Didn’t you do one of these a year or so ago Martin?

have you a a lathe with a big enough bore to slide the handle down?

otherwise grind (with your belt sander )them square and carefully marking out and drill for a piece of threaded studding to fix new knobs

Could you find a piece of tube /pipe to just fit over the handle,then fill it with a hot melt glue ? This can then be gripped in a 3-jaw and melted off later in boiling water.repeat for opposite end.Just an idea.

I'd make use of that big hole in the middle to bolt it to an angle plate or vertical slide

If you're going to drill the handles for a knob on the end, why not centre-drill the outboard ends for tailstock support? Then you can turn the handles however you might wish.

I'd be interested to have visual confirmation that this press was made by a company called Dryad. All the book presses I've ever seen marked Dryad have been wooden or part wooden.

The press you have there isn't a book press strictly speaking, as I've said before.

It's what's correctly referred to as a copy (or copying) press.

A better discussion than in the last link can be found here.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 11/12/2021 16:33:57

You could make several passes with a small cutter on the mill, if it is on an angle plate in the lathe the up or down load from a larger dia cutter sweeping the whole face may move the part. One reason I suggested a vert slide as that could be used on the lathe to take a few passes by raising and lowering the work.

The other advantage of the lathe is you can use the chuck jaws and tailstock barrel to eyeball the part to the axis

IIRC Dryad were a purchasing agency for school handicraft equipment – in days of yore when handicrafts was viewed as an honest occupation.. Not sure they actually made anything, they had a catalogue of co-ordinated and reasonable quality range of stuff from a pottery kiln to a paintbrush. I've got a steel straightedge here with their mark on it, recommended for use with a Stanley knife like wot you'll never see in a class room ever again.

Methinks this is a job for some bigger technology than a Myford. If you are in the general area of West Gloucestershire I'll volunteer to do the repair for you for a contribution to charity. My ideas are running in terms of drilling a hole lengthways for some studding to hold the bits where they belong, then light the gas and toasty warm for a bronze welding repair. Have you got two baubles, if you'll forgive such a personal question?

PM me if it's of interest.

Rgds Simon

Thanks for the information, Martin.

I'm a bit sceptical whether the lion and letter D alone mean it was made or marketed by Dryad, at least if we're talking about Dryad Handicrafts of Leicester, established by Harry Hardy Peach, which is the company whose name is on the 20th century school-orientated bookbinding equipment I'm familiar with.

We could really do with consulting the standard reference work on these sorts of presses, namely:

Rhodes, B. and Wells Streeter, W. – Before Photocopying: The Art and History of Mechanical Copying, Oak Knoll Press, 1999.

Sadly, I don't have a copy.

An example of a press similar to the one you're working on (with the lion and the D) is shown being restored here.