April 22, 2015

Giving New Life to an old Hamilton Drafting Table: The Beginning

Follow along as guest blogger, Doug Murray, goes through the process of refurbishing an old Hamilton drafting table found in a barn! Oay, Here we go! I found this desk on Craigslist stuffed in the back of an old barn in Massachusetts. The project was massive from day 1. I somehow managed to stuff the entire collection of scraps and... Read More »

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April 8, 2015

Wood Type Archaeology: The Archaeological Experiment

Part I: The Archaeological Experiment with the Border Stamping Machine For an industrial archaeologist, it is a rare privilege to be able to operate a piece of machinery from the industrial past, especially one as engaging as the die-stamping machine at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this machine was used... Read More »

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March 11, 2015

The Portland Project

Good things take time. Back in September of 2011, my good friend and Hamilton Artistic Board member, Nick Sherman came to me with a proposal. Via email, he introduced me to his friend Jim Coudal of Field Notes with the idea of having us print a note book for them. I loved the idea but was daunted by the volume;... Read More »

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March 10, 2015

The Idea of Building 18 Display Cabinets

How I found the museum I was looking at Wisconsin sites on the web and found one about interesting places to see around Manitowoc. I never heard of wood type and the history of that industry, so I looked at the Hamilton site and recorded the address. A year later I looked again and the museum was moving. They had... Read More »

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March 3, 2015

Wood Type Archaeology: Motive Power

On my most recent trip to Two Rivers and the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, I rigged up a one-horsepower electric motor to the die stamping machine the Hamilton Manufacturing Company used to make decorative wood type border during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I was hopeful this motor would be sufficient to power the machine through... Read More »

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