Punchcutting — TypeDrawers

Drawing the movement: Nelly Gable's book on punchcutting

Ramiro Espinoza — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 12:40:42 +0000

I would like to stress here the importance of Nelly Gable's book Drawing the movement. Cutting the type punch. It's simply the most important reference / manual on punchcutting available at the moment and every person interested on the subject should buy his/her copy as soon as possible. In case you don't know, Nelly is the current punchcutter in charge of the cabinet des poinçons at the Imprimerie Nationale in France.

The book is profusely illustrated by Annie Bocel and it was translated from the original French text by type historian James Mosley. A small print run of the English version was produced and chances are it won't be available in the coming years.

I purchased my copy here: https://www.mollat.com/livres/2336320/nelly-gable-drawing-the-movement-cutting-the-type-punch-the-pearl-opening-essay

Punchcutting tools: Loupes, etc

Ramiro Espinoza — Fri, 26 May 2017 09:13:02 +0000

Punchcutters in the 20th century seems to have mostly used 2 kind of loupes for punchcutting: traditional jewellers eyepieces (you can see P. H. Rädisch and M. Carter using them at Enschede in several pictures) or a more sophisticated loupe on a stand like they use at the Imprimerie Nationale (C. Paput, Nelly Gable). Stan Nelson also has a beautiful one.
In his book Paput recommends "a magnifying glass on a stand, with a power of 3X and a diameter of 3,5 cm, which is reduced to 1,5 cm with a mask in order to eliminate distortion."
I tried several jewellers eyepiece but I've found them very uncomfortable and distortion prone, so I started to look of a magnifier similar to the one used by Paput, Gable and Nelson. This double lens magnifier by Bausch & Lomb has an excellent optic with very little distortion: http://www.bausch.com/our-products/vision-accessories/professional-magnifiers/double-lens-magnifier. It was quite easy to attach it to the articulated arm of an Ikea desktop lamp. It works very well and can be place at any distance from the punch.

Also useful: Entry on Optics/Vision in David MacMillan's txt document:

Optics/Vision

-------------

Loupes. As preferred. I like a 5X loupe; others need less magnification.

Flip-down loupes that attach to your eyeglasses.

The best one is the "Ary" loupe marketed by the

Swiss watch materials firm Bergeon. Not cheap, but nice.

Available from suppliers such as

Otto Frei (watch division, www.ofrei.com)

Esslinger (www.esslinger.com)

Optivisor. The original brand is Donegal. The DX series has

glass lenses (better), the cheaper LX series has plastic lenses.

The number indicates the diopter, not the magnification.

Having bought any number of cheap knockoffs, I now only get

Donegal DX Optivisors.

Note: The "diopter" is a measurement in physical optics

(1/focal length, in meters) and so can always be stated precisely.

"Magnification" is a physiological measurement which depends on

what your own working distance is. Without measuring you, it can

only be stated approximately.

Here is a chart of *approximate* relations between diopters and

magnification:

www.Galleyrack.com/punchcutting/diopter-magnification-and-working-distance.pdf

and a chart of approximate magnification and focal length for

Optivisor lens numbers (diopters):

www.Galleyrack.com/optivisor-lens-numbers.pdf

Copying punches?

Nick Shinn — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 02:15:12 +0000

It seems possible that certain decorated types were made by digging away “highlights” on solid type punches.
But this would mean that those punches could no longer be used for making the solid style, only the highlight style.
That seems rather a waste.
Would it have been possible to make a steel copy of the solid punch, and then dig out the highlights on the copy?
Or some other method?

Above: an early example by Fournier le jeune, from 1765, scanned from Updike.

Rosin (colophonium) solution to make the soot transfer easier

Ramiro Espinoza — Sat, 04 Aug 2018 11:14:55 +0000

In case you are interested in preparing this solution: 20th century punchcutters used to employ a substance to make the punch surface sticker to help the soot transfer from the cellophane to the punch. P. Rädisch and H. Drost used to use pine resin (rosin or colophonium) disolved in natural (pine) turpentine. When I was at the Imprimerie National I saw the little bottle Nelly Gable had and checked the label. It read: Colophane 2,5 gr / Alcohol 60 gr. So, in the IN they used alcohol instead of turpentine to dissolve the rosin. It's a basic varnish. Then, I purchased some pine resin (easy to find in internet and good art supplies stores) and prepared 2 bottles, one using acetone as solvent and the other using alcohol. Both solvents will work well, but acetone has the advantage of dissolving the resin faster and when you apply it to the metal, the solvent evaporates quicker leaving a very sticky coating which is what we want. I will make some tests with good quality turpentine as soon as I get a bottle.

