Book Binding

[gdawg90985]

So I'm looking to try my hand at bookbinding from scratch, from printing and folding signatures to attaching wooden boards for the covers, to tooling and connecting the leather binding to the wood. The book that I want to bind is planned to be 8-1/2 by 11inch after folding the signatures, thinking about trying to find some 1/8th inch boards for the covers,and I'm planning on using 1inch leather strips to bind the signatures to and then glue the strips to the boards. I also plan to have a serious amount of tooling to do on the leather. I'm curious about what extra leather I should have around the edges, any recommendations or critiques would also be helpful.

[shtoink]

Not sure if I have too much I can add, but I'll do my best.

Bookbinding can be pretty involved, but it depends on just how you want to go about doing it. I have only done some coptic stitch style bindings, since it fit the project I was working on at the time.

For my project, I ended up using some 1.5 - 2.0mm thick leather to wrap it all up in. Anything thicker, and it would not have wrapped around the edges very well. Even then, I still have to do a heap of skiving to keep it from stacking up too thick when the sections overlapped and were all glued down.

I think that it would be better to sew the signatures together, then attach the stitches along the spine to the leather strips, but I could be all wrong on that.

I tried to find a few links to what I think you might be aiming for...

Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3

I know that you can get veg tanned goat skin than is pretty thin, but offers the ability to be tooled. The other aspect is than you can place objects under the leather when wrapping it to give it an extra level of dimension. Maybe some cut scraps of veg tanned that can be shaped to add to you design, the sky is the limit. Based on what I experienced, the thinner leather will likely give a better look and not add a lot of bulk/thickness to the final book.

Just in case you are interested, here are some images of the journal that I had made and photographed. The images below are links to the full size.

I hope this gives you something to work with.

[LumpenDoodle2]

There are a number of very good instructional vids and blogs out there that may help you. I use 0.8-1.3mm leather, and still have to skive the edges.

One thing you have to consider with thick leather, is what happens when you try to open the book. Too stiff, and the spine will crack. Check out a company calld J Hewit &Son, they are based in Livingston, Scotland, and do a great little newsletter covering a lot of info on the practical side of bookbinding. They also stock the neccesary tools and leather, so should give you a good idea on what you need.

I have made covers using cut out cardboard shape glued onto the boards, then moulded the leather over the shapes, then added gilt decoration, but never tooled the covers any other way.

[byggyns]

I just (finally) posted pictures from a project I did over a year ago. Take a look at this and let me know if you have any questions about what I did.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=68208

The pictures are mostly of the cover construction. The book block was attached to the cover via cotton muslin. I used heavy kraft paper fly leaves, then attached the decorative fly leaves to secure the muslin to the cover and book block.

I needed it to be tough because my friend took it around the world with her for a year & lived out of her backpack.

Edited January 26, 2016 by byggyns

[pansa]

I'm a pretty amateur leather worker in terms of this site, but I am a professional bookbinder/conservator, and I just want to add that it is really important to remember the grain direction of the paper and the wood (everything needs to run parallel to the spine), otherwise you will get major warping. Depending on how many signatures you want to include, I'd consider using 1/4" board. 1/8" will warp pretty easily with leather attached to it, though I understand if it's a thin book, 1/4" can look too hefty. You'll also want to sew the text block directly to the boards, as typically glue alone won't hold up over time.

I'll try to dig up a few coptic or longstitch pdfs I have floating around and upload them here when I get home from work. What do you mean "extra leather around the edges?"

[gdawg90985]

The plan for the book right now is around half to three quarters of an inch thick, not counting the boards. Also I am planning to stitch the pages to the boards instead of gluing them, and to have about half an inch to 3/4 in of leather around the boarders to wrap the boards in and glue. I am planning to use 1/4in boards now by the way.

[pansa]

The plan for the book right now is around half to three quarters of an inch thick, not counting the boards. Also I am planning to stitch the pages to the boards instead of gluing them, and to have about half an inch to 3/4 in of leather around the boarders to wrap the boards in and glue. I am planning to use 1/4in boards now by the way.

seems like a good plan! I found my hard copies of a coptic tutorial but honestly when I googled it the first result is something that is arguably more clear. Not that you need it, but just in case:

https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/mborhani/coptic_binding.pdf

Good luck! and Take some pictures!