What to do with my antique letterpress type galley trays #TBT

Posted By on October 1, 2020

TypeCabinetGone200920ClearingPoolGarage4Space200920

While clearing out a little more garage clutter this past weekend in order to gain some space as the weather changes (things are getting too crowded), I finally ripped apart an old type galley cabinets that I hauled from my building in Cuyahoga Falls years ago.

TypeGalleysGalleyCabinet

Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co. wasn’t really an old enough company to work with lead type used in letterpress printing (started CPP in 1987) and all the peripheral equipment such as type cases, galley trays and cabinets. There were a few things that I ended up with … somehow …and they were too useful to not keep and use of other things. Our cabinet and trays and drawers became a place to store customer negatives, stripped flats and offset printing plates.

After selling the production facility in NE Ohio, there were a few things I kept in our basement and garage (small guillotine paper cutter, Baum folder, shrink wrapper, etc) … and a few obsolete antique items such like the type galley cabinet with a bunch of galley trays. I’ve tried to figure out what to use them for, but in the end they have just been taking up space. So I cut up the well used and ratty looking cabinet, but saved back the galley trays (not my photo below, but how they were used).

Wooden_type_galley

So, now trying to decide exactly what to do with them? Hm … I have a few thoughts to try and used the ink-stained wood to build some kind of project (a few in mind), but also wonder if putting a couple on Ebay (if I can ship them) might be worth something to someone?

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  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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