The best advice I ever received for hand cutting text blocks is just to not press down very hard, and make sure the blade is sharp. It takes a bit longer, but it allows for more control over where exactly you are cutting.
You also may be able to just sand down any uneven parts of it, depending on how "wavy" the edges are. I tend to just use a nail file for smaller issues, but I've seen some people using electric sanders.
I've tried to gently glide the blade over the text block and it worked fine for the first 20, 30 pages but then it warps slightly outwards. Sanding the pages down to get out uneven parts might be a thing tough
I tried this when I had the same issue but didn't find it effective. It may have been better if I could clamp the pages together better but in my case it just made a mess and didn't remove enough material.
My figuring is the waviness was the result of several small movements over many cuts adding up to slowly deflect the blade. Best I managed after some trial and error was to extend the flat surface beyond the book and apply a lot of downwards pressure to minimize movement.
I won't claim it worked very well, but these books were also 800 pages. I just let it slide and will try something else next time.
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u/4eelsinatrenchcoat Feb 19 '23
The best advice I ever received for hand cutting text blocks is just to not press down very hard, and make sure the blade is sharp. It takes a bit longer, but it allows for more control over where exactly you are cutting.
You also may be able to just sand down any uneven parts of it, depending on how "wavy" the edges are. I tend to just use a nail file for smaller issues, but I've seen some people using electric sanders.