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As someone who just completed my third and fourth courses in fine leather binding, I can say with authority that this is a very quick and sensible method of mak
by fatbird 4y ago
As someone who just completed my third and fourth courses in fine leather binding, I can say with authority that this is a very quick and sensible method of making a durable binding for this level of value. As Falcolas noted, this is partway to doing a double fan method, which specifically allows for the glue penetration the author is looking for.
What the author could also do is get some board (like, say, the cardboard on the back of legal pads), clamp all that together prior to gluing, extend the spine an inch off a countertop with heavy books on the rest of the book block to hold it still, and then use a hacksaw to saw into the spine at intervals, about 1/32nd of an inch deep, crosswise to the spine. Take a piece of thread, dental floss, or fine string, and after gluing, press it into the first channel, loop back into the second, then the third, etc. Wipe excess glue and then put the duct tape over the spine, pressing it down evenly--THEN you fold the tape over the front and back at the same time, taping down the thread loops to the front and back of the board. Now you have a semi-hardcover, depending on the thickness of the boards.
Note that the duct tape adds little to the structure. You could also use a piece of cotton or linen in its place, you just have to glue it down to the front and back. This would be stronger, longer term, because PVA will hold better than duct tape adhesive over the years. If you do, cut the cloth "on the bias" meaning at 45 degrees to the weave. This prevents fraying and increases overall strength, for the forces it will encounter. If you do this, you can add another layer of PVA to the spine on top of the cloth, which increases strength.
My wife is a teacher and we created something like this as an exercise for all of her art students to make their own journals, with the final step being covering it with kraft paper. They loved it, used it for their art journals all semester, and asked to do it again at the end so they could have another.
If you get the basic assembly and gluing right, you'll be very surprised at the durability of something like this, including a lot of punishment like opening the book flat and using your hand to "break" the spine. It'll hold together.
- mongol 4y agoDoes this hacksaw trick have a name? Would like to Google it to see if I can find it illustrated
- fatbird 4y agoIt's called "sawn-in cords", as in using a saw to make a channel to hold the cords. It was a very common technique in the 18th and 19th centuries in fine binding that allowed for faster sewing of the text block; the cords would be thicker hemp or linen cords, to which the boards of the book would be attached. In "perfect binding", which is the name for the overall class of binding the linked article is describing, where individual sheets are glued together along one edge, it's still called sawn-in cords for lack of a better name. It's not a typical addition in perfect binding, but it's exactly the same technique with the same purpose: adding cords to increase strength. Here's a video of a well-known binder, Sage Reynolds, doing it as I described it for a perfect bound book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMXHmXSYXso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMXHmXSYXso
- mongol 4y agoThanks a lot. It seems quite easy to do with simple tools so I will definitely try it. It is only that press thing that I would need to improvise somehow.
- fatbird 4y agoThe simplest solution is some quarter inch plywood (art stores have these as panels in various sizes like 9x12" or 6x8") and some clamps. For overall pressure, add some heavy books on top. For sawing, if the overall assembly of pages and boards and clamps is stable, there's a bunch of ways for you to hold it steady, including just in your lap: the sawing is on a very small scale. You could also clamp the whole assembly in a bench vise. I have one of those presses and it's definitely useful for a variety of binding tasks, but honestly, I've never used it the way it is in the video. I have a laying press [0] that I use for such things, and once you see the logic of that, it's pretty straightforward to reproduce the effect with boards and clamps. [0] https://hollanders.com/collections/presses-other-equipment/products/finishing-press-red-oak?variant=30314102685750 https://hollanders.com/collections/presses-other-equipment/p...