Limited presstoration

The other day I mentioned my frustration that somebody had in the past put blue paint on my newest press. So irritating! I made this discovery while cleaning the press over the weekend. I also discovered that underneath all the grease and dust, much of the original paint is also missing. So, in the end I decided to just use a solution of degreaser and water to uncover the original gold pinstriping and then clean any part of the press that I was likely to touch. Other than that, I left much of the press untouched to help protect the bare metal from corrosion.

Unfortunately, the flywheel almost looked better before I removed all the grease and dust, because now the remnants of the blue paint are more visible. I decided to leave it as is, rather than try anymore to remove the blue paint, because I was afraid of damaging the pinstriping.

Before:


After:


If you look between the spokes of the flywheel, you can see all of the pinstriping that I uncovered on the main body of the press. Gorgeous!

This press was built in 1888, and I am still so amazed that back then they took the time and pride in their machines to decorate them with such beautiful pinstriping!

Before:


After:


I'll be ordering new rollers for her soon, and once they arrive I'll start printing with her and hopefully get her into full operation soon. I can't wait!