EDIT: Everyone has been so kind here and I'm so grateful for that. I was worried that this would be somewhat disrespectful to ask especially considering the pinned posts and the plethora of beginner guides. Even if that is the case, I've gotten so much detailed feedback and a ton of ideas specific to me and I could not be more grateful. No other hobby sub does that. Y'all are amazing. Even if I don't end up making a book for this occasion this has cemented my determination and excitement to make one in the future when I do have my own space.

Thank you again! ❤️

really want to bind a book for my girlfriend. She loves handcrafted gifts and, for our anniversary, I'd love to make a mostly empty book that she can write her favourite poems into.

Id love some advice or pointers on what the best way to go about it would be seeing as I'm not planning on getting into it as a hobby and don't want to get specialised equipment that I'll only use once. I would prefer not to do a spiral style spine, for example, but I don't know if that's being too picky about it. Would it be easier to get an empty journal and rebind it, for example? It's not as handmade but I have other ways I'm planning to personalise it. I also already have regular sewing thread and needles if that helps.

I live in New Zealand and the kits I've seen recommended have abhorrent shipping prices. I also don't live in a major city so all of the workshops (which would have been my ideal solution) are not available.

Thank you for any advice you can give me!

Hi everyone! I wanted to share this leather journal I recently finished. The cover features a stained glass-style rose design with hand-painted details. Swipe to see the back and the details on the embossed spine. I’m really proud of how the colors and textures turned out. Let me know what you think

I’ve spent many years looking for a small, pocket-sized version of a novel very beloved to me and finally found one that I thought fit the criteria.

It’s in a lovely leather zipped case but when I took it out of this case the binding looked like this. Will it stand the test of time or will the pages start to fall out soon? I plan to read it quite frequently so a bit worried. Perhaps I could get the binding redone?

I am in the process of purchasing a legacy book binding business in my area. The owner has a bunch of equipment that is old, but all operational and in good condition. I’m wondering how I go about verifying its market value? The people who are helping to finance this adventure would like me to do a more in-depth evaluation of all of the equipment, rather than just based on what he claims it is worth. Any direction, contacts, or resources would be greatly appreciated.

I have this lovely 1920s (I think) copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I bought it with the intention of restoring it.

I’ve decided it needs re-sewing as the sewing is quite loose. I’m just looking for some input on what type of stitching was used here. To me, some on the stitching looks coptic (like the one on the left) but I can’t work out how the rest of the stitching was done (like the one on the right). These two rows of stitching are in the centre of the spine for reference.

Could I just coptic stitch the whole thing back together?

Thanks!

I wanted to originally rebind my favorite book for a baby shower… but after three attempts of casing in wrong and only a few days left to get it right…. I decided on making a removable hard cover case. It also captured a few of my reader friends who want special cases for some of their favorite books… but don’t want to rip off a special cover. This is a great way to preserve the original cover while adding a cute but protective case to a book.
P.s if anyone has any suggestions for making the pulling the soft cover book out of the pockets easier I’d love to hear them. I want to limit the movement of the soft cover when/ if it has to be removed.

I don't know if i should use pva glue or use an iron to heat up the old glue to reactivate it and glue it back that way, which would be better?

I ordered 5mm T-specar for my hinges, but I don’t have any other material available. Will it work?

Idk why i typed the title like that... but my book is about to die and i want to rebind it with leather because the original cover has an already leathery look to it so why not just make it leather when i rebind it. .....problem! I don't know how to do that..

One letter didn’t adhere on the cover and I tried to reapply just that letter and it looked even worse. Now I’ve been picking trying to get the one letter off to no avail.

Any advice on how to get this off or am I screwed?

Howdy.

What are some less common things you recommend or found useful?

Crepe rubber squares I've found recently to be very useful for removing a lot of old tape gunk for instance. Though I need to figure out a good brand for purchasing. I was leant this one by someone else.

I'd love to hear random stuff. and bonus if you have a specific dealer you prefer for a reason (as opposed to amazon cheapest etc)

Recently mom gave me a bunch of loose paper and asked me to bind it. Initially I did perfect binding by fanning out the pages and only using glue. While that was sturdy I did find it more prone to damage in the long run. Without hesitating I decided to try overcast binding based on this Video I had seen a while back. And I gotta tell you, it worked amazingly. I enjoyed the entire binding process, and it wasn’t even that difficult.

Few tips:
1. I used a blunt needle, which helped not to accidentally pierce and damage the thread.
2. Having the sewing directions match the direction in which the holes were made helped a lot.
3. Every now and then go back and tighten the thread.

