Linotype

[klw]

You are legally old in this country when you turn 65. I've got right at four months to go. But when I was young linotype wasn't all that hard to get. Of course newspapers were still using type way back then.

Now linotype is getting hard to get. I think that Midays is charging over $220 for 55 pounds plus shipping. And they don't carry much. Placing a 300 pound order would exceed their supply and cost WAY to much.

The two sources I use to use were Bill Ferguson and Art Green. Did business with both for decades.

I talked to Bill yesterday. I think that he is in his mid-80's. He isn't selling alloy anymore. And well, he just isn't young anymore. Made me very sad.

Just got off the phone with Art. Art is approaching 80 but he still works 12+ hour days. His older brother, who I think is 96, also is still working and in good health. Arts family lives so long that they are in some government study that is trying to figure out why some people just don't seem to age.

Art has linotype. He is buying and selling it constantly. About one dollar a pound plus shipping I think. I've got 4200 pounds on order. I don't need it all at once. Art will probably ship 50 to 100 pounds a month until the order has been filled.

So I don't think that linotype is hard to find nor expensive IF you know where to look. Art certainly has it (310-274-1283). You only reach him by phone and that may take awhile as this is a one man operation. And Art is low tech. He still uses carbon paper.

Is this an ad for Art? I suppose so but I did it for a reason. Bill recently posted on the web that Art was out of commission. That's not true. Art has no internet access so somebody had to speak up for him. Art is getting phone calls from customers wondering if he is out of business. HE IS NOT!

[mroliver77]

Thanks KLW. I hate to see Bill have to quit too.I gleened much info on alloys from him on the old cast bullet bulltin board or whatever it was some years back.
J

[floodgate]

Ken:

Hmmm..... Maybe I should apply for a grant to study Bill, and Art's family, on the hypothesis that lead exposure ADDS longevity.

Fg

[klw]

Ken:

Hmmm..... Maybe I should apply for a grant to study Bill, and Art's family, on the hypothesis that lead exposure ADDS longevity.

Fg

My lead level hit 28 back at the end of October. Stopped casting. Now it is down to 17 so I'm starting up again.

Doctors in Northern Arizona don't see much lead posioning so they really don't know how to treat it or, for that matter, when it should be treated. You can learn much about that on the web. But one thing I did was call Art and ask how he avoided this. After all he handles lead by the ton and has never had a problem.

Sometimes you know good advice when you hear it but you probably wouldn't have thought of it. What he understood that I didn't was exactly where you place the exhaust fans.

Part of the reason Art will live longer than I will is because he is smarter than I am (nicer too).

I happened to notice that I've been doing business with him for almost 20 years. Probably did business with Bill for at least 15. Art is young at 79. Sadly Bill is only a few years older but...

[klw]

Thanks KLW. I hate to see Bill have to quit too.I gleened much info on alloys from him on the old cast bullet bulltin board or whatever it was some years back.
J

As I said before I'm getting old. No health issued but, well, I'm nearer the end than the beginning. There are days when I'm more aware of that than I'd like. One of many reasons I like Art is that he is just as happy and positive at 80 as he was at 60. And with his family history he'll probably be that way when he is 100. It must be nice to know that you are truely going to live long and prosper!

[quasi]

Sometimes you know good advice when you hear it but you probably wouldn't have thought of it. What he understood that I didn't was exactly where you place the exhaust fans.


Ken, can you elaborate on the fan placement requirements?

[klw]

Sometimes you know good advice when you hear it but you probably wouldn't have thought of it. What he understood that I didn't was exactly where you place the exhaust fans.


Ken, can you elaborate on the fan placement requirements?

You want an open window right behind the furnace and a powerful fan in that window.

I had used fans but ones that blew across me and the furnace. That swirled the gases up some of which I breathed in.

But with the fan behind the furnace all the vapors from it, and you can actually see them, come up from the furnace and right out the window. The DO NOT blow back on you. Amazingly simple. Minor variation on what I was doing. But clearly a far better idea.

[MT Gianni]

You don't need a big fan. A hair dryer or bathroom vent move plent of air if exhausted directly outside. Gianni

[mroliver77]

Now I thought it was decided that lead does not make fumes. The way we get lead is from the dross or dust thereof and primers. Now I cant remember if it was here or on Chas list we discusted it. I have a salvaged range hood for my new casting bench. ;)
J

[GLL]

I talk to and visit Art all of the time and spoke with him two weeks ago. He is fine !

He is the poster child for dealing with lead. Handle it all of the time and you will live to be 100 !

Saying he is low-tech is the understatement of the year. Great guy but be prepared to talk and listen to jokes awhile ! :) :)

He had a pile of linotype on the floor of his "office" the last time I visited. How many lead suppliers do you know that have an office/warehouse in Beverly Hills !!!!!

Jerry

[klw]

I talk to and visit Art all of the time and spoke with him two weeks ago. He is fine !

He is the poster child for dealing with lead. Handle it all of the time and you will live to be 100 !

Saying he is low-tech is the understatement of the year. Great guy but be prepared to talk and listen to jokes awhile ! :) :)

He had a pile of linotype on the floor of his "office" the last time I visited. How many lead suppliers do you know that have an office/warehouse in Beverly Hills !!!!!

Jerry

He is just a nice old guy. Been doing business with him for almost exactly 20 years. And Art has aged well, or maybe not aged at all. Others I know in his age group, particularly those with illness, seem to get bitter. But not Art.

Bill Ferguson on Charles Hamilton's web site were the two that suggested that Art was out of business. I e-mailed Hamilton and asked him to put up a correction. Got his usual unfriendly sort of response so I doubt that he did it.

But if anyone get get onto that Yahoo group you might consider putting up a note to the effect that Art is in business and doing fine. Of course that might draw Hamilton's anger but what doesn't?