board shear, early 1900's
Why we love this: it has a 5 foot exposed blade. This board shear came to us from the bindery of Amy Stechner when she left Ithaca, New York. It was originally built by the Rapid Shoe Company and was initially for cutting leather skins to make shoes. Since we have a lot of vegetarians at Boxcar Press, we decided to put this board shear to use in our shipping department instead, cutting down cardboard boxes to recycle and reuse. The wood table on this board shear has served many purposes over its hundred-year-old life. If you put your ear down against the worn wood, you can hear the low-pitched growl of its stories. Just don’t put your ear near the blade of course.