The Best Letterpress for Beginners
For my entire career as a letterpress printer, I have printed on the beloved Vandercook presses. If you are not familiar, this type of letterpress is big (750+lbs), very coveted and expensive (10k+), requires electrical, and is very difficult to move. It is a fantastic press, but it comes with a lot of challenges along the way.
I bought a refurbished 6.5x10” C&P Pilot New Style Press about a year ago. She is small, doesn’t require electricity, is slightly cheaper, and is SO easy to move. After working primarily on this press for the past year, I am officially convinced – she is the BEST. I cannot recommend this press enough, especially for a beginner learning letterpress. There are a few limitations, but as a starter press, it would save a lot of time, money, and energy to learn here first.
The pros and cons of my C&P Pilot Press:
PROS
1) SIZE
This is a tabletop press, so I can set it on any desk/table I want. I currently have it in my mobile studio (a literal van). This little press is perfect in an apartment or small space.
2) SIMPLICITY
The larger, heavier presses are also more complicated. There is more to navigate and learn, and honestly, they can be SO intimidating. The C&P Pilot is relatively simple; there are fewer moving parts and things to learn and navigate.
3) ELECTRICAL
The C&P requires ZERO electrical. This isn’t a huge deal if you can find a press that hooks up to standard 120-volt outlets, but a lot of the bigger presses and paper cutters need 220/240 outlets that can be tricky to find (think of that 3-prong outlet you likely have on your dryer). For my paper cutter, I’ve had to pay $500-1000 for every studio space I’ve moved to (going on 5 now) to wire new electricity for my cutter to work. :(
4) WEIGHT
200 pounds might not sound lightweight to you, but trust me in the world of printing equipment, 200 pounds is a FEATHER. It’s amazing. I can’t get over it. With two strong-ish friends, I can move the press wherever I want. Or it can easily be placed on a pallet for longer moves.
5) NO STUDIO SPACE REQUIRED
This one might be the BIGGEST for me. As someone who doesn’t own a house, I’ve rented apartments my whole life. My larger equipment, which is 750-1000 pounds, will not reach a 5th floor 1 bedroom apartment. That means I have to pay for extra studio space.
So right now, on top of my living rent, I pay $1,100 a month just to HOUSE my equipment. (don’t worry, I’m getting a cheaper storage unit soon). But this extra studio expense can be massive for a small business. With the C&P Pilot, you can put the press in your apartment, house, or even van (like me) and don’t need to pay those extra fees.
6) PRICE
Now, I paid a little more for my C&P for a company to refurbish it for me, but even then, it is typically much less than a Vandercook. Vandercooks can run anywhere from $10,000 - 15,000+. It's a LOT. The C&P I bought was around $4,000, and that's on the high end for these presses. You can find one for MUCH cheaper if you want (they might need some fixing up, and I opted to pay more for a ‘like new’ one that was refurbished)
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7) CLEANING
It's SO EASY! My Vandercook takes forever to clean (again, just bigger/more complicated), so it feels like such a breeze when I clean the C&P now. Cleaning is not my favorite part of printing, if you can’t tell :)
8) PRINTING ON PRE-CUT PAPER
Another big one for me. With the Vandercook, you will almost always have to print on larger paper and then cut it down to size with a paper cutter. Paper cutters are the WORST: they leave a ton of room for error (getting perfect 90-degree angles is hard), they’re big and expensive, and they take a ton of time. With the C&P (or any clamshell press), printing on paper that is already cut down to size is much easier. I now don’t use my paper cutter at ALL and I love it!
Side note: also, talk about way less waste!
The text in this image was printed on my C&P Pilot Press
CONS
1) PRINTABLE AREA
The chase size is 6.5x10”, and you can typically only print successfully over 30-50% of that area. My invitations print area size is usually around 4x6”, and I’ve never had any issues with that. But if you want to print larger designs like posters, it probably isn’t the press for you.
2) IMPRESSION
I print on handmade paper, and I can get the same amount of impression on my C&P as on my Vandercook. When I was buying this press, everyone told me I wouldn’t be able to, and I have happily proved them wrong. :)
However, this is primarily because handmade paper is super soft and fluffy. It doesn’t require as much strength to push into the paper. If you are printing on Lettra or 220# double thick paper, you will likely be able to get more impression on a Vandercook or other, larger press. I still think you’d be able to get a lovely one on the C&P, but it just might not be as much.
3) ONLY TWO ROLLERS
Floor model C&P’s (those big ones that have a large wheel on the side and sit on the floor) are very similar to my press, but they typically have 3 rollers. This can help with evenly inking your form/design better. I don't have any problems with inking my two rollers since my designs are minimal, consisting primarily of fine-line typography.
If you had larger printing areas that are filled with ink (maybe an art print that had a big heart filled in in the middle) that heart may have trouble getting ink to evenly cover it. Honestly, really big things like that can be difficult even on my Vandercook, so I typically recommend printing with fine line designs rather than filled areas. But it is something to mention if you want to flood an entire page with ink, this press may not be right for you.
Similar Presses to consider
Now like all printing equipment, there are a lot of similar brands of printers to the C&P Pilot that would fall under the same pros and cons. I just want to mention that so you don’t feel like you have to get this EXACT press, because that isn’t always an easy thing with printing equipment.
I can not vouch for these presses however as I have not personally printed on them, but a few presses you might also consider that are very comparable to the C&P Pilot are:
6.5x10” Craftsmen Superior
Golding Official No.4 & 6
Kelsey 6x10 Model Q
Hohner 6.5x10”
A C&P floor model press will have a lot of similar pros and cons. It is going to be much larger, and you’ll need a garage or space to put it. But the overall functionality of the press will be very similar to my C&P Pilot!
Ask the experts
This is all just my personal opinion from printing for the past 13 years. I know a few companies that professionally buy refurbish and sell presses that you can reach out to for more information and guidance.
This is where I bought my C&P Pilot, they specialize more in tabletop presses like mine
I know of a few fellow stationers who have gotten presses from him, and he knows his stuff! He specializes in floor model C&P’s
I spoke with Andrew a bit when buying my Pilot Press, and he was super helpful!
Want to learn how to letterpress print?
Check out my course, Makeready, that teaches the foundations of letterpress printing.
Using my experience from over 13 years behind the printing press, I will teach you all the tools and techniques you need to know to create beautiful art with letterpress.
~ LEARN MORE ~