Note: Plasticine (children's modeling clay) is also used, but it leaves a much less stickier coating. The rosin solution probably also acts as fixer once it dries.

Hammer for counterpunching: How many kilos?

Ramiro Espinoza — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 08:13:06 +0000

I just realised none of my hammers is heavy enough to leave a mark when I am counterpunching.
Does anybody know the weight of the hammer I should buy? Looking at Stan's one it looks like something between 1,5 and 3 kilos.

Tallone Reserve of Punches (via Antonio Cavedoni)

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian — Thu, 31 May 2018 16:49:41 +0000

If you're into hot metal (and I don't mean that cheap stuff) don't miss the jaw-dropping series by Antonio Cavedoni on Twitter. I think this is the first one:

https://twitter.com/verbosus/status/1002111150430048258

And my favorite shot is probably this:
https://tallonepress.smugmug.com/Tallone-typeface-Carattere-Tallone/i-qbNDdgh/A

A few advices on counter punching

Ramiro Espinoza — Mon, 28 May 2018 11:07:40 +0000

Based on my own experience:

1- Hold the punch which is going to be struck in a leg vice or if you use a regular vice attached to a table, put an extra leg under it. The idea is to make a firm connection to the ground to avoid bouncing. I use an extra Ikea metal leg under my vice.

2- Put a piece of pure led under the punch to be to be struck. It will absorb the shock and reduce bouncing. Pure lead can be found in fishing stores.

3- Use heavy enough hammers. A 1,5 kilos hammer is usually enough but on occasions it can be a little light (it all dependes on the size of the counterpunch you are about to use). I also have a 3 kilos small sledge hammer.

4- Don't temper your counterpunches or temper them just very lightly, otherwise they will deform.

5- Protect your eyes. Steel fragments could fly at high speed and injure you.

6- In split counterpunches, like the ones needed for a or e, pay a lot of attention to the design and depth of the slit because it will make the middle stroke. After some frustrating experiences using gravers or a little saw I found it is easier to use a simple counter counter punch similar to a chisel to cut the slit in the split counter punch.

7- Never strike with a counter punch a letter or design that has already be cut. You need thick walls and mass around the crater you will produce. Otherwise the strike of the counterpunch will fracture the steel walls and ruin the letter.

8- You can't used counterpunches in big punches because you would need an enormous force (well, except if the counterpunch needed is much smaller than the punch itself). In such cases you could heat the punch to be struck with a torch until it's red and strike quick with a counterpunch. This is adviced – I think – in Moxon but it's a dangerous operation and obviously not for the newbie. I prefer to just dig big counters with gravers.

9- Use pure lead for testing the shape of counter punches. Type metal is too brittle and it will shatter if you try to strike it.

Punchcutter's starter kit: gravers & files

Ramiro Espinoza — Sat, 05 May 2018 08:32:02 +0000

From time to time I am asked about the basic set of gravers and files needed to cut punches so here is a good list. Could be shorter, could be longer but with this set you can do *a lot*. You will also need a good white (smooth) Arkansas stone of about 15 x 5 cm and an India stone of the same size (Norton combination stones are good) for reshaping and sharpening tip of the gravers. The easiest way to get handles for the gravers is to buy champagne corks on eBay. And for giving the proper shape to the gravers a *wet* bench grinder will be necessary.

Vallorbe gravers, needle and escapement files can be purchased at: www.egltools.com (good customer service)

For general purpose files, this is also good store: www.zamro.nl

*It’s always good to check the Vallorbe’s website and download their PDF catalogues.

Gravers:

Vallorbe (HSS or WS steel):

Flat edge:

LO0401-2

LO0401-4

LO0401-6

LO0401-8

LO0401-12

LO0401-16

Round edge:

LO0402-2

LO0402-4

LO0402-6

LO0402-8

LO0402-12

LO0402-16

Onglette:

LO0403-5/0

LO0403-0

LO0403-2

Knife:

LO0406-18

LO0406-22

Needle files:

Triangle:

LA2407-160-4

2407-160-6

Square:

LA2408-160-2

LA2408-160-4

Round:

LA2410-160-2

LA2410-160-4

LA2410-160-6

Escapement Files:

Triangle:

LE3014-55-4

LE3014-55-6

Square:

LE3020-55-2

LE3020-55-4

LE3020-55-6

Round:

LE3021-55-2

LE3021-55-4

LE3021-55-6

Pillar Files:

LP1133-6-0

LP1133-6-1

LP1133-6-2

General purpose files:

Get a good number of flat files, single and double cut of very fine, fine and medium fine teeth in 25 - 35 cm.

