Book Up Date - It Is Finished

   The last few photographs of the process show the cloth covering being glued to the boards. Just like all workshop projects, you can never have too many clamps.  I stretched white cloth around the edges of the boards and clamped it 'til dry.

  You can see the binding ribbons that were glued to the spine and will be glued to the boards and held in place by the front and back pages.  When the book is being made, the ribbons are sewn right into the spine of the book.  I wasn't prepared to take the book fully to pieces and re-sew the binding so I glued the new ribbons on.  Modern glues are so good, I have no concern that the ribbon will come loose.

  The book is together.  There are 18 feet of repair tape inside fixing rips.  I was forced to cut down a dozen pages that had deteriorated along the edges to the point there was nothing to save. Those pages were all in the index so almost nothing was actually lost.  All the colour illustrations and recipes  were saved.  As well all the loose pages (25) were re-attached so it is now a complete and usable copy of the original book.

  Cleverly my wife went on line and down loaded a copy of the books cover and printed it out.  After getting a print out the correct size she coloured the lettering to replicate the gold leaf printing and re-created the cover's original back ground colour too.  After all that she made a clear plastic cover to protect all that hard work.  Actually a cook book should come with a plastic cover automatically. 

  Anyone that looks at this effort will realize that it is not a 'restoration', it was a repair, that saved a family favourite cook for another generation or two.  If they can read the old style script!!.

  Actually book binding is a low tech, high satisfaction  craft.  If you search 'book binding DIY' on Youtube the are many  good and informative videos available, Sea Lemon  is one of my favourites for ALL the different sewing methods used to bind books. 

  Cheers Ianw

Book Repair

   I have always loved books and reading, maybe more than wood working.  In the early 1980's I took a multi-week community college course to learn book binding and restoration. Book binding requires few special tools but endless patience. Over the last forty years I have bound a few books, I use the tricks and skills to make my own watercolour sketch books and I have repaired (saved) a few books. I am not a trained conservator and I don't do leather binding.

  This last week we have enjoyed some good spring weather and so we've been outside and my time in the workshop has been spent on maintenance sorts of things which are not very interesting, not even to me.

  Mainly my energy has been focused on restoring and re-binding my late Mother-in-Law's old, old cook book.  The cook book  has many loose pages and the cover is falling right off. Clearly it was a well loved and heavily used cook book. I'm told it is the German equivalent of our "Joy of Cooking", a go to book for home cooks.

since the cover is so loose many pages at the front and back are loose too.

I won't re-sew the signatures. I will use latex glue to hold the loose pages in and 

attache the binding tape.

  When dealing with book repairs there are a few special tools:

 Transparent Mend Tissue, a type of tape, that isn't plastic and doesn't yellow.

Linen binding tape - used to attached the cover boards to the body of the book.

sharp scissors, tweezers, very sharp knife, bone folder, straight edge, rubber cement, paste, spray bottle of water, magnifying glass. dental pick and cutting mat.

The first thing I did was go through every attached page and tape any tears in the pages.  The linen tape is 1/2 inch by 12 feet. To repair all the tears I used 15 feet of tape.  There were many torn pages.

All the pages are here, it is just a case of smoothing them out, repairing or trimming the frayed edges and carefully gluing the pages in where they belong.  A full restoration would cut the signatures free and re-sew them while putting the loose pages back.  I have found that sewing signatures requires more practice to do it well than I have acquired.

 Really crumpled papers unfold better when slightly dampened, other wise the paper can be too brittle. I have only five pages left to re-attach, that is about an hour of fussy work, for me.  A skilled experienced book binder would be quicker.  So today I will finish putting the pages back into the book and tomorrow begin the work on the outside. (the covers etc.)

  Happy Spring time everyone.

cheers, ianw 

 

May 12th 2020 - Clean up -Update

  I have been working for several hours each day in my workshop for the last couple of weeks.  I still have a day or two's work ahead of me but the progress is most satisfying, albeit, almost invisible.  Being able to stay at home for several days at a time had emboldened  me to begin a serious shop clean up, which became a total shop overhaul.  We moved into this home 11 1/2 years ago and my wood shop slowly and inextricably gathered tools and materials.  The gathering together of tools and materials was slow and the chaos was insidious.  

  The process began with me unloading and re-stacking my wood rack.

before

That photo doesn't show the piles of wood in other sections of the shop. It does give a feeling for the gathered chaos however.  Behind and beside were other piles of lumber, most, now are fire wood.  It is slightly depressing to discover how much of your treasured wood is truthfully just fire wood.

after

 I took the time to prop up the bottom shelves and support the upper two shelves with straps, the rack had looked to sag a bit over time.  Once I began, things just seemed to gather momentum.

