[CHAPTER VII.]
CUTTING PAPER.
We have often come across operators who have no really definite plan on which they cut up their paper for a day's work, and they have little idea of the most economical place of dividing the sheets. The following remarks by Mr. Hearn, which appeared in the Photographic News, 1874, will be useful to the printer, and, being so extremely well described, we take the liberty of reproducing them.
"In cutting up the paper for printing, due regard should be given to the materials employed. In the first place, the fingers should be free from anything that will stain or soil the paper, and they should never touch the silvered side, but always the back. The hands should be perfectly dry, free even from any perspiration, for if this is not strictly regarded in the handling of the paper, 'finger stains' will appear on those parts of the paper with which the fingers come in contact. To guard against this, a rough towel should be suspended in a convenient place, and the hands wiped upon it as often as may be found necessary—say once in every five or ten minutes. An ivory newspaper cutter, about eight inches long and an inch wide, together with a suitable sized pair of shears, will be all of the instruments necessary.
"In cutting the paper for very large prints, such as 13 by 16, 14 by 18, 16 by 20, &c., the beginner had best (to obtain the right size) lay over the sensitive paper the proper sized mat that is to be placed over the print when finished, and then cut accordingly. Considerable paper can be saved in this way, and printed in card size.
"There should always be an assortment of different sized mats in the printing room; one of each size will do, which should be kept expressly for this purpose.
"In cutting the paper for an 11 by 14 print, the length of the sheet is generally placed before the printer, and the paper bent over to the further edge of the sheet, and then creased, and thus cut into two equal pieces, one of which can be used for the contemplated print. I would recommend that instead of taking exactly one half of the sheet of paper, as described above, to take about an inch more than the half, so as to allow for any slight tear that may happen along the edges of the paper during the washing, toning, &c., and also so as to be sure of having the paper wide enough for the different sized mats.
"I have seen some nice prints printed upon the exact half of a sheet of paper, which, when taken from the final washing (and the edges trimmed, being slightly torn), were then too narrow to be covered with the proper sized mats, and had to be rejected; whereas, if in cutting this paper allowance had been made for this final trimming, the prints would have been saved. The rest of the sheet can be cut very well into sixteen or eighteen carte pieces.
"In cutting cabinets out of a sheet, fifteen is all that can very well be obtained, and to get that number lay the sheet on a wide table, or printing bench (with the length of it running from right to left), and divide it into three equal parts. By laying the cabinet glass on these strips of paper, and cutting the paper a little wider than the glass, five cabinets can be obtained from each strip, and fifteen out of the whole. These pieces will be plenty large enough, both in length and width; besides, this is a very convenient and economical way to cut the paper without waste.