A long file (35 cm) of single cut and small teeth is good for giving the punch's bottom a nice finishing.

Punchcutting courses available at the Imprimerie Nationale

Ramiro Espinoza — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 09:29:09 +0000

A lot of people still don't know that there are punchcutting courses with Nelly Gable available at the Imprimerie Nationale.
For information and applications contact Pascal Fulacher > pascal.fulacher at imprimerienationale.fr

Combining counterpunching and engraving

Ramiro Espinoza — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 10:21:02 +0000

I've made this close-up of one of my B42 punches to illustrate something rarely described in type literature: how to combine the counterpunch imprint with engraved contours. You can even see the mark of the polishing that came after the counterpunch strike to level the surface flat again.
The contour was made without soot transfer, just puncturing paper with a scribe to leave marks on the steel surface. Just moderate pressure is enough if the scribe is good (I use gramophone's needles).

Old fashion petrol blowtorches for heat treatment

Ramiro Espinoza — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 14:35:47 +0000

I was a bit fed up with my propane blowtorch because it loses pressure quite quickly and stop delivering the very hot flame necessary to heat the punches to the 'cherry red' point. I don't like canisters and disposable cartridges (I still write with an indestructible Parker 51) so I decided to try the notoriously unsafe petrol blowtorches as recommended by Paul Koch in his Dolphin's article.

I purchased a mint 'BAT' blowtorch manufactured in the German Democratic Republic and after reading all the safety recommendation published at: http://www.blotorches.com/horror.html I gave it a try.
I filled the container to 3/4 of its volumen with benzine (wasbenzine), followed the starting protocol with alcohol (less smoke) and could make it deliver a very hot a powerful blue flame. Then I took a blank punch to the glowing red point in about 3, 4 minutes. Faster and more evenly than with the propane blowtorch. I liked it and I will continue using it.

So, provided you use a petrol blowtorch in good condition, have a lot of care handling a volatile fuel and operate it with proper knowledge of the tool; it's a very useful device for hardening punches.

Please if you decide to try one of these, please learn well how to operate it before doing anything: http://www.blotorches.com/startshu/startshu.html

Our first steel punches

Ramiro Espinoza — Wed, 31 May 2017 07:19:09 +0000

This is the first punch I've cut. The model was a Tavernier's Ascendonica T that is missing in the matrices kept at the Plantin Moretus Museum (MA 77) but can be found in printing in a number of books.
I've committed a number of mistakes that I will try to avoid in the next punch. I think the most important one was to leave the counter for the end and then realise I could not find the right angle to file or cut the more delicate parts of the top left serif. This punch was all made by filling and graving. In the next one I will make a counter punch and see how it goes. I think a counterpunch will make the work on the counters much easier and making a counterpunch is not such a big deal.
Having perfectly polished contours is also a challenge and I am still figuring out what technique I should use to achieve it.

Pressing Punches

Steven Ryan — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 03:56:52 +0000

I am looking for information on using an arbor press to press the punch into the matrix as opposed to hammering it. How many tons of pressure are required, and does it change for point size? Any pointers to further information?

Tool steel for punches

Dan Jones — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 23:38:47 +0000

I have slowly started experimenting with punches for matrices and with hardening tool steel; this is in addition to regularly using tool steel with my milling machine. I have come across a very machinable tool steel called O6 (trade name Graph-Mo). O6 is not common and much more expensive than O1, why use the stuff? Its machinability is about 125% compared to other high carbon tool steels. When I attempt a punch, it is noticeably easier to use than O1. Here are the main alloys:

C=1.45 Mn=1.0 Si=0.90 Mo=0.25

Of course, it is the carbon content that stands out; it is a tool steel that has excess carbon in the grain boundaries. This makes it exceptionally machinable and for hardening, the original supplier Latrobe Steel states “Graph-Mo tool steel can be hardened to over Rockwell 60 C from a relatively low hardening temperature, which minimizes size change and distortion during heat treatment”. It is worth trying out.