Next came clamps. On October 21st 2011 I published this photo of my clamps.  It is now 2020 and I have at least twice as many  clamps.

before

 Yesterday they all came down and I remounted them.  Twice as many clamps fill the same space now they are in one place and accessible.

  As well as giving all those clamps a place to live I racked up all my spring clamps.

  Over the years clamps came home with me from wood shows and other events and only now do they have an organised place to live.

  The gradual collection of tools, finishes and other materials caused my space to become un-workable.

My hand saws were spread about collecting dust and not being useful.  I changed that by moving my saw till, and hanging other saws and tools on my movable shelving unit.

back side

                   

  The saws that are needed are at hand, the saws that are collected are out of the way.  I also have two IKEA bag/rag collectors on the back of the cabinet.

November 2015 is when I adapted these two STEN Ikea units. May 2020 is when I unpacked, repacked and reorganized the contents.

  Last week I moved the wall mounted cabinets and today I am throwing more wood and useless craft materials out.  My collection of Craft related stuff is the last hold out and the shop with by like something out of my dreams. (for a while)

  As this moving and re-arranging has been going on there have been several small projects going on.  I bound a book of A-Z paintings. If you are interested in book binding go to SEA LEMON on Facebook. Jennifer does a variety of crafts but has an entire section on DIY book binding.

  I finished a purple and gold walking stick for my Grand Daughter. I repaired a picture frame to my Grand Son's drawing of their cat. I added a lid and began to use a small parts organizer to sort screws and nail etc.

  I am making  a tool box and have taken down four unnecessary shelves to open up my work space by making the shop less cave like.

  It has been busy, enlightening (less is more) and some what satisfying.  I have a really nice piece of old oak that floated to the top, now is needs a quality project, and I have the space in which to do it.

cheers, ianw

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Woodworking and Making

   I was not aware that "making" was a thing as I grew up, because I lived in a family of "makers".  We often made things that we wanted and until computer chips invaded all aspects of life home made things were pretty good.

  I am still a "maker" as well as a wood worker.  Something I have done for years is make books.  I took a book binding course at college 35 years ago and have bound my own note books since then.  Recently I have been making sketch books for my Grand Children.  My most recent book:

6 x 9 inch pages.

    I mixed a variety of techniques to make a sketch book from mixed-media paper and I recycled the card stock from a frozen pizza box for the cover.  I may need to re-enforce the corners before the book is used up.  I  have 24 pages stitched with waxed thread which makes for a study and useful sketch book.  This is an easy thing to do in a 'wood shop' all you need is glue, half a dozen spring clamps and a sharp knife.  I've been doing things with re-used paper for years. 

   While I've been puttering about in my shop my wife has been very busy finishing her latest stained glass project.

  To enable Eva to work as high as she needed we created a platform upon which the ladder stood.  The platform is oak church pew (3/4 inch) Since I have a well equipped shop the wood is firmly clamped together and then clamped to my two saw benches, with the wings supported by stools.  Eva wasn't interested in taking any risks while working on the ladder.

  Eva  carefully hung 60 pieces of cut stained glass to finish the entrance way light fixture.  

    In the wood shop I have been working on a crochet hook case from Eva.

  I opted to drill out the interior of the case.  In the past I have tried to use a router to clear out material but I have not had success.  The router is an excellent tool in practised hands, but mine aren't,  so drilling out the waste material works most comfortably for me.  This particular forstner bit has had its centre bit ground off to make clean up easier.

  These weights hold the inserts down while the glue dries.  My original plan was to use small hinges on this box, but the cheap salvaged hinges would not provide good enough alignment.  I decided to use leather for the hinge.

  The inside of the hook case remains only to be varnished and this project is done.  I will search out a small hook/latch once I am out and shopping again.

  While doing these various small things and waiting for the glue to dry I have been sorting out and throwing away things in the shop.  I knew I saved stuff.  But the saved stuff is beginning to impinge on the reason that it was saved.  So far I've filled a garbage bag with solid wood finishes and useless cleaning rags.  I had many small jars with a 1/2 cup of stain, or vanish, or oil or ..... All of which is passed being useful and it is time it was tossed out.   I have also been sharpening things, my 'day to day'  chisels are over due for attention as are some shop knives.  

  The biggest issue is going to be the back of the shop.  I have a shelving unit that is the catch all, dumping zone for all manner of scraps and found  bits.  Before I get into it in a big way I need to hang another work light in that dark corner.  Have you even noticed that one job leads to another?

  I'm baking bread, varnishing projects and vacuuming the house today, as well as blogging. Really, luckily, I haven't been forced to change my life much.

  cheers, ianw