Cutting and Attaching Boards--Cleaning off Back--Pressing
CUTTING AND ATTACHING BOARDS
The first quality of the best black board made from old rope is the
best to use for "extra" binding. It will be found to be very hard, and
not easily broken or bent at the corners. In selecting the thickness
suitable for any given book, the size and thickness of the volume
should be taken into account. The tendency of most modern binders is
to use a rather over thick board, perhaps with a view to bulk out the
volume. For manuscripts, or other books on vellum, it is best to use
wooden boards, which should be clasped. From their stability they form
a kind of permanent press, in which the vellum leaves are kept flat.
In a damp climate like that of England, vellum, absorbing moisture
from the atmosphere, soon cockles up unless it is held tightly in some
way; and when it is once cockled, the book cannot be made to shut
properly, except with very special treatment. Then also dust and damp
have ready access to the interstices of the crinkled pages, resulting
in the disfigurement so well known and so deplored by all lovers of
fine books.
For large books a "made" board, that is, two boards pasted together,
is better than a single board of the same thickness. In making boards
a thin and a thick board should be pasted together, the thin board to
go nearest the book. It will not be necessary to put a double lining
on the inside of such boards, as a thin board will always draw a thick
one.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.]
If mill-boards are used they are first cut roughly to size with the
mill-board shears, screwed up in the "lying" press. The straight arm
of the shears is the one to fix in the press, for if the bent arm be
undermost, the knuckles are apt to be severely bruised against the
end. A better way of fixing the shears is shown at fig. 45. Any
blacksmith will bend the arm of the shears and make the necessary
clips. This method saves trouble and considerable wear and tear to
the "lying" press. Where a great many boards are needed, they may be
quickly cut in a board machine