Punchcutter's Facer (Facing Tool)

David MacMillan — Mon, 29 May 2017 19:38:14 +0000

I had wanted to post some pictures of the "facer" in its different forms, but it turned out that there were too many for a posting of reasonable length. So I've put them in a page which is a kind of "gallery" of pictures of punchcutter's tools. Direct link:

http://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/typemaking/making-matrices/tools-of-the-hand-punchcutter-in-steel/gallery/index.html#facer

(This "gallery" is far from complete, but it does also show a Benton lever-style depth gauge and a point micrometer; these might be of interest. I think they're pretty cool.)

Punchcutting tools: miscellaneous

David MacMillan — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 14:34:51 +0000

Not all punchcutter's tools will need their own discussion thread, so it might be useful to have a thread devoted to miscellaneous tools. Please add more!

I've added several more tools to the page at:

http://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/typemaking/making-matrices/tools-of-the-hand-punchcutter-in-steel/gallery/index.html

Here are some representative images:

A "Lampe Olympe" and "Lampe Pigeon" as used at the I.N. and by Stan Nelson for soot transfers and smoke proofs. (But please note: Even though these lamps were designed for use with gasoline/petrol, NEVER use that fuel in them. I discuss the reasons for this on the page linked above, but basically the reason I'm adamant about this particular safety issue is that years ago a neighbor of mine was crippled by the consequences of using gasoline in his workshop. Gasoline/petrol is too dangerous ever to be allowed into the workshop. There are safer fuels.)

A fixed height-to-paper (type height) gauge.

A fixed type height gauge with a sliding square, after a design by Henry Barth, digitally reconstructed.

A face squareness gauge, by Stan Nelson.

A caliper-style type height and face squareness gauge.

Punchcutting tools: gravers

Ramiro Espinoza — Sat, 27 May 2017 15:26:33 +0000

Gravers are an essential punchcutting tool. So far I've experimented with two brands: Vallorbe and Lyons.
Vallorbe gravers are considered to be the best available and are made of two different kind of steel: WS (tool steel) and HSS (high speed steel). As far as I know Lyons gravers are only made out WS steel.
HSS gravers are very hard and difficult to customise but carve tool steel very well. However, my experience with WS Lyons gravers is positive as well, they are softer and need more resharpening but you can work well with them anyway.
I haven't found an European seller for Lyons' gravers. Vallorbe gravers, on the other hand, are much more easier to get in Europe.
There is another European manufacturer that I haven't tried yet and seems to be good: Dick (http://www.dick.de/en/special-tools/products/gravers-and-punches).
I am purchasing my gravers and files in this 2 web stores: www.bijoumoderne.nl and www.cousinsuk.com (many other useful stuff can also be found there).
So far I have very limited experience with gravers, so contributions are very welcomed. I am specially interested in how to customise them to reach or work on special details. This seems to be fundamental in punchcutting.

See also:
David MacMillian's TXT entry for gravers:

Gravers: Glardon / Vallorbe

Otto Frei. www.ottofrei.com

Champagne corks (for graver handles)

- Amazon

(But make sure they're champagne corks specifically, not just

wine bottle corks.)

BTW, there are inexpensive books on metal engraving that have valuable information to work with gravers and even manufacture them. I found this one concise but good: The Jewelry Engravers Manual (Dover) > http://store.doverpublications.com/048628154x.html

Gravers and files gone?

Aaron Bell — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:38:56 +0000

I just noticed today that Rod McDonald's film on Vimeo is no longer accessible:
http://blog.fonts.com/2016/05/gravers-files/

Does anyone know—is it gone for good? Or is this just temporary?

Punchcutting tools: the drawing box

Ramiro Espinoza — Sat, 27 May 2017 15:05:37 +0000

The punchcutters from the Imprimerie Nationale use a curious instrument to transfer drawings to the punch's surface that I haven't seen anywhere else: the drawing box (boîte à tracer). In Christian Paput's book there is a page with a description of it and its purpose but it does not go much on details and I can't understand how it works.
Has anyone had the opportunity of working with it? Can you explain how it works?

Advice on wet bench grinders

Ramiro Espinoza — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 11:15:38 +0000

Hi there,

I am having problems with my regular DRY bench grinder. No matter how carefully I sharp my gravers, applying only short contacts with the stone and cooling them in water quickly, the smallest ones are very difficult to sharp without softening or burning them. Now I am considering purchasing a wet grinder.
Since the difference of price between a regular wet grinder and the finest (and expensive!) Tormek is huge, I would like to know if it's possible to use a standard model like the one in the picture.

