Pressed!

[altivo]

Today we received the gift of a book press at the library. This is a useful tool for various tasks in rebinding and repairing books. When I suggested a year or so ago that we put one on our wish list, I never expected this response. A local library user bought a press off EBay and had it shipped to us. This is a heavy duty item. It weighs 90 pounds, and is made of cast iron. Now we have to find a table sturdy enough to hold it for use.

Our farrier came today and trimmed horse feet. Between the weather and various other problems, we had cancelled and rescheduled the appointment at least three times (he was sick once himself.) So this time everyone's hooves really did need trimming, and as he put it, "frogs were flying." Tess and Asher were very well behaved, exceptionally so in Tess' case. Archie, though, got impatient and actually threatened to kick John when he got to the fourth foot. John used to own Archie and Asher, so they know each other well, and with a few sharp words the quarrel was settled and Archie got his last foot evened up.

Finished sleying the warp and started weaving on the towels. This is the workshop loom I purchased used back in December. It has a couple of quirks I hadn't expected, the most obvious of which is no shuttle race. That's an extension of the bottom board of the beater, and lets you easily shoot a shuttle across from once side to the other withoug any risk of it falling through the bottom threads and onto the floor. Without a race (my other looms all have them) I have to go much more slowly to avoid getting the shuttles tangled up. I may have to find some lighter shuttles to use with this loom.

Photos of last week's lamb and the weird twig pile in the oak tree were taken today and I'll post them tomorrow probably.

Comments

[wolfgrowl.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I mentioned it before but for about eight years I was a bookseller. We sold mostly new stuff but for rare or out of print books we had a small used section. With good intentions I bought a book on hand bookbinding but never ended up reading it! I think I still have that book buried in my library in storage in Canada. If I ever find it some day I should forward it to you.
I had a discount to cost as the owner knew I wouldn't abuse it. And I used to get publisher's samples. So I have a large, odd, and diverse library.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. Bookselling would kill me. Not new books, but antiquarian would be what I'd find interesting, and then I'd never be able to let anything go. Running a shop where you never actually allow anyone to buy stuff is... counterproductive?

Binding is something I've dabbled with and would love to explore further if I had the time. It's a dying art, alas.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*perks up* Sounds cool. Is that one you use by hand?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes. It has a heavy metal base and a cast iron plate suspended on a screw above that. You turn a wheel on top that looks like the ones used to close the hatches of a submarine, which lowers the plate onto the bed, squashing whatever lies between. Hopefully it's a book that needs straightening or needs to be held tightly while glue sets, and not someone's tail.

I've already suggested that we use it as a torture device to get people to return their overdue books...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

For some reason, it just sounds really cool to me.... it's got to work better than waterboarding :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I already proposed waterboarding them in the lungfish tank. Unfortunately, she's so blind she'd never catch on fast enough to even nibble their toes.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

LOL

[saythename.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed. I've only seen such a book press
once at the big downtown library.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You should see how ill-behaved kids come out after an hour or two in the press. It straightens them right out. ;p

[saythename.livejournal.com]

*threatens his children with The Press*

XD

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

So that's what a book press is used for o.O
Frogs were flying? *gets an attack of the giggles and goes down*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Literally. The frog is a soft rubbery cushion made of dead cells like cuticle that grows under the hoof. It has a "V" shape like the frog of a railroad switch, and needs occasional trimming on most horses.

When a hoof is really overgrown, the excess frog trims off in a large single piece that vaguely resembles a real frog lying with legs extended behind it. And it's rubbery enough to bounce when tossed on a hard surface. The farrier trims it with a sharp knife and tosses it aside. Hence "frogs a flyin'".