Saw an old bindery in Philly that still uses a 1950s nipping press

I visited a small bookbinders shop in Philadelphia last week, and the guy there was using a hand-operated nipping press from 1953. He swears it gives better control than modern hydraulic ones. But then I watched him spend like 4 minutes on one book, which seems slow. What's the trade-off here, does old equipment really beat new for quality or is that just nostalgia?

2 comments

2 Comments

foster.wade18d ago

Actually that's not quite accurate about the time thing, he's probably spending those 4 minutes on more than just the pressing part. On a hydraulic press you can set it and forget it, but the hand screw lets you feel exactly when the book block is compressed just right which prevents cracking the spine. The old machines actually cut down on waste because you aren't crushing books by accident, so the speed trade off makes sense when you factor in how many fewer books get ruined.

kim.wren18d ago

Oh man, that feel thing is exactly it. My granddad had an old cast iron book press in his garage that he used for nothing but flattening dried flowers he'd pick on walks. He'd spend like 15 minutes just slowly turning the screw, feeling for that perfect amount of pressure so the petals wouldn't tear. The hydraulics in a modern flower press would just smash them to bits in seconds. Guess some skills you just can't speed up no matter how much tech you throw at it.