Thanks in advance.

Punchcutting materials: Steel

Ramiro Espinoza — Wed, 24 May 2017 10:06:08 +0000

As the first post in the Punchcutting room, I thought I was a good idea to start with one of the first questions we have when attempting to cut punches by the first time: Which steel to use and where to buy it?
References from classic literature (Fournier and Moxon) seem to be too old to be useful and the steel that seems to have been preferred by punchcutters in the 19th and 20th century (Huntsman's Steel Yellow Label from Sheffield) is AFAIK not available anymore (I might be wrong).
The few modern punchcutters nowadays seem to be using a kind of steel usually referred to as "High carbon tool steel" either water or oil hardening (this seems not to be relevant, although I am not completely sure.)
After the advice of Bart Overeem, a Dutch metal engraver friend, I purchased steel bars from ABRAMS PREMIUM STEEL in Germany (http://www.premium-steel.eu). The exact kind was the following: PREMIUM DIN 1.2510 (It's 0.95% carbon Tool Steel oil Hardening).

Here I chose the steel bars:

https://shop.premium-steel.eu/en_gb/catalog/category/view/id/76?___from_store=nl_nl

This is a data sheet for 1.2510 tool steel:

http://www.doerrenberg.com.sg/fileadmin/template/doerrenberg/stahl/DatenblaetterEng/1.2510_en.pdf

The 500 mm bar was delivered very quickly from Germany to the Netherland and I chose to cut it in pieces myself because they charge about 10 Euros for this.

The steel comes annealed but I re-annealed anyway after reading Fournier and Moxon, trying to let the metal cool as slowly as possible inside a casing of fire bricks, covering the blank punches with ashes and embers.

I've been working a punch in this steel and I find it relatively easy to file. Graving is a much more challenging task, but consider I am just doing my fist steps and leaning how to sharp and use the gravers.
I haven't quenched it yet.

So, now, what steel are you using and where are you ordering it?

Heat treatment for matrix's blanks?

Ramiro Espinoza — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 09:21:09 +0000

Hi there,

I've read somewhere that copper matrix's blanks need some sort of heat treatment before striking them with the punch.
Is you know more about it, can you describe the process?

TIA.

First counterpunching experience

Ramiro Espinoza — Sun, 18 Jun 2017 15:10:36 +0000

Today I struck mi first counterpunch. To leave a reasonable depression on the punch's surface took about 12 or more blows with a 3 kilos hammer. More than what I've expected And I had to place the vice on the floor because the table was making everything to bounce. In the end the counterpunch broke. Its tempering was obviously not well done (the straw color was not so close to the tip). Well, I've learned some lessons today.

Type alloy is too brittle for testing counterpunches

Ramiro Espinoza — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 14:45:15 +0000

As several articles and books mention type alloy as a good medium to test the impression of counterpunches, I also tried to use it. After striking several metal types on the side (and shuttering all of them) I arrived to the conclusion that type metal is too brittle for this purpose. I think it's better to use pure lead instead.
In the end I managed to strike and not break a type alloy spacer plate, but it was difficult. So guys, use lead. I will try also an aluminum plate, I think it should work.

Ochre on the punch's face when hardening

Ramiro Espinoza — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 09:29:01 +0000

Hi there,

I his video Stan Nelson protects with ochre the face of the punch while heating it with the torch to avoid 'burning' it.
Do you have more specific information about this paint. Where can I order it?

TIA.

Punchcutting tools: Punching and Counterpunching Fixtures

David MacMillan — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 14:21:40 +0000

In this post I'll show just fixtures for holding punch blanks and counterpunches for counterpunching. Fixtures for punching matrices will follow in another posting. It would also be worth collecting images of presses used for driving punches (and fixtures as used in these presses), as in actual practice driving by press displaced striking by hammer the 19th century (but when?)

First, it would appear that Rudolf Koch just put the punch blank in a vise. This is attested in several illustrations, including the one below from a 1932 article in The Colophon. I'm sure he did it, and I'm sure it worked. But this just seems wrong - the punch is completely unsupported from below. The illustrations don't even show Koch using a blacksmith's leg vise (designed to take blows), but rather an ordinary machinist's bench vise. But Koch was an artist working in a romantic tradition looking to an imagined past, not a trained industrial punchcutter. Does anyone know if there is evidence of this method being used in industrial practice?

