The American Printer: A Manual of Typography / Containing practical directions for managing all departments of a printing office, as well as complete instructions for apprentices; with several useful tables, numerous schemes for imposing forms in every variety, hints to authors, etc.

by Thomas MacKellar

PRINTING WOOD-CUTS.

A single block, when imposed in a large chase, may spring out of the chase while being inked, from the quantity of furniture about it. A good plan is to impose it in a job-chase, and to impose this chase in a larger one: this will cause it to lie flatter on the press and firmer in the rolling, the large chase being secured firmly on the press by quoins and the corner irons.

Before pulling the first impression, the workman should see that the surface of the cut is perfectly clear from particles of dirt, and that no pin or lump of paste is on the tympan. He ought then to pull very gently, or he may injure some of the fine lines of the engraving.

Neither the pressure nor the impression of an engraving on wood should be uniformly equal: if it be, the effect intended to be produced by the artist will fail; and, instead of light, middle tint, and shade, an impression will be produced that possesses none of them in perfection: some parts will be too hard and black, while other parts will have neither pressure nor colour enough, nor any of the mildness of the middle tint, which ought to pervade a large portion of an engraving, and on which the eye reposes after viewing the strong lights and the deep shades.

To produce the desired effect, great nicety and patience are required in the pressman: a single thickness of thin India paper, (the best for overlaying,) with the edges scraped down, is frequently required over very small parts. The overlay should never be cut at the edges; but, even where great delicacy of shape is not required, it should be torn into the form wanted: this reduces the thickness of the edges, and causes the additional pressure to blend with the surrounding parts As particular parts of the impression will frequently come up too strong, and other parts too weak, it will be necessary to take out from between the tympans a thickness of paper and add an additional tympan-sheet, cutting away the parts that come off too hard, and scraping down the edges. Scraping away half the thickness of a tympan-sheet in small parts that require to be a little lightened will improve the impression. The light parts require little pressure; but the depths should be brought up so as to produce a full and firm impression.

If a block be hollow on the surface, underlaying the hollow part will bring up the impression better than overlaying it, at least so nearly that only a thickness or two of paper will be needed as overlays. If a block be too low, it is better to raise it to the proper height by underlays than to use overlays; as the latter act in some measure as blankets, and are pressed into the interstices, rendering the lines thicker than in the engraving.

It will be necessary sometimes, when the surface of the block is very uneven, to tear away parts of the paper in the tympan, to equalize the impression where it is too hard.

The pressman will find it convenient to pull a few impressions, while he is making ready, on soiled or damaged India paper. Out of these he can cut overlays to the precise shape and size wanted, which are always necessary when great accuracy is required in overlaying particular portions. He should be provided with a sharp penknife and a pair of good small scissors. A fine sharp bodkin and a needle or two, to take out picks, are also needful; but he should be particularly careful so to use them that he do no injury. The best way is, to draw the bodkin or needle point cautiously in the direction of the lines.

Engravings in vignette form require great attention to keep the edges light and clear, and in general it is necessary to scrape away one or two thicknesses of paper in order to lighten the impression and keep it clean: the edges being irregular and straggling, they are likely to come off too hard. Bearers type-high placed beside the block will be found advantageous; if they cannot be used, pieces of reglet, pasted on the frisket in the usual way, and taking a bearing on the furniture, must be substituted; but the high bearer is to be preferred where it can be adopted. The bearers equalize the pressure on the surface of the engraving, and protect the edges from the severity of the pull, which is always injurious to the delicacy of the external lines. They also render the subject more manageable, by enabling the pressman to add to or diminish the pressure on particular parts, so as to produce the desired effect.

When great delicacy of impression is required in a vignette, it will be found beneficial, after the engraving is inked, to roll the extremities with a small roller without ink: this will not only take away any superfluity of ink, but will prevent picks, and give lightness and softness to the edges, particularly where the effect of distance is required.

If the extremities are engraved much lighter than the central parts, underlays should be pasted on the middle of the block, which will give a firmer impression to the central parts of the subject. It would save trouble and aid in getting a good impression if the block were engraved a little rounded on the face.

When highly finished engravings on wood are worked separately, woollen cloth, however fine, should never be used for blankets, as it causes too much impression; a sheet or two of hard smooth paper between the tympans is better; sometimes even a piece of glazed pasteboard is used inside the outer tympan. The parchments ought to be in good condition, stretched tight, of a smooth surface, thin, and of regular thickness, so as to enable the pressman to obtain an impression as nearly as possible from the surface only of the engraved lines.

The rollers must be kept in perfect order; and the pressman should be very particular in taking ink and inking the block. He ought to use the best ink that can be procured.

When a wood-cut left on the press all night has become warped, lay it on its face upon the imposing-stone, with a few thicknesses of damp paper underneath it, and place over it the flat side of a planer, with sufficient weight upon it: in the course of a few hours the block will be restored to its original flatness. This method is preferable to steeping the block in water; as the steeping swells the lines of the engraving, and, consequently, affects the impression. To preserve the original effect of the cut as it came from the hands of the artist, the block should never be wet with water; and, when it has been worked in a form with types, it should be taken out before the form is washed.

To prevent warping during the dinner-hour or the night, turn the tympan down upon the form, run the carriage in, and, pulling the bar-handle home, fasten it so that it will remain in this position during the interim.

However long boxwood may be kept in the log, it will always twist and warp when cut into slices for engraving, on account of fresh surfaces being exposed to the air. Large blocks may be restored to their flatness in the course of a night by laying them on a plane surface, with the hollow side downward, without any weight on them.

A fine engraving on wood should never be brushed over with ley: the best method is to wipe the ink off with a fine sponge damped with spirits of turpentine, and, if it get foul in working, clean it with a soft brush and spirits of turpentine; then wipe the surface dry and pull two or three impressions on dry waste paper. Spirits of turpentine take off the ink quicker, and affect the wood less, than any other article. The facility with which the block is again brought into a working state more than compensates for the trifling additional expense incurred.

When a few proofs only are wanted from a small engraving, good impressions may be obtained with little trouble on dry India paper, with about six thicknesses of the same sort of paper laid over it, and pulled without the tympan. If proofs are wanted from large ones, it will be found advantageous to put the India paper for a few minutes into a heap of damp paper.

To do full justice to an engraving, the pressman should get a good impression from the engraver and place it before him as a pattern, and then arrange the overlays, &c. till he produce a fac-simile in effect. Better still is it for an unpractised hand to obtain the assistance of the artist at the press-side, to direct him in making ready the cut.[21]