The day the Pilot came home

My midlife crisis could've been worse.

Sure, I was unemployed, recovering from losing a finger, and trying hard to ignore all the work that needed to be done around the house. But jumping in the Beetle, driving to Indianapolis, and buying a letterpress was better than purchasing a Maserati. It was a bit cheaper, too.

I met Dave Churchman in his shop near downtown Indianapolis in November 2007. Dave is an icon in the letterpress world, and his shop is crammed floor to rafters with all manner of junk: type, leads, cuts, press parts, paper, and spare bits of every conceivable printing machine since 1880. And amazingly, he and his wife know where everything is. It's like one of those really good hardware stores: not only does the guy know exactly that whatsithoozy you're looking for, he can put his finger right on it.

And so it was with Dave, who equipped me with just about everything I needed to start Duckpin Press. Chiefly, the press. It's an old style Chandler & Price Pilot tabletop press. Though it difficult to date exactly, it's probably circa 1920 or so. The original sales catalog tells me, "It will earn a profit in any job office." Can't say that for a Maserati. I snapped this picture of proud papa Dave -- sending his Pilot off into the world -- before packing 'er up for the trip back to DC.

As I write this, most of the rust has been abated, new rollers attached, and she's humming along in the job office. Now I just gotta figure out how to make that profit...