Finishing Press and Plough part II

See Part I HERE

I'm making the most of my two days off and yesterday after work I sewed up three A6 journals.  I'm not going to get into those three books today, more on that later.  I needed to plough them all and I was having some difficulty. Now I was taught how to plough on this monstrous plough that was built right into a bench. The thing had a large lever to tighten it.  Nothing like my little Dryad. The second time I was shown how to plough was on a beautiful 'Piccadilly' Laying Press from Olive & Oak.  That was a dream to work with. French style press that opened and closed smoothly.  It made ploughing very easy.  Mine is a different story all together.

A few minutes on the leather strap to hone the plough blade before I start to trim the edges of my book.  The first book came out okay but I had a huge problem getting the book in straight and the book block was cut slightly more to one side.  So when I started to get the second book ready I thought to myself why was I feeding it through the top? I had been doing so because all the previous Finishing Presses I've used were stationary.  There is no such restraints on my Dryad Finishing Press. So I flipped the finishing press and fed it through the side. This made it much easier and to place the book block in more accurately. Then I slowly tightened each end in alternating increments so as not to distort the book block. These are things I've not been told or read about in books and I've had to learn it as I go.

The picture above you can see how the book block was twisted as I tightened the press. This is when I started to take even more time with tightening the finishing press to make sure the pressure was placed evenly.  The picture below I measured the gap between the front and rear of the press to make sure they were identical. Having Dyscalculia I have a very difficult time with measuring, which includes just 'eyeballing it' so I have to take extra time to make sure the distances are the same otherwise it will affect on the cut. The spine will be tighter than the other edges due to the swell. I find I have to get a balance between how tight the press as too much will cause issues and too little will not give a clean cut.

Every previous time I used my plough I would put pressure from the right to the left, the same direction I was cutting.  This time I put pressure from the left to the right and I got a much smoother cut and was able to control the plough and press better (I don't have a proper tub yet). So slowly I'm getting a grip on how to use my specific equipment as each piece seems to be slightly different from others I have used just like it. 

I would love to have an apprenticeship where someone could guide my progress while I worked a full eight hour day.  I'm currently reading 'Bookbinding Then & Now' by L.S. Darley and learned that apprentice bookbinders worked 14 hour days, six days a week for seven years back in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. So I will give myself a little slack for not being as good after ten months of not even part time, more like 'not most of the time' on the hobby.

After spending about a half of an hour ploughing my forearms hurt. Full time bookbinders of old must have all looked like Popeye!

I have just recently purchased an A4 manual Stack Cutter which says it will cut up to 400 sheets. As much as I enjoy learning and using traditional equipment sometimes I just want to get the book block trimmed so I can start on the case. I had thought of getting the A3 version but decided against it due to space constraints, the extra cost, and if I need to do anything that size I can just use the plough.