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Dec 4 / Scott

MWT is selling wood type

The Moore Wood Type Shop is open!

After a year and a half of work, from my first concept to selling wood type has been a long journey.

I currently have five different catchwords and ornaments on sale through this online store.

My daughter, Erin, who is a letterpress printer, instructor at Miami University, and graphic designer has created this beautiful site for me. She, along with my wife, keep reminding me that starting a business for cutting wood type means I actually have to SELL wood type. (It is much more fun to just design and cut maple)

I have spent over a year designing and producing very specialized machines to surface, cut, trim, shape, stamp, and finish end grain hard maple wood type. I have made four trips to Dave Churchman’s Boutique in Indianapolis, one trip Don Black’s warehouse in Toronto, three trips to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and many side trips to print shops, museums, and antique malls. I have been blessed with friends and an advisory  group that have guided me every step of the way. The staff at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum have been very helpful.

Every time I try any process used in cutting type, I learn something new to share. I have also ruined a lot of wood type in the process of producing beautiful type. I have a 5 gallon plastic bucket half full of mistakes next to my trim saw. I ruined over 200 half slabs of new frozen maple type slabs by drying them too fast. The second 200 frozen slabs are sticked and racked and dry down to 15%. They will become wood type this Summer.

My work shop is full of new equipment, used and reconditioned woodworking equipment, and several type production machines for stamping are still under production. There are also two type-cutting pantographs: one a replica of the Hamilton’s pantographs at Two Rivers, and one based on a center pivot pantograph method. My wife says the large dust collection system in the corner is the best thing I have.

I am an Industrial Arts teacher, so my blog posts tend to sound like I an giving a lecture to my classes. My goal is to share what I learn with the other craftsmen out there who are making type through many different methods. I am only cutting historical designs right now, specializing in catchwords, ornaments, line enders, and stars. My next release will be more historic specialty items, which we like to call Printer Candy.

Please notice that there are several line sizes of each item in the MWT Shop. I only ship Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I still have to teach until June, so my time is limited.

 

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