesn’t get too stinky or gooey. I use kitchen vegetable oil for cleaning up ink disk and rollers (plus a final wipe with odorless mineral spirits), but I don’t think vegetable oil would hold up as a lubricant on cast iron…[Read more]

Hi Karly,
Not sure this is quite what you want but here is my experience.

I decided to make a traveling kit for a 3×5 Kelsey. I got a big plastic box on wheels, the kind you see at airports, that pro photographers use. It is much more protective than the wheeled craft or sewing machine carts. I got it used on ebay. I rearranged the foam (some…[Read more]

Hi Harold,I took a letterpress class from Nathan Atkinson, lifelong printer, at San Francisco City College and his course material included the following:

• calculate 3% spoilage for each run through the press, including for scoring or perforating (that’s 3% of the total number of prints you want to have in the end)

also he advises:

• all cuts must…

[Read more]

I agree with Bill. Restoration is tricky. Some hands-on experience will guide you. If you can find a local letterpress shop, museum, art/trade school, or letterpress/book arts community that has presses, they can be of immense help to you in learning what press you really enjoy and can use. Also consider a larger press, these little ones are very…[Read more]