When the press is unblocked, and the boarded books are taken out, the next operation is that of cutting the edges, to which, accordingly, we will now proceed.

Here let us impress upon the reader the necessity of having his plough knife in good order. It must be very sharp, and have a smooth edge. He must learn to grind it up at the ordinary grindstone, so as to keep the point the same shape it had when new, and it must be ground thin for edge cutting. For cutting millboards it may be rather what engineers call "stunt," but for edge cutting it must be ground thin. Then it should be carefully whetted on the oil stone after grinding, in order that all the roughness of edge left by the grindstone be removed. It is best to keep two ploughs in use, one for the millboard cutting, and one for the edges of the books.

The knife should be perfectly straight and true in the plough. By screwing the cheeks of the plough together, and noticing where the point of the knife falls, you can form some judgment, but when you begin the cutting you will soon discover how it is running. The knife is regulated (that is to say, its point is elevated or depressed) by adding to, or removing from the pieces of waste paper put between it and the cheek of the plough on each side of the knife bolt.

In cutting, begin with the head, holding the back of the book towards you. Pull up the millboard on the left-hand side level with the head (top) of the book, and place it against the "cut against." Then draw down the millboard at the front (right hand), until it is as much below the head as you want to cut off. Then place the "runner" precisely level with the top of the millboard, lower the whole carefully into the press, and screw up as tightly as you can. The sectional position is shown at Fig. 79, where A is the book, B the "cut against,"

and C the "runner." Now place the plough in the rods, and slowly and carefully work it to and fro, holding it firmly down, and turning the screw as the plough recedes from you. The head being cut turn the book and cut the tail in a similar manner.

Next lay the book on the cheek of the press, and draw the bodkin along the front edge of each board, making a line and an occasional indentation. A cutting-board should be placed

under the end paper while this is done. Now beat the back of the book quite Hat against the cheek of the press, and push the trindles under the back. The trindles (of which a pair are required) are pieces of thin iron of the shape of A (Fig. 80).

One of these is pushed between the back and the boards at the head of the book, and one at the tail, so that the first and last bands go in their insides respectively, as shown (from above) in Fig. 81. This is done to push up the back, and make it quite Hat. Some bookbinders prefer a piece of plain iron,

as at B (Fig. 80), thicker at one edge than the other, as shown in section C in same figure. These are pushed in under the head and tail kettle-stitch.

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