Book of Dead

Plan 🗺️, pull and grade ink rubbings of carved inscriptions, zone by zone.

Book of Dead is a bench for taking ink rubbings off carved inscriptions and judging how much of the carving came through onto the paper. It is a recorder's tool 🛠️. It does not read, date or value an inscription.

Open a panel and see 👀 it ruled into numbered sign-zones. Each zone shows its cut depth, cut width, wall angle and surface wear. The cut is drawn in true section, so you can see what each incision will ask of a sheet before you damp one.

Set up the pull. Choose from seven papers, each listed with its weight, damp time ⏱️ and take. Then set how damp the sheet goes on, how much ink the pad carries, the number 🔢 of tamp passes and whether a backing felt sits under the pad. The zone grid re-tints as you work, so a risky zone shows up before the pad goes down.

Use the keys when a pull goes wrong ❌. Nine faults are listed with symptom, cause and remedy, such as a flooded groove, a grey field, a ghost double or a dry skip. Six supports and the nine-item roll of kit come with notes 📝 on use and care.

Keep the record. Book of Dead files each pull with its date, its panel and its grade. A zones-by-pulls grid shows which signs still read. A loss chart 📊 shows each panel over time ⏱️, ruled against an acceptable loss of three strokes in ten.

What you get:

Panels ruled into numbered sign-zones

Depth, width, wall angle and wear for every zone

Seven papers and six supports

Sliders for damp, ink load, tamp passes and backing

A fault key with symptom, cause and remedy

A filed record of pulls, with a grid and a loss chart 📊

Everything stays on your device 📱. Book of Dead works offline 📴 and needs no account.