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Bookbinding

With numerous engravings and diagrams
by Paul N. Hasluck 1903

Guillotine

 

The guillotine is another kind of cutting machine for trimming the edges of books. The name of the machine sufficiently explains for the present purpose its construction and the manner of using it. It is expensive, and is used for cloth books.

The tub is the stand on which the lying press is supported. The sides of the tub are often boarded up for some distance from the floor, to contain the shavings cut from the book edges. A large, open rectangular packing case makes a good tub.

A pair of large stout shears (similar to those em­ployed by tinsmiths), one handle of which is held in the press, the other being worked by the binder, is desirable when much cutting up of millboards for book covers has to be done, though a sharp knife, like that used by shoemakers will answer the pur­pose. It is, of course, obvious that a smooth, hard bed for cutting on must be provided, and, if a knife is used, a steel straightedge or T-square is required as a guide for the knife. A grindstone and oilstone are very economical additions, for all cutting tools must be kept sharp.

The holing machine is used for perforating the covers of books. These holes are intended for the reception of the ends of the bands or cords by which the book is attached to its covers; but a bradawl or a bodkin or a small punch will answer the pur­pose of a holing machine. A tenon saw is required for making the "kerfs," which are grooves or cuts made across the back of a book to hold the bands or cords upon which the sheets of the book are sewn. These cuts are made when the book is screwed up tightly in the lying press.

Backing boards are of very hard wood, as they have to resist considerable strain, and are made in pairs of the usual book sizes. The purpose for which backing boards are used, and the shape of the boards (the bevels being somewhat exaggerated for the sake of clearness), will be seen on reference to Figs. 35 and 36, Cutting boards, as their name implies, are placed on each side of the book when its edges are cut, and they are not so thick as backing boards. Though both backing boards and cutting boards can be made by an amateur, he is advised to purchase a pair of backing boards to serve as a pattern for those he may afterwards make.

Sundry small tools include one or two pairs of scissors, a sharp-pointed knife for squaring plates­, that is, single-leaf illustrations-large sewing needles, a small wooden tub for thick paste and an earthenware vessel for thin paste, a large glue-pot for thin glue and a smaller pot for thick glue, with brushes for applying both paste and glue, sprinkle pot (any large stoneware vessel or gallipot will do), a sprinkle-brush, which must be a well-made brush with a stout wrought-iron ferrule (not a bit of com­mon hoop iron, but a ferrule made by a smith), an agate burnisher, that known as a dog's tooth being the most useful, a backing hammer, a small round marble slab and paring knife, one or two bent pointed folding sticks, and a pair of iron compasses. Many of these tools, or such as may very well be substituted for them, are already possessed by the majority of amateur workers. Other tools may be constructed, or may be purchased second-hand of printers' brokers. An ingenious amateur will con­trive many mechanical aids for facilitating his work as soon as he understands the purpose to be accomplished. An expensive plant, therefore, is not absolutely necessary to enable anyone to begin bookbinding. It is, however, obvious that proper tools and machines lessen labor and save time.

 

 
 

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