Conditioning of New leather rollers

All new rollers must be treated before use.

• Use find sandpaper to sand the surface of the roll until it has a mat shiny surface.
• Spread Varnish 00 on an ink table and roll the leather roll until it is evenly saturated. This operation is repeated several days, depending on the absorbency of the leather.
• Hereafter let the leather absorb the varnish and wrap the roll in plastic or wax paper and aluminum foil and place the roll in a storage rack.
• When the roll is completely saturated with varnish 00, it will be scraped off with a spatula or a long piece of scrape iron.
• Spread Varnish 000 (very sticky) on an ink table and roll the leather roll again until it is evenly saturated. And again scrape it clean like before.
• At last the roll is inked with "roll-up-ink","federfarbe", "noir à monter" (non drying!) Scrape the roll clean again and ink the roll again, etcetera, until no leather fibers come from the roll.
• When the leather roll has a mat surface, it is ready for use. Keep this rol in fatfree (grease free) paper in a storage rack.

Reconditioning Old Leather Rollers

Removing old ink
Dry and hardened ink films found on rollers that have been improperly used can be removed only with solvents and "elbow grease". Either kerosine or lithotine maybe used for this purpose. Because of its oily content, kerosine will soften the leather while cleaning off the old ink. The roller must be well scraped (see picture) after completion of this task; if it is not, the oily content of the kerosine will conteminate the printing ink and cause greasy proofs. If lithotine is used , on the other hand, the roller must be inked immediately afterwards, otherwise this solvent will dry the leather. Stubbord clots of dried ink must be well soaked with a stronger solvent, such as paint remover. A suede brush can be used for dislodging these dried ink particles, table salt is a good abrasive agent for roughening the dry matted leather.

Roughening smooth leather surfaces.
Leather ink rollers need to have a certain rough surface. They can be roughened with pumice stone or rough sandpaper. However , before sanding first the hard top layer of the leather roller must be soaked in a sodium hydroxide solution. (aqueous solution of caustic soda). Rinse the caustic soda very well and wash off the leather surface. Think of protective equipment such as gloves and goggles. After this the roughening can begin.