Linotype

[Bradley]

Anyone have a source for linotype? Bill Ferguson hasn't had any in a very long time. Art Green is out. Midway's price is way to high.

[alamogunr]

Have you looked at Rotometals? Click logo at top of screen.

[kbstenberg]

Bradly just wait patiently here. (unless you NEED it now) its only a matter of time before a member has some.
Kevin

[UtopiaTexasG19]

I wonder where true linotype is comming from at this time. I have a life time friend from way back in grade school who has worked for the Houston Chronicle for 35 years and he tells me that they quit using the linotype set up back in the mid 1980's. Are there still mom and pop newspapers that use linotype or is the word "linotype" being generically used for a particular lead blend?

[sig2009]

Ebay. Bought most of mine there.

[sqlbullet]

Are there still mom and pop newspapers that use linotype or is the word "linotype" being generically used for a particular lead blend?

Linotype refers to an alloy of 84% Lead, 12% antimony and 4% tin.

There are still the occasional mom and pop shops that have a stash. I have contacted one such shop. They aren't ready to ditch it yet, but I am on the top of the list when then do.

[Wayne Smith]

I'm sure Rotometals will tell you that their current linotype is exactly the same formula as the original and serves exactly the same purpose. This formula was used in the type industry because it all hardens at the same time, thus leaving very crisp letters. Linotype is actually the formula, not the use, I believe.

[sqlbullet]

Wayne is correct that Linotype has a solidus and liquidus point that is the same. Pure lead does as well, although the most familiar example is water. The only way to may a "slushy" is to aggitate the ice which actually just breaks the solids into small pieces.

However, while linotype now does refer to both an alloy and a machine, I think the alloy got is name from the machine/use.

[ku4hx]

Wayne is correct that Linotype has a solidus and liquidus point that is the same. Pure lead does as well, although the most familiar example is water. The only way to may a "slushy" is to aggitate the ice which actually just breaks the solids into small pieces.

However, while linotype now does refer to both an alloy and a machine, I think the alloy got is name from the machine/use.

Way back in the '70s when I first stated casting, I'd buy my alloy from a local printer. For years, every time I'd refer to the metal as "linotype", he'd correct me saying "Linotype" is the name of the machine; the metal is simply linotype alloy. He loved to correct me and I got a kick out of giving him the opportunity.

http://www.woodsidepress.com/LINOTYPE.HTML

Apparently he was right all along ... but I knew that.

[JBL]

There is a local printer that is looking to get rid of a ton of it. He wants to know what a fair price is.
JBL

[bwgdog]

Check the Swap+Sell section for prices-If he will ship-tell him to sell it here!!!!!

[williamwaco]

I have had good luck finding it on Craigs list.

It is usually being sold by print shops that have finally gone digital.

They will usually have several thousand pounds - if you want to "get into the business"

[sig2009]

There is a local printer that is looking to get rid of a ton of it. He wants to know what a fair price is.
JBL

Local scrap yard is currently paying $.45 lb for lead.

[williamwaco]

There is a local printer that is looking to get rid of a ton of it. He wants to know what a fair price is.

Local scrap yard is currently paying $.45 lb for lead.Local scrap yard is currently paying $.45 lb for lead.

JBL

Offer hims $.60 per pound, you should be able to sell it here for $1.00 easily. ( In 70 pound boxes - of course )

[alamogunr]

How did the old time print shops determine when their linotype metal was depleted and needed to be reconstituted(?)? I've seen cautions both here and other places that offered linotype may not be the exact formulation as stated in the literature. As someone posted previously, Rotometals linotype is probably spot on as is the linotype of other commercial metal vendors.

[Gun Junkie]

My last score of linotype was a couple of years ago from a guy pouring ballast for a sail boat. A buddy and I split his left-overs about 400lbs.

[williamwaco]

How did the old time print shops determine when their linotype metal was depleted and needed to be reconstituted(?)? I've seen cautions both here and other places that offered linotype may not be the exact formulation as stated in the literature. As someone posted previously, Rotometals linotype is probably spot on as is the linotype of other commercial metal vendors.

I am not a metalurgist and have no ability to analyze the contents of alloys.

I have been casting bullets from Linotype for six decades. ( But mostly using it as a mixer.)

I do not believe this is an issue. The first batch of linotype I ever bought was about 1960 +/-. I bought from a small town one man print shop. He was retiring and selling out. I had heard horror stories about tin oxidizing out and ruining the alloy so I asked him how old the metal was. He said he didn't know, most was at least 30 to 40 years old and had been used many times. I asked if it lost its ability to cast accurately over time. In answer, he reached over on his work table and pulled a plate of type that was some sort of legal contract document. It was six point type. Six point type means it is 6/72 inch tall .0833". I looked at it very closely, I checked the lower case e and the lower case a to see if the "holes" were clear and sharp. They were perfect even under his 10x inspection loupe. I later had it BNH tested and it tested 22. It cast bullets of unsurpassed perfection and beauty. lkjfldfa <--- approximately 7 or 8 point type

[alamogunr]

Sounds like "Old Wives Tales" can gain a toe hold here too!

I have no experience with linotype. Living in a small town some distance away from a large city, doesn't give me any opportunities to luck into old printers getting out of the business.

When I was a kid helping a friend deliver the local newspaper, I would go into the printing room and watch the old timer(to me) run the linotype machine. That paper is long gone along with whatever lino they had. I haven't lived in that town in 50 years.

[MikeS]

Not an old wives tale. They even had special alloys for 'correcting' the type metal. I believe the larger print shops (and I would imagine newspapers) would regularly send samples of their type metal off to have in analyzed, and the analysis would come back, and tell the printer how much of the correction metal to add per unit of type metal (I don't know if it was per pound, or per 100lbs, etc.) I would imagine that smaller mom & pop printers either didn't bother correcting their alloy, or learned to know what to add by how the alloy was casting / printing.

[miestro_jerry]

I live out in the country side, so I go to little towns and villages that used to have a locally done newspaper. I can generally get a bucket of type and a couple of pigs for $20 to $30. One place said they would sell me the printing press for about $100. I had no place to put it in my shop, but now I wish I had bought it. I would start a casters news letter, that also has a section for trading around.

Jerry