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The bindery at the Cleveland library uses a 100 year old guillotine and I think we all need to see it
I stopped by the book repair room at the Cleveland Public Library downtown branch while visiting my sister, and they let me watch a guy trim signatures on a guillotine from the 1920s. That thing cut through a stack of paper like it was warm butter, and he said they sharpen it maybe twice a decade. Meanwhile my cheap plastic trimmer at home wanders about a quarter inch on every cut. Does anyone here run old iron instead of the new stuff, and is it really as hassle free as it looked?
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hart.sage1mo ago
My grandpa ran a letterpress out of his garage in Akron for 40 years and swore the old stuff only breaks if you stop using it, something about the oil settling. The catch is finding parts, he drove to Amish country twice a year for belts and bits nobody makes anymore. So hassle free day to day, yeah, but you basically marry the machine.
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