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It'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 bindi

It'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 ago
Thanks 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 ago
  The 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...

mongol 4y ago

Thanks 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 ago
The 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...