Kelsey Model X 6x10 Fully Restored and Upgraded Letterpress

Kelsey Excelsior Model 'X' 6x10 Letterpress, fully restored with new rollers and trucks, custom made leather handle cover, polymer plate bed, and custom cart.

Lots of new stuff on this Kelsey... 

• A hand sewn black leather handle cover gives a nice feel and grip as opposed to the cast iron.
• Some of the higher-wear parts are powder coated as opposed to painted for a tougher finish.
• Aluminum polymer plate bed comes with this press. Use this to order polymer plates as opposed to full print height blocks.
• A customized butcher block top with cast iron pipe handle for mobility.
• Cart is hand painted with the top finished in Waterlox for long lasting protection.
• New compression rings for securing all pivot pins.

Shiny C&P Pilot adjustment bolts

Nicely cleaned up and ready to be reinstalled on a Pilot. I find a quick media blasting then wire wheel job does the trick very nicely.

New Feature - Hand-Stitched Leather Handle Covers.

Along with letterpress restorations, one of the other things I like to dabble with is leather work.
So as a recent restoration started to finish up, and I start looking for little things to improve the finished product, this idea came very naturally.

A nice soft leather handle cover will probably make long print runs a little bit nicer, and maybe even a little less fatiguing. So, I cut a bit of nice black 2 or 3 ounce leather and stitched it into place. I like the feel a lot as you're not just gripping cast iron, and the cover has a little bit of slide to it so you can just press down versus having to turn your hand as the press actuates.

We'll see how this goes over when this press ships in the next couple of weeks and the owner gives me a little feedback. Worst case scenario, he can cut it off and go on normally.

The Miracle of Powder Coating

Here's a good example of powder coated metal. I've switched to this method for some of the smaller pieces and ones that see a lot of wear. Generally, I spray paint all of my pieces with a special metal spray paint that on its own is pretty tough, but powder coating is like armor.

It's a pretty amazing process whereby paint powder is deposited onto metal by static electricity and then baked onto the surface in an oven. The final product is very very tough and chip resistant. A wonderful thing about powder coating is that the total time from cleaned metal to a finished and coated part, ready to be reinstalled, is about three hours or so. There's no time spent waiting for paint to cure on the surface of a part...when it's cool, it's done. Powder coat also doesn't stink like spray painting does...and when trying to work inside during the winter, this is a huge benefit.

In the top left corner you can see the piece media blasted and clean before heading to powder coating. Then you can see the final product, with a nice even set finish.

New Product - Custom Laser Engraved Chandler Feedboards

This is exciting. I'm really proud of these. I've been working on this for many months and I'm ready to show these off and make them available.

I redesigned the feedboard that came with a Chandler and Price Pilot to be beefier and more sturdy, as well as adding some nice flourishes. I took an older Chandler logo and cleaned it up, then added some new decoration to punch it up a bit, since the laser could handle as much detail as I threw at it.

Then I contoured the feedboard to work with and flow with the new logo. I buddied up with a local business to have the laser engraving done. After some trial and error, it turned out better than I could have imagined. The engraving is about a millimeter deep, so there's some nice tactile feedback there. The laser process darkens the inside of the logo a little bit, which is just perfect...no paint or stains needed.

Here are some of the features of the Feedboard -

• Made from aged blonde maple. 
• Tongue and groove construction for strength.
• Replaces feedboard and feedboard extension on full size Chandler and Price Pilots.
• Undrilled for custom fit to your C&P.
• Laser engraved with exclusive redesigned Chandler and Price logo.
• Hand finished with Waterlox high quality finish.
• Incredibly smooth new finish.

And some photos...

These will be available made to order right now for the Pilots, then in greater volume later this year. I'm hoping to design a larger one for floor standing Chandlers too.

Email me for details. Thanks for looking - A

The Visible Kelsey

All of the parts of a Kelsey press splayed out for inspection. I can now tear one down in about 45 minutes, tops.

Some of these parts get replaced, but the bulk of them just get stripped and refinished in some way. This is what a Kelsey would look like if you put in a suitcase and had it Xrayed at the airport.

New Kelsey Model P found today!

I was lucky enough to find a Kelsey Model P in very nice condition for sale just a couple of hours away. So I cleaned out some space in the car and took a nice little road trip to pick her up. I had listened to just a couple 'This American Life' podcasts and I was there. Sort of in the middle of nowhere really. But the seller was a very nice guy who collected old tools and things like that.

The family was only the second owner of the press and had had it since the 80s sometime, but his wife had gotten busy with other things and didn't use it enough. So it had sat unused for too long. So, we made our deal and loaded it up.

He also wanted to know if I wanted a copy of Syd Mead's 'Kronolog' on Laserdisc. Which I'm afraid I took a pass on, although I did have a Laserdisc player up until about ten years ago. Seems that it is actually worth some money though.  

Anyhow, the press is in very nice shape and should take a restore very very well. It's complete and original and will come with all the goodies. I will definitely be selling this one come spring. It'll get the full treatment and move along to someone who can really love it and get some use out of it.

Stay Tuned