historic bookbinding equipment – Page 11

August 11, 2010January 28, 2013

Another C. Hammond Shoe Hammer

This is one of the smallest cobblers hammers I have seen, with the diameter of the face just about 1 inch. Most of the bright finish is still intact and the head neatly repaired with three distinctively shaped tacks. The handle is elegantly slender, reminding me of a chasing hammer handle that smiths use. The hammer is stamped “C. HAMMOND / PHILADA / 0”, with the Hammond logo running straight across, rather than curved as pictured in the catalog below. Perhaps this is an earlier style of logo stamping?

This hammer weighs 7.7 oz. with the handle, however the “0” size listed in the catalog below weights 11 oz., and the “000” 7 oz., (without the handle) which may contradict my theory, that very generally speaking, hand tools tend to get smaller over time. “Dinkification” is the technical term for this evolution.

I’ve written about C. Hammond bookbinding hammers before, and also have a rather beat up size 3. Recently, for the first time in 2 decades of collecting, I’ve found a number of signed and numbered cobbler’s hammers– could these be an indication of the current disappearance and dispersal of professional shoe repair shops and their tools?

Catalog image courtesy of Gary Roberts of Toolemera Press, who has posted a PDF of a 1910 C. Hammond & Son trade catalog on his website.

April 25, 2010January 28, 2013

How Many Soles

How many soles have tread on this board shear clamp pedal? How many decades did it take the original deep crosshatching to become almost completely eroded in the center of the pedal? How long did it take for the original japanning to become mirror polished? How many different people have used this machine? How many shins has this pedal bloodied? How many blades has this machine had? How many cloth case bindings have been cut on this machine? How many boxes? How many curses have been hurled at this machine,when something was miscut?

And how many times has this board shear subtly retaliated, going minutely out of square, cutting one book board a hair short, tearing material rather than cutting, or even pinching a finger in quiet defiance, only to be stepped on once again?

February 9, 2010January 28, 2013

Blank Book Sewing Frame

Hickock Bookbinders’ Machinery: Bookbinders’ Tools. Catalogue No. 88. The W. O. Hickock Manufacturing Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. c. 1920. Courtesy of Gary Roberts, who runs the website, toolemera, which has many other fascinating trade catalogs, mainly woodworking, he has scanned.

A while ago, I wrote a post about blank book hammers, rounding hammers and backing hammers. Both Tom Conroy and Gary Robberts felt certain that nomenclature was basically for marketing purposes, and they are most likely correct. However, when looking at sewing frames, in this case from Hickock, it is clear from the function that blank book sewing frames and edition sewing frames are two different animals. The blank book sewing frames only come in one size, 25 inches, and it appears they have something similar to ‘t-slots’ to hold the sewing tapes secure. Edition sewing frames, with keys, can be used for cords, tapes, thongs, etc. But blank books, at least in this time period, were almost always sewn on tapes. The design looks like it would be easy to get the proper tension on the tapes. These frames must be quite rare, and I wonder if the high initial cost–almost 4 times a similar size edition sewing frame– made them an anomaly, if they didn’t work well, if the depression killed the market, if many of them were trashed when the blank book market disappeared or if it is some combination of all of these.

Below is a closeup of the ‘button-screw clamp’. It looks to be an easy way to quickly adjust tension and change tapes. Although I had never seen one of these until reading the above catalog, there was one for sale on the internet, which sold earlier in the same week before I found it. The one that got away.