One Block at a Time

Cherry (bottom) and birch

To start the process of creating new prints, I make my own cherry plywood. The process starts with selecting wood that has little figuration and no ‘sap-wood’ and gluing the two 1/4″ thin cut cherry around a birch core with waterproof (Titebond III) glue. After letting the glue dry for 24 hrs. under clamp pressure, I wet-sand with #400 and #800-grit sandpaper and let them dry. This raises the grain just like when they get during printing. After dry, I sand again, trim the sides, and buff to a very smooth and shiny surface with a wool bonnet and polishing rouge. The result is a very shiny block that prints smoothly. Only 10 more blocks to prep before things really get started…

Clamped cherry/birch/cherry sandwich
The resulting plywood
Sanding wet, then dry phases
Finish looking buff.
Buffing set-up.

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