The first real fixture seems also to be the most practical: A simple box to hold the punch blank upright. Here is one made by Stan Nelson, shown in use by him. In this particular one, the "box" is solid at the bottom (the punch blank's lower (hammer) end is resting on the cast-iron bottom of the fixture, not on the anvil below the fixture).

Note the safety goggles Stan is wearing.

Getting fancier, here is the great English punchcutter Edward Philip Prince shown at a two-part counterpunching fixture. His hammer seems very light - but certainly he knew his business. This fixture seems to be mounted on a raised post on his punchcutting bench, right over one of the bench's legs. Prince was born in 1846, so this photograph would have been taken around 1921, about two years before he died. He was at that time still actively working as a professional punchcutter. This illustration is the frontispiece of Avis' 1967 biography of Prince.

Here's a two-part counterpunching fixture made by Stan Nelson after the one in the photograph of Prince (but the two differ in the method used for adjusting the top portion - in this feature Stan's fixture more nearly resembles the one used by Paul Koch, shown later).

Finally, here is a slightly different two-part counterpunching fixture as illustrated by Fritz Kredel for Paul Koch's 1933 "Dolphin" article. In it the fixture is held/balanced in the hand and only the hammer-end of the punch rests on the surface/anvil below.

Kredel also illustrated a similar fixture in the specimen for Jessen Schrift (Klingspor, ca. 1934). A fixture based on this appears in the scarce "Lehrtafel" series of instructional posters by Klingspor, but (if you have these) note that it probably contains an error. As shown there, the punch blank is supported on all sides by its adjusting screw. This would be most unstable. In all of the fixtures shown above the punch blank is firmly pressed against one side of the hole in the fixture.

As before, there are more complete photographs and notes in the "gallery" page at:

http://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/typemaking/making-matrices/tools-of-the-hand-punchcutter-in-steel/gallery/index.html#counterpunching-fixtures

Working method: l'indication

David MacMillan — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 06:43:22 +0000

One of the many important things that Stan Nelson taught us at his 2016 Wells College punchcutting class was a working method that he had learned in his studies with Nelly Gable at l'Imprimerie nationale. The method doesn't really have a name; it seems to be known instead by the name of its distinctive feature: l'indication (the indication). It soon became apparent that this method was more than just another technique. As Stan said, it is a "game changer." If there is any single technique which is the key to success in punchcutting, this is it. That isn't to say you can't cut a punch without it - of course you can. But (again, in Stan's words) the technique of "l'indication" allows your work to be "consistent, systematic, and precise."

The method of l'indication is discussed in Christian Paput's book "La Lettre" (1990, 1998), but I cannot recall seeing it elsewhere in the literature (either of punchcutting or of other work with the file and graver).

I'll try to describe it here in terms of one operation, cutting the "talus" on the punch. But the method is useful for ALL work with either the file or the graver, from the relatively rough work filing the hammer-end of the punch blank to the finest work with the graver inside a counter.

So to start with here is a quick CAD model of a punch identifying some features (the talus, the long slope).

"Talus," if online French dictionaries are to be trusted, simply means "slope" or "embankment." It is the portion of the punch which is responsible for the part of a type known in English as the "beard." It is translated as "beard" in the 1998 bilingual edition of La Lettre, but it is useful to have it as a distinct name for this feature as found on a punch. (The talus on a punch must be at least slightly longer than the beard on the type, because it must exceed the depth-of-drive of the matrix.) So talus it is.

If you think about cutting the talus with files, the lower edge must be straight, at the same level all around the type, and generally have a neat appearance. The talus itself as cut at the I.N. is also straight in cross-section (this was not always the case historically). But the critical part is the top edge. It must come EXACTLY to the line. The precision required is quite high, measurable in ten-thousandths of an inch or hundredths of a millimeter (or fractions of a point). To accomplish this, you have to be looking at it really closely, under magnification, while you're cutting. But the problem is that while you're doing that it is hard also to see the rest of what you're cutting. The upshot of this is that trying to cut the talus all at once is very, very difficult. Even if you do it in successive stages (as you should, even using the method of l'indication), trying to cut all parts of the talus at the same time is hard.

The solution is both very simple and drop-dead brilliant. Before starting to cut at the talus itself (which is at a pretty steep angle), instead cut away a very small sliver on edge of the face of the punch blank, and cut it at a shallow angle. Don't cut all the way to the line - work in stages. This small bit that you cut away is "l'indication" - the indication.

