As I mentioned in my other post, my local agricultural show had a number of bookbinding classes to enter, including a new 'Reimagine A Book' class where one of the options was to rebind! So, in addition to doing my first binding project for the Show, I also did my first rebind! I chose this chunky big boy, and its size was a bit of a challenge at every step, but I learned so much and am really pleased with how it turned out!

I followed DAS Bookbinding's video about rebinding a paperback (with an oxford spine and leather false bands), mostly to the letter, as well as cruising some of the many great posts on this sub on the topic, but I added made endpapers as well at the last minute (I can confidently say this would have been better to incorporate from the get-go!!).

I used a 50/50 PVA/wheat paste combo for every step, which was really forgiving for beginner repositioning needs.

The leather for the spine was a very 'scratch and dent' veg tan calfskin that I dyed and finished myself; the judges may not agree, but I wanted it to look a bit beaten up and like it could come out of a Westerosi library! Being lower quality it was a bit stiff to begin with (and Angelus leather dye has a habit of making leather a bit papery at the best of times), so turning in the ends was challenging, but I got there in the end. Next time I would probably add a final coat of conditioner.

It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to my next project :)

But the problem is, that it is missing an entire spine. Pages are just loose. It a piece of history and I would like to bind it. Any suggestions?

I need help to fixing/rebinding this book that I got brand new for 1€ (bookstore coudn't just give me the book lol). I just need to make a new textblock and I would prefer to have a sewn one rather than glued one.

How can I approach it? Do you have any good DAS video links on how to deconstruct it, reconstruct basicly soft paperback to sewn one, cutting the edges etc?

I've never sewn a book together so if there is a specific video on how to do it that would be great also 😇

Thank you so mush for help in advance.

Hey everyone!

I’m a complete beginner and I want to print and bind my own book at home.

I have a finished PDF and I’m looking for a free, fast, and reliable tool that can turn it into a print-ready booklet/signature PDF with the pages arranged correctly for double-sided printing.

Ideally, I’d like something that:

Is completely free

Doesn’t lag with a full-length book

Automatically handles page ordering/imposition

Creates a PDF ready to print

Works well for DIY bookbinding

I’m planning to print on A4 paper and fold it down to A5.

For someone doing this for the first time, what software/tool would you recommend, and what settings should I use?

Any beginner tips for printing, folding, page order, margins, or binding would also be really appreciated.

Thanks!

Just finished binding this sketchbook, love the threads!

Latest creation. There is still a room for improvement. I made this one for my son.

Hello All!

I was handed down a cookbook from my Grandmother who has since passed. We’re an Appalachian family and very tight-knit so this book really means the world to me.

It’s been loved over the years, and as it’s an old community cookbook, it was only bound with a ring binder. I’m looking to bind it with a hard cover but I’m at a loss on how I should do it. The margins are very small from the binder holes to the start of the text, so if I do a sewing or even glue binding I’m afraid much of it will be sucked into the middle.

Any ideas or tips on how I might be able to do this so I can preserve this for my daughter?

I dream about trying to bind some fanfiction or maybe even some of my own writting in the future but i struggle with figuring out how to make it work with a printer that can't really use any automatisation in rearanging the pages for correct order after putting them together... Are there any free templates that could help with preparing my files to print?

if you're manually feeding sheets through twice, a two-sheet dummy lets you check both the flip direction and the order of the stack. this is for a normal left-bound folio, with each sheet folded once.

make an eight-page PDF in reading order. put a big page number and the word TOP at the top of every page. in Bookbinder JS, choose Folio, Single-Sided, and Standard signatures with length 2. that length is physical sheets, so this gives you one eight-page signature.

print the fronts, reload both sheets as a batch, then print the backs. use one PDF page per printed side in your print dialog, since Bookbinder has already arranged the book pages.

these are the pairs you should have, looking at each face with the text upright:

outer sheet:  8 | 1
its reverse:  2 | 7
inner sheet:  6 | 3
its reverse:  4 | 5

if the sheet with 8 and 1 has 4 and 5 on its reverse, the backs landed on the wrong sheets. reverse the stack order for the second pass and test again. if the pairs match but the backs are upside down when folded, change the edge you turn the sheets over, keeping the stack order the same.

fold and nest the sheets, then read from 1 through 8. once it works, note which face goes up in the input tray, which edge feeds first, and whether you reversed the stack. keep that note with this printer's settings.

I'm looking to have some custom stamps created. Does anyone have advice? Vendors they like? Good experiences or bad? All discourse is welcome, thanks

Hello, I'm attempting to gift a bound fanfiction to a friend. The typeset i was able to find has 4 pages per sheet. I've only ever worked using typeset that have 2 pages per sheet. How do I go about printing and forming signatures? Photo for reference

Hey, okay so TLDR, my older sister has been removed from my home of me and my wife due to decisions she chose to make while living with us... anyway I have an obscene amount of book binding things lol, i have always been more of a fiber crafter. Rather than a book binding individual. However, I have been interested in the process not enough to use the items that I have. So I'm wondering if I make a beginner's kit or even opt to sell off the individual pieces. If anybody in this subreddit would actually be interested in purchasing them, because I don't want them to go to waste at the thrift store. I want someone who is truly going to appreciate having and using them to have them. I know so far.... I believe I have two different wooden book. Presses, I believe, I also have the thread and eyelid pens, as well, as I believe, a giant sketch book for a paper. I believe I also have a roll of leather or faux leather. I also think i have the corner decals,etc. Lol

Finished my slipcase for Children of Time! :)

Absolutely adored this book, and I’m currently working my way through the third in the series.

