Book binding

A hole punch and a snap folder,lidl had them both thursday gone?

Copydex might be better. I've used this to patch up old paperbacks and it's much more flexible than PVA when cured. Smells a bit at first though ....

Not DIY, I suppose, but take them to your local Kall Kwik, Prontaprint, or independant on-demand printers (or if you live near the local printing ghetto), any company advertising "print finishing" and they'll perfect bind or spiral bind or comb bind for you (probably while you wait).

DIY alert! You could get some medium weight card and make a pair of covers.

HTH Rumble

Commonly use hot melt glue for this purpose - with a special heater device. PVA is likely to take quite a while to dry. You might manage with a hot glue gun.

I'd suggest clamping the wodge of paper close to the binding edge and gently sawing the side (roughens it up and improves the stick) before glueing.

Always stick a piece of something round the bound edge/spine - even just a piece of paper - to help stop the first and last sheets peeling off.

Ah, Copydex. I haven't seen that since my dad tried to burn the house down when he left a tin open by the gas cooker!

I'll have a look. But it really doesn't warrant more than a fiver spent on it.

Ta. I got them covers ready.

Does the hot glue stay soft? I guess it does if it's thinly applied.

That sounds like a good tip.

And another good tip. Ta.

Might be the special bookbinding stuff that remains truly flexible. But have a go on some newspaper or something.

Bookbinders keep tenon saws and/or bits of hacksaw blade to cut into spines for sewing and for roughing up. A few strokes at 45 degrees one way - then a few the other way. I think they prefer old, blunt ones. Bit confused as it is now many years since I spent time with a bookbinder friend.

=================================== Copydex as suggested elsewhere, because it stays flexible; roughen the clamped paper edges with a rasp and cover the copydex with a gauze (open weave) bandage before the Copydex goes off. If you happen to have some plastering or tailoring scrim handy that will be a bit stronger than the bandage.

Cic.

What? For 130 sheets of paper?

You are having a giraffe.

This pdf has info. on thermla binding - and even mentions use of a frying pan... SOunds *very* suitable to this group. :-)

I think you will have to print it off to read properly - it seems to be imposed in A5 format for printing duplex onto A4 and folding.

BTDT. Thermal binding looks nice & professional but didnt last very well in practice. Sure you'd get a couple of reads out of it. Spiral binding is just crp, a couple of reads should just be achievable if you treat it with care. What we found lasted best - and by a long long way - was simple staples. This was using paper the size of 2 pages, if you use single page size paper it wodnt be anywhere near as robust. These lasted fine for years of regular textbook use.

NT

I have some old (1970s) paperbacks and the glue looks like being the limiting factor in their life. It is becoming brittle.

Andy

Happy to believe that. For long life, I'd sew signatures and then sew them to tapes. :-)

Something like that works OK. You also need a 'super'; a strip of absorbent cloth which you wrap around the spine, and which absorbs some of the glue and holds it together. For your needs a bit of muslin would probably be fine.

I do a fair bit of binding up A4 and A5 stuff like this- up to about

Here are a few links to ideas for clamps and more information. If you get serious you might want to buid a 'double fan press', which allows you to get more glue onto the sides(not just the edge) of the paper you're gluing.

Lidl had a thermal binder for £14,95 a week or so ago. IIRC it claimed to bind up to 300 pages.

Sounds more like EvoStik to me

Did it claim the cheque was in the post as well ? :-)

You may be right. I was only about 6. But I remember the flames and the scortch marks.