What is it ?

Hi not engineering and have posted on the sister woodwork forum but a pal has been clearing out his Dad's workshop, he was a woodworker/DIY chap and he came across the item below, asked me did I know what it was for -- no idea ! So wondering if the team has any input ??

It is about 20" long and the two timber parts are 2.5" square, it seems to be commercially made rather than home made. It may of course have nothing at all to do with woodwork but ????

Thanks in advance.

John

Holding a saw for sharpening ?

It looks rather like the clamps and presses that bookbinders use to hold a block of pages to trim the edges. The groove looks like one that guides the "plough" that holds the knife that does the actual trimming.

Just a thought,

Rod

A possibility Rod, thanks I will ask my pal if his Dad was involved such activity. It's strange that it has two clamping systems, one in between the wood then the metal clamps mounted on top !

+1 for bookbinders press tool

M<artin

John

I think the metal clamps are intended to hold the "press" , called a "lying press" I think, to a bench or table top (This is assuming it is a bookbinder's tool) So, in use, the metal clamps are underneath the wooden part and are holding the whole thing in position, the block of paper goes in the wooden part, there are plenty of illustrations of lying presses on the web. I think "lying" in this context means "Laying" or similar, (as opposed to "upright."

Rod

Edited By Rod Renshaw on 13/05/2020 18:41:24

Yes, it's beech and was almost certainly made to serve as a bookbinder's lying press.

It's slightly unusual to have channels on both sides of the press for a plough, but then we don't really know what kind of plough it was intended to be used with - not a typical kind of plough, at any rate.

Having wing-nuts as a tightening mechanism for the cheeks seems somewhat inadequate to me; they would have to be tightened with an adjustable spanner or similar to get adequate pressure on a book for ploughing or edge gilding.

The photos show two of my lying presses. The smaller one is mahogany, and has a channel for the plough to run in. The bigger one is beech; it is 40 inches long, the cheeks are 6" by 5 1/2", and the wooden screws are 3" diameter. The screws are tightened with an 18" steel tommy bar.

Very interesting Bill. What does a plough look like in this context? I assume the crenelated thing is a hotplate for embossing tools. A craft I know nothing about.

Thanks for your reply, Bazyle. I've uploaded some photos of traditional ploughs. Their design is very basic but they work well if used properly.

Another, more modern, kind of plough is the so-called plough plane. I don't own an example of one of these but there are sure to be some images of them out there.

Yes, the crenellations around the finishing stove are for the tool handles to sit in while their shanks/heads sit on the hot plate. The French favour a different kind of finishing stove - shown in the last image.

Hello all and apologies for the late reply but I have been absorbed in another project ! Looks like the bookbinders press is the answer -- pity my mother was not around, she was a Bookbinder & printer at a local firm !

I will pass the info to my friend Allan. Thanks again to all

John