Book Cover

[Dolphini]

I want to make a leather cover for our boats log book.

It is A4 size only about 1cm thick and has soft cover.

The soft cover makes me unsure what the best option would be.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[Dwight]

A few years ago, one of my church's elders was in a nasty accident, . . . van VS trees, . . . trees won. His Bible got slammed around real good, broke the spline cover and messed up the front & back covers real bad too. They were really thin vinyl like leather over cardboard.

He was going to toss it when I offered to try & fix it. I contact cemented the pieces of the cover back together so at least the cover was all one piece.

I then covered the outside of the book cover with contact cement. I also covered a piece of 3 oz veggie tan with contact cement. It was cut so that it was substantially bigger than the outside of the Bible.

I laid one side of the Bible down on the leather and rolled it (while it was closed up) across the back onto the other side. I then used a rolling pin to make sure the contact cement all held good. I then took some really painful long time as I went around the outside of it with a super sharp razor knife and cut the leather just to the edge of the old cover.

After stamping a rose petal billfold pattern and his name onto the front cover, I presented it to him, and he still carries it.

If I do say so myself, it turned out really good.

May God bless,

Dwight

[wildrose]

I have a paperback Bible and the cover I made for it is 4/5 oz veggie tan. I gouged lines for the spine, so it would fold nicely, and used separate pieces for the interior flaps. Works fine for me!

[King's X]

Good morning. I struggled with the same thing until I saw George Hurst's video on book covers. Than I saw this instruction guide somewhere.....I believe that Al Shelton may have put it together through one of the old magazines I have in my collections. Anyways, I copied it and now have it up on my wall over my drawing desk. I scanned it for you in hopes that it will provide you with some "general" guidelines to help you in your new quest.

Good luck! Don't forget to post picture of your completed. project.

[Dolphini]

I mean Mwah!

No way to say it better, You guys are great. Thank you all SOOO much. Will definately post results.

Edited July 29, 2010 by Dolphini

[King's X]

Good luck

[Bob Blea]

Good morning. I struggled with the same thing until I saw George Hurst's video on book covers. Than I saw this instruction guide somewhere.....I believe that Al Shelton may have put it together through one of the old magazines I have in my collections. Anyways, I copied it and now have it up on my wall over my drawing desk. I scanned it for you in hopes that it will provide you with some "general" guidelines to help you in your new quest.

Hello,

Looking at the picture it's a little hard to tell the dimensions. It looks like it's recommending a 3/8" border beyond the edge of the binder, is that correct? Also, I see it recommends some extra allowance (maybe 1/8 inch) on each side of the spine for the gouge lines? I'm assuming this is to allow for the thickness of the leather? Am I reading that correct?

Thanks for posting this!

Bob

[King's X]

Top and bottom is 3/8" allowance

sides is 5/8"

left and right of the grooves is 1/4", but I would advise you to go up to 1"-2" for a hardback book. The 1/4" might be okay for the vinyl binder that they show, but I almost did not get the book into my first cover. I also damped the inside pockets and let the moisture set in before putting in the book (with protection). It caused it to create a channel for the cover. I have a picture of one of my latest covers around this computer somewhere. Let me look around and I will post it up. I know that I have it on my blog site...address below.

Good luck