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Extravagant or Efficient?
Interesting among comments on the NAPA official organ in Castleman’s 7th Amateur of Shenandoah is Rolfe’s claim, “The 7×10 paper is an extravagant size…. I’m talking about the standard book ream of 25×38.”
Not so fast, friend: that depends on what you buy and how you buy it. One standard book paper stock size is 25×38, as Mr. C points out. It can be wasteful to try to cut 7×10 or 10×14 out of this size in the normal manner – granted – but there are several possible combination cuts which do not work out too badly.
(10 x 7 / 25 x 38)
10 out: 73.6%
As one who has purchased paper – literally dozens of carload orders as well as 37 and 230 sheet purchases – may I offer one or two suggestions from some 20 years of experimentation?
There are other standard sizes of book paper, too, most common being 35×45 and 38×50. Also standard but not always made or stocked in every brand or type of paper are 28×42, 28×44, 32×44. In offset papers 17½x22½ is another stock size sometimes available.
Book paper, mill packed with markers every ream (500 sheets), normally is sold by the ream, with 50% increase on “broken” or less-than-ream purchases. (Hence, 500 sheets are usually cheaper to buy than only 350.) Since 1950 some paper dealers have applied this 50% markup to all sales of less than 150 pounds of book paper.
The latest purchase of paper for The National Amateur may be of interest to brother Castleman and others: For 1000 sheets 28×42-148M (substance 60#) Warren’s best-grade Cumberland English at the New York City 150# price of 22¼¢ per pound, cut to 10×14 – 8 pieces out (with grain the proper 10” direction for easy folding) wrapped in reams and delivered prepaid to Cranford the cost was $36.37 complete, or $4.42 per M pieces. [Normally this would be enough paper for a full year: four 16 page issues in editions of 500 copies.] This represents 95% effective use of paper bought, compared to only 91% efficiency for the 25×38 ream cut to the 6×9 size (for which Messrs. Castleman and Wesson carry the torch).
(28 x 42) / (14 x 10)
8 out: 95%
This 28×42 size is also made in Maxwell Offset and in Hammermill Offset as well as numerous brands of coated.
One might consider eggshell or antique paper in a lighter substance 50 for use in our standard 5×7 page size papers, or 50# EF in publications of 64 pages or more. For The National Amateur substance 60 English Finish is a more satisfying weight, requires less frequent inking than antique, and permits random placement of halftones.
If this 28×42 item isn’t available, 35×45 also is more efficient (93.3%) than the 25×38, assuming the official editor can use the 7×10 cuts for his own personal papers.
9 out 10×14, or 21 out 7×10: 93%
But for truly efficient buying, the always available double-size standard 38×50 ream is your best buy – less than 1% waste! (About 1# loss on each 200# ordered.)
Anyone care to challenge 99% efficiency as extravagant? (See diagram on next page.)
One possible joker: to get ream price you’d have to buy 100# of paper at a time – enough for three normal NA’s, or another 45 issues of Weaker Moments.
Babcock buy paper for Weaker Moments? Don’t be foolish!
This Least Wasteful Method of Cutting 10×14 out of 38×50 Standard Size Book Paper Yields 13 out, or 27 pieces 7×10.
Diary of an Amateur Journalist
February 4 – After a weekend in Plainfield, N.J., printed last two pages of Locus tonite.
5 – Folded and mailed Locus during lunch hour.
6 – Received galley proofs of Fossil at 4:30p.m. Read them with Alf on train to Cranford to celebrate Al’s 46th birthday. With 27 pages of March NA done, Al expressed hopes for a limited March APC gathering there before his new landlord moves in (over the cellar printshop) in April. Borrowed his copy of the new Churinga.
7 – Dummied up Fossil before work. Lunch with Vondy to pick up last 100 word filler. (Fossil Reunion dinner to be only $3.50 this April 26 at the Town Hall Club.) Read Churinga on train home.
8 – Four phone calls from Wesson today asking about gold and silver inks. Learned of A. M. Adams death yesterday. Rode home with Wesson and bumped into Bob Smith at Forest Hills subway station. (His new address, Leavitttown, Long Island) Neighbor SCW borrowed a cup of silver ink, a pinch of staples, earful of newsgossip, and the the eggbeater – I mean stapler. Offered him first chance at an oddlot of tan laid text recently liberated in New York. Heljeson phoned from Penn Station to chat while awaiting a train for Philly on the way home from Albany.
9 – Letter from Vic announced resignation of Mailer Hamilton. Prexy gloating over new Garrard record changer and $60 work of new LP records. June Wynters picture on page 121 of Feb. 11 Life.
10 – Distributed type from July Fossil and WM 39, and set rule form for this issue. Started letters to beg copy for the April Fossil.
Printed spasmodically by Ralph W. Babcock February 1952.