Blotchy wood type face
I cleaned up some old wood type recently and the face of some letters was smooth but blotchy. It was like a solution had dried on the face and now does not come off. Any idea how to remove it would be appreciated. I am thinking of running the letters through a planer to remove a couple thou?? Good or bad idea??
Just paste paper to the bottom of the Type to bring it back up to 0918 and your good to go
Your type is likely end grain, a plainer will destroy it.
The correct tool if it comes to it is a drum sander.
What did you clean it with?
Let’s try try to chemically remove you bumps before we attack it power tools.
Planer bad idea, sander bad idea. You are going to print with them not decorate your work space. If they print ok leave well alone.
I agree power tools are a bad idea.
But a planer will destroy end grain type, a sander will reduce its height, also not a great plan but it would be the correct mechanical tool to remove material that’s all I’m saying.
I was trying to work out what happened chemically to it to make it bumpy before even considering the sander.
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It depends what it is, of course. Can you tell at all? Try some different solvents. I had some that I think had been used to print with acrylic paint and the lumpy residue responded well to Citristrip paint stripper. You can always re-shellac if needed. I would not advise a mechanical method such as sanding or planing.