Cutting of cards from strips
Ok, so I spent more than half my working life in a print shop. Here's how the process works to get the little beauties cut with the best results possible for the timeframe of 1909-1911 etc. First the cards are sent to the cutter with an "operators Side Guide Mark' This mark tells the cutter operator how to put the stock into the cutting machine to insure that the "Registration of the printing press is perserved while cutting takes place. Stock is then trimmed four sides, first the operator guage and "Gripper" bottom of sheet goes into the cutter and the "OPPOSITE SIDE is trimmed and you now have (3) three sides in hopefully good registration in TACK. Next the sheets are moved to the other side of cutter known as the cutters BACK Guage. The sheets are not JOGGED here because they are still together from the previous cut. Cut number two cuts the back of the sheet that is probably the most uneven. You now have a clean 4 sided stack ready to cut into stips. The stock is returned to the original position on the cutter with the gripper edge of sheets and operator side guide at square one. Cards are now carefully cut into strips of as many rows as the sheet has let's say 10 rows of 7 cards per strip. After all rows are cut the first strip goes back into the cutter and each additioal strip is carefully "PUSHED/SLID" next to the one before it making it ready to be cut 10 rows at a time. Here is where the need for a really sharp cutting blade is escential. The rows are clamped down with a wieghted bar just before the blade does its work. A dull blade causes "PAPER DRAG" and that causes miscuts. So, sharp blade and knowledge of side guides and great cutting skills will make for more even borders and beautiful T206's etc. Hope this helps and sorry this is so lengthly. Jim
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