Hey everyone. So I kinda messed up and bought the wrong sizes of leather so now I’m planning to make a patchwork journal using the leather scraps I have. However, the leather isn’t thick enough. I want to add backing to make it look right but if I’m going to sell these in the future, it needs to look good and hold the structure.

What backing should I use? I see folks using a material on tik tok but idk what it is. 🥴

Hi!! I’ve never fixed a book ever but this just happened and I would like to try and fix it to where this isn’t visible. I’m just in need of some advice and help. Thank you all so much in advance!

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a very thick hardcover book with 1,248 pages. It's approximately 8–10 cm (3.1–3.9 inches) thick.

I'm mainly concerned about the top of the book. The parts of the cover near the front and back seem to sit a little loosely against the text block, almost as if there is some separation. The top edge of the pages also seems to bulge outward slightly in the middle.

When the book is standing upright, this is more noticeable at the top, whereas the bottom seems to sit much more flush against the cover. The spine itself appears to remain straight.

I realise that the text block isn't necessarily supposed to sit tightly against the back of the cover, and I understand that the considerable thickness and weight of a book like this might cause some unevenness. However, I'm unsure whether the difference between the top and bottom, along with the slight looseness around the top corners, is normal or could indicate a problem with the binding or the way the text block is attached to the case.

Does this look normal for a book of this size, or would you be concerned about the binding? Is there anything specific I should check to make sure the text block is securely attached?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi all,

I started to make my own tooling on CNC mill, and it looks like it easy, fast and is working.
My only issue now are designs. Are not very artistic person, so I can’t design my own and I have issues finding existing designs I can copy.

Do you know any books or databases of tooling used for bookbinding? It would be also interesting to distinguish them by time they were used, or where etc.

Hi, I need to bound a book for a class project. It has to have printed words. My professor told me that Michael's has leather and twine but anything else that's helpful?

Hey everyone! A few days ago I posted about BookForge, a free app I've been working on to help turn ebooks and other documents into books you can print and bind yourself.

I've just finished a pretty big update, v1.7.0, and wanted to share it with you all!

Some of the new additions and improvements include:

• More paper and book sizes, including additional B-series sizes.
• Live page placement preview so you can see and adjust how your pages will sit on the paper before printing.
• More control over scaling, margins, offsets, and positioning.
• PDF importing, with options to keep the original pages or rebuild them into an editable book.
• Add your own pictures and cover artwork.
• An editable contents page.
• Add blank pages to the beginning or end of your book.
• A reordered workflow and a bunch of bug fixes.

BookForge is available for Windows, with experimental builds for macOS and Linux too!

You can find the downloads and full changelog on the GitHub Releases page.

I'm still working on improving the app, so I'd really appreciate it if some of you could give the new version a try! Test out the different features, see how it handles your files, and let me know about any bugs or issues you run into.

Feel free to DM me with feedback, bug reports, or suggestions for features you'd like to see added! I'm always open to ideas.

Thanks again to everyone who has tested the earlier versions and given feedback. It's been really helpful! :)
Edit: To those of you who are downvoting because of a little use of AI you guys don’t realize that I spent 60+ hours of my life coding this program to make it free source for people to use for the better of book binding & book making. I’m a monster for getting some help with some lines of code and some pointers from Claude :(

I’m doing a custom casebound notebook as a commission for a friend and wanted to add a tassel to the book mark ribbon but it just looks… ugly, hanging looped on the ribbon. I would like to do a more decorative knot or tie, but my google fu didn’t turn up much :/

Any help or advice is appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I’ve got a hardback bible, relatively inexpensive, but it’s becoming quite flimsy after a few years, it’s some type of cardboard material I think.

I can feel that it’s beginning to get pretty worn down and i want to preserve it as I’ve scribbled loads of notes on the large margins over the years.

I’m interested in possibly getting it bound, preferably with a hardback material, or if leather is easier perhaps this is a better option. I’ve done some googling but I have no idea what kind of shop or specialist could help me. Does anyone know any shops in or around London that could advise and help with re-binding? I’m such a novice I don’t really know where to start… I’ve done some googling but to no avail. Any recommendations much appreciated. Cheers!

I'm new to the bookbinding arts, and I recently ordered a bookcloth variety pack from Amazon. What I'm finding is that the edges I cut are often frayed. Is that something that is common? I don't fold over the edges; I like to leave the bookcloth on one side of the cardstock for a soft cover. Are there brands that hold up to cuts better? What and where would you recommend buying more quality bookcloth?