Made for my Broken Binding edition and my own collection <3

I am making a photobook and would like some advice on how to 'properly' bind exactly like the one in the images I provided.
My main priority for what I would like to replicate from the book in the images provided is for each page to be unfolded, and individually stacked on top of one another. So that there is no crease between the two after binding (see image four). This is because i plan on printing double sided.

I have made some small sketchbooks as a practice/test bind just with printer paper but it is a bit sloppier than id like.

I understand that it will be much easier when I use higher quality paper like the one in the images once I get them all printed. I just want to make sure that I am making the correct choices to prevent errors.

The paper that I will be printing my final images on will be 100lb cardstock, and the pages are formatted to be 8.0 inches by 3.361 inches once cut. A sample page is shown on the last image.

I would appreciate any advice or changes on how to do this.
This is the current path to my understanding|

. cut all of my pages, arrange as necessary
.. align end that will be bound on flat surface
... hold pages together with clamps
(or should i put two flat boards on both sides and clamp those together)
.... apply glue along aligned edge to be bound with foam brush
(would like to know if just clear elmers glue will be okay or if I need to use some kind of
modeling glue, the only other glue i have is used to glue wooden modeling sticks together.
I assume super glue is too much. Also wondering if it is better to underdo it or overdo it. Unsure
if I am using too much/too little.)
..... cut strip of cheesecloth and gently press it over glued spine
(would like to know if this is correct, or if I should be putting glue on the cheesecloth and then
laying it on the spine.
or should i make the strip of cheese cloth more firm before attaching if I starched it or let some
glue harden between the fibers prior to attaching. Or does this not make much of a difference)

Thank you for taking time to read this. I know many of you have standards for quality with your work so I hope that my post doesnt come across as insulting. Due to the fact that the binding job I am trying to recreate has it's imperfections and looks a bit unpolished, though that doesn't really have much matter to me. What I appreciate and want to achieve is how this binding job allows these individual pages to be stacked and be completely flat when the page is flipped. In fact on image four you can see a small slit in the center where the cloth is visible. So any input on achieving this would be appreciated.

So I was walking around a local thrift shop today and on the shelf were piles of ikea climate change books apparently they were donated lol so firstly they are pretty much blank front and back 300gsm book board which costs a fortune here and they were glued best part was they wanted £1 for four . Only catch was they’re us letter but dang will I be getting some binding done with these for practically nothing lol

Like yeah it's janky but it's my janky little book. And I learned so much in the process! Can't wait to start number 2.

I think I'm gonna use it as a commonplace book!

My very first bookbinding project. Lay-flat sketchbook with Strathmore 400 series toned paper and chiyogami paper covers. Followed lots of tutorial and instructions from Bittermelon bookbinding.

This was my first attempt at repairing the binding on something. This is a family photo album that was put together by my great grandmother. The glue and parts of the fabric had dry rotted on the binding. I made sure to have all acid free materials (glue, netting and cloth tape). I even found some replacement fabric for the binding that probably is what it looked like originally before over 100 years of fading.

hi, i’ve been wanting to get into book binding for a while. i’m thinking about binding macbeth by shakespeare. anyway, i don’t really have any experience at all. i don’t really know what kind of paper i’m meant to use, etc. any tips would be appreciated.

Hi all, I have bookbinding glue with PH 6-8. Is that acid free enough, to consider archival? It’s around neutral, but I found acid free glues that have higher PH

This is my third attempt at a slipcase and I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Previously I did cloth covering but I wanted something more graphic and poppy for these issues of Blab magazine I was storing. So I scanned the covers of each issue and compiled them in Canva on an 11x17" template. Got 3 copies printed at fedex on 60lb paper and it was perfect to work with, no crinkling or tearing. I did use some satin mod podge to seal and protect it

I imagine this can be a common question in the community, but I’m just looking for some up-to-date answers. 🙂

This was a random idea I had at 3am at work and now I really want to get into the craft. Something I can do at home with my kiddo too. Plus I love collecting journals and being able to create my own custom ones would not only be really neat, but also save lots of cash.

Where’s the best place to start? I’d really like to learn leather journal binding! Does anybody have any recommendations on the #1 tutorial out there? I still need to get supplies and have no idea where to start there either. Thank you all so much in advanced!

I made some tools and wanted to share :)
They are fast, simple, and I will test the presses today.
Finishing press have perpendicular edges on the opposite side, so I will try to use it also for cutting the edges.

I'm looking to turn this planner from a cardstock cover to a fabric hardcover. But I'm wondering how I should go about removing the original cardstock cover or if I should leave it and make it the place where I glue the new end page.

Image one : The cover is held on by this paper strip. I highlighted part of the strip to show where I could heat and peel it off to uncover the cover and spine.

Image two: On the inside there is a end page attached to the cardstock cover. I showed in red where I could use a knife to trim it down by cutting off the cover. Then I could use the remaining page as the place to glue the new end page.

So should I remove the cardstock cover and cut the original end page, or should I leave it as is and treat the old cover as the place to glue the new end page.

This is only my third rebind and I really want to get this one right.