A bit of fun-Mythbusting.

Does anyone out there have any printing myths or ridiculous "old wives tales" regarding printing that you have heard people say. You know, things that are completely untrue.
For example..I guy I used to work with suggested that if you were struggling to mix ink to match then add a bit of silver to it! Same guy suggested peeing in the ink to reduce it! Funny thing is he wasn't joking either!!!!
So you get what I mean.
I may write an article for my print blog about it so lets hear your classics!

 

Some old pressmen here used to mix pretty weird things in inks, like bananas to reduce the tack, coconut oil to add a bit of shine, Diesel oil to reduce the tack and also to add a bit more shine, General purpose Grease to prevent hickeys and Kerosine Oil to prevent set off. Surprisingly some of these tricks work too. I have used the kerosine Oil trick many times and it works.

 

I had a copier tech that couldn't figure out our jamming problem, he told me it had to be the paper because NCR sheets are both long and short grain... in the same sheet.

 

Another one... some guys are going to jump on me for this, but tinsel. I've been a pressman since '79, I have never seen that stuff work.

 

i don`t think tinsel has ever really worked for me either. when running single color on a multi color press i put crisco (vegetable shortening) paste on the blank unit ink rollers. it is great, it also puts natural oil back into the rollers as well. i also clean the rollers with hot water and vinegar every so often at a wash up. my dad said they used to use the black soot from the old oil lamps and think grease for ink on the old letter presses years ago and wash up with kerosene. don`t scrub the dampener covers with it as it takes for ever to get that out of the cloth. they also used white gas for press wash back then as well. i can`t think of too much right now as i am getting pretty tired. if i remember anything i `ll come back.

 

Warm red ink is not warm !

I remember many years ago, I was helping someone mix some ink and the formula called for warm red to be added to the mix. I asked the guy I was helping
why do they call it warm red? so he said here i'll show you,he then addded the required amount on top and said,put your hand over the ink and feel how warm it is,so like a rookie I did and he smashed my hand into the mix and laughted so hard he almost pissed his pants

LUCKY-N-KY

 

our superstitious pressman always wants a small God's photo in any waste area in plate.He says printing is good with God's photo in the paper.most of the time he is right.

 

Not enough paper to print job? "get the Paper Stretcher "
Occasionally some of the rookey graphic designers would come look at what I'm printing. "That looks great!", they'd say.....I'd reply, " Ya, but you should have seen what they looked like before I printed their clothes on them" ---- That one usually gets them really thinking...lol.

 

Ever send a new feeder operator to go get some half-tone dots from prep? Or send him toward another press with a styrofoam cup full of MRC?

The warm red joke is a classic though. It never gets old.

 

Are you mixing C154 or U154 for that job ????

 

pressman57

The half-tone dots,now theres another classic,I remember back in the mid eighties I was putting some red ink in the fountain and I told the floor helper I needed some Pink half-tone dots because the ink was too red.
I sent him to the prep. dept. I saw comming back carrying a cup, he climbed up on the press and said."They did'nt have the Pink ones but they gave me some Yellow ones LOL
Someone in Prep. gave him some tiny circles cut out of yellow mylar.
I laughed the whole day

LUCKY-N-KY

 

Old timers would put corn starch into ink to help it from offsetting.

 

For letterpress printers, the old "look closely at the type spiders" then quickly close up the drenched with press wash forme.

 

Asking one of the new guys to go get a bucket of compressed air from the mechanics...

 

Back in my grandfathers day before plates were sensitized subtractive plates like they are today . The plate maker had to sensitize the plate to accept an image using whatever chemicals & tricks he felt worked best. I heard of a platemaker at Forbes lithograph of Boston maybe 80 to 90 years ago would bring in chicken eggs probably from his own coop to help sensitize the plates before exposure to make the plate image better.

 

that can still work ... it soaks up the excess oils (vehicals) in the ink.

 

I used to visit a old letterpress guy back in the day (70's). He also had a Multi 1250 he used on occasion. He'd tape his plate and neg to the front window and let the UV from the sun burn the plate. I asked how long he left it and he said it depends on the day. If it's sunny or cloudy. No halftones or screens just line type jobs.

Yes half tone dots is a true classic with the paper stretcher. We used to send the shop rookies all over town to different shops. They'd pass them along to the next shop. Saying sorry were out of dots or paper stretcher was already loaded out.

 

This method of plate making is still being used in some small print shops here, when there is power break down and you need plates urgently. I was amazed to see how fast it works on PS plates as we have bright sunny days throughout the year here.

 

Perhaps you're not using the tinsel correctly. Many pressman don't. You need to provide a way to allow the tinsel to terminate to a ground. Admittedly tinsel is not a cure all for static problems, but it certainly works ALOT better then spraying anti static spray all over the place. Another solution that helps with static is to soak a bunch of press rags with water and after wringing them out enough to not be dripping all over the place, put them on and around the feeder. This will humidify the feeder area and help reduce static.

 

The cup of half-tone dots gag is priceless !