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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  1890 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: January 23, 2019

I make books by hand for a hobby. They're not anything fancy, as I'm not able to afford equipment such as sewing frames, guillotine, book presses, etc. So I make do with small tools that pretty much everyone uses, such as exacto knives, binder clips, vices, etc. Even then though, when you use the right materials from places like https://www.hollanders.com/ or https://www.talasonline.com/ and follow traditional methods, the end results come out not only sturdy, but halfway good looking.

I've been thinking a while now about buying cheap paperbacks and re binding them using the double fan method and putting them in hard covers. Not only would the new binding be more sturdy than the standard perfect binding manufacturers use, but I'll have something new to figure out how to do and improve upon.

I haven't tried this yet, but I do have two things I'll need to figure out. In regards to removing the original glue, should I heat the spine up to take it apart or go to a print shop and have them cut the spine off. The heat method means I'll have to hassle with glue removal, but it'll preserve the margins of the pages. The cut method is easier, but it means I'm cutting into the margins. I also exclusively make flat back casings for my books and I'll have to figure out whether or not that pulls on the spine too much. If it does, I'll have to go with a more traditional casing, where there's not that extra bit of book board along the spine. Which might have its own unforseen problems.

Looks like I'll have to do some research this week.





johnnyFive  ·  1889 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've long wanted to get involved in this kind of thing. In my case, though, I have less interest in the physical binding side as I do the printing side: the layout, etc. I've always loved the visual aesthetic of text.

user-inactivated  ·  1889 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yes! I wouldn't know of any titles to recommend, but there are a lot of really good books out there in regards to bookbinding. They cover everything from history, to materials, to techniques. I'm sure there's equally good resources for printing, both traditional and modern methods.