Rhoades Printing Company

Rhoades Printing Company Rhoades Printing was a business started by William W. (Bill) Rhoades in May/June of 1970. Its last days were in September of 2011.

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08/14/2024

Printing is the art of repetitively putting an image on paper.

08/14/2024

When I was younger, my dad showed me how sensitive your fingers can be. He would put a piece of paper between his thumb and forefinger and rub it just a little. His brain remembered the feel of the thicknesses of different papers. Although not as sensitive as he, I learned to easily distinguish between 16 and 20 pound paper.
As a young apprentice at McGowan Printing in Augusta, Georgia, my dad was often called on to answer "What kind of paper is this?" So sensitive was his touch, he could tell the difference within one-half of one thousandth of an inch!! He could tell the difference between 20 pound bond and 50 pound offset (partly by feel and partly by sight- bond has a wire side, offset does not).
Many times his dad or uncle would call on him to make sure they had the right weight paper for the job. And back then paper was more varied: from tissue to 13 lb. manifold, to 16, 20, 22, 24 and 28 weights in the bond papers and 40, 50, 60, and 70lb weights in the offsets.
With the advent of 'quick printers', many weights were forgotten because of lack of usage. And many paper mills would market 50 pound offset as 20 pound bond. Though very close, they are not exactly the same. But most quick printers, who jumped into the business of printing, didn't know the difference any more than the customers did. Things changed quickly with the advent of 'quick printing'.

07/25/2024

Back in the early 1970's, my dad's printing shop was a one-horse business. A customer came in and ordered 500 flyers.
So after the customer left my dad set about setting the type (old style hot type), pulling a proof, pasting it all together, making a negative, then burning a plate. This process took several hours. The next day my dad set the press up to run the job. He adjusted the feeder for the size of paper. He had it partially set up when the customer came in to get his printing.
"It will be a few minutes," my dad told him, "I am just now putting it on the press."
My dad took the the printing plate and hung it on the press. He started the press and ran one sheet through. After checking it to see if the print was okay, he turned it back on and five minutes later the job was done.
"How much do I owe you?" the customer asked.
"That will be $30." my dad replied.
The customer, only seeing how much time it took for the press to produce the final job, irately said, "That's the fastest $30 I've ever seen anybody make!!"
I believe he left thinking my dad had grossly overcharged him. He never knew how much went into the preparation of the printing plate.

12/18/2023

72 years ago it was an icy, cold, wintry morning. I was in the hospital. Some man slapped me hard enough to make me scream. But neither my mother nor my daddy seemed to care.

05/04/2023

If you have memory of anything about Rhoades Printing Company, (good or bad) please post it here.
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A glimpse inside (the now defunct) Rhoades Printing Company .
05/10/2020

A glimpse inside (the now defunct) Rhoades Printing Company .

Here are some of the employees and friends of Rhoades printing:
04/01/2020

Here are some of the employees and friends of Rhoades printing:

Do you recognize what these are? The brass thing on the left is a linotype matrix. The notched "V" at the top was litera...
01/31/2020

Do you recognize what these are? The brass thing on the left is a linotype matrix. The notched "V" at the top was literally the key to the redistribution of the matrices after the line of type was set.
The item on the right was called a space band. it was made of two wedge shaped that slid together and would expand in width to give variable but exact spacing between words on the line of type.

Every now and then I get to use my old Adobe applications to make something.
01/31/2020

Every now and then I get to use my old Adobe applications to make something.

Here is something that was leftover from Rhoades Printing.
08/29/2019

Here is something that was leftover from Rhoades Printing.

04/03/2019

I just used my graphic artist ability to make a banner for my 1969 senior class of Newton County High School. What do you think?

Address

1192 Clark Street SW
Covington, GA
30014

Telephone

+17707867176

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