The important thing about it is that it will reflect light differently from both the face of the punch blank and the talus (or whatever else) that you're filing. It will shine/glint in the light when the light is at the right angle. This means that you can see whether the indication is still there or not even without looking at it close-up under magnification. It gives you exactly what its name says it is - an indication of the state of your work in cutting. With l'indication, you can pay attention to the whole of the work you're doing and yet still not cut beyond your intended limit.

Having cut the indication, now you file away at the talus until the indication disappears - then STOP for this iteration. (Actually, in all but the final iteration when you're at the line, you can stop just before the indication disappears. That way your last strokes don't have to be quite as careful.)

Then repeat the process: cut a new indication, and then cut away at the talus until this new indication, in turn, disappears. Repeat until in the final iteration the indication comes right to your line and, in making it disappear, you file exactly to the line.

Here it is in an illustration which will demonstrate pretty clearly that my background is not graphic design :-)

This would all be much clearer with a series of photographs. I'll try to do that, but I'm not sure when. I hope that this has been comprehensible without them; please raise questions if it isn't. (And those of you who have studied with Stan or at l'Imprimerie nationale - please correct any errors here and elaborate as necessary.)

Finally, my thanks (yet again!) to Stan Nelson for introducing us to this technique in class. Its use goes far beyond punchcutting - it's a general technique for all fine work with file or graver.

Punchcutting Tools: Gauges (and the Calibre)

David MacMillan — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 13:58:34 +0000

Despite the fact that both Moxon and Fournier begin (more or less) with the construction of a gauge, there are fewer gauges used in punchcutting than one might expect. Some of the gauges commonly seen, such as the Turning Gauge, Body Gauges, Type Height Gauges, etc. are really for the matrix justifier and typefounder.

One gauge which is specific to punch and patrix cutting is the one called the "Calibre" by Paput in "La Lettre." Despite Paput's fine explanation of this gauge, I was confused by it. A few minutes' conversation with Stan Nelson fixed that. It is a simple transfer gauge: you set it to some dimension of an existing piece, and use it to reproduce that dimension on your new workpiece. It is an optional tool. If you were to work entirely from drawings transferred to the punch blank face, you'd never need it. (We did not use it in Stan's 2016 Wells College class, although he brought one to show.) But at the I.N., where they are duplicating punches now too historically important to be struck, it must be invaluable.

Here are two photographs of one by Stan Nelson (the color balance of the photos is off; the instrument is constructed of bright steel). This is a "double Calibre," incorporating two mutually independent gauges in one. You can also see Calibres in photographs of the workbenches of the I.N. online. I've put further photographs, including a couple of detail shots, on the "gallery" page at:

http://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/typemaking/making-matrices/tools-of-the-hand-punchcutter-in-steel/gallery/index.html#calibre

Punchcutting: Literature

David MacMillan — Fri, 26 May 2017 18:20:29 +0000

In another thread, Ramiro very kindly linked to my page on punchcutting literature at http://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/typemaking/literature/punchcutting/index.html But this threw me into an editorial panic, because there was a section there which was misleadingly out of date - the one having to do with the text of Jaugeon and the work of the "Bignon committee" for the Academie Royale in the 1690s. It's fixed now. The new page directly concerned with this work and its publication history is at: http://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/typemaking/literature/general/jaugeon/index.html

Briefly, in the 1690s a small group began a project for the Academie Royale which decades later was partially published as the "Descriptions des arts et metiers" (a project distinct from Diderot and d'Alambert's Encyclopedie). They began with the study of the making of type, in part because at the same time they were creating the type which has become known as the Romain du Roi. The manuscript that came out of this in 1704, along with several plates, is the second major work on type-making (after Moxon) and certainly the first well-illustrated work. But it was not published. 300 years later, it still hasn't been published. Portions of it have appeared (excerpts from the plates - especially James Mosley's 1991 reprint of them in Matrix 11 - and, importantly, Mosley's 2015 translation of the section on the hand mold), but it has been a difficult and sometimes expensive work to access in any way. Fortunately, a digital version of an 18th century copy of the MS, with plates, is now available freely online via the Gallica digital library of the Bibliotheque nationale de France. It's low-resolution, but the plates are legible and well worth your time.

More generally, on the subject of the literature of typographical punchcutting: what else is there (ancient or modern)? It is a body of literature that is small enough that we should be able to identify every work in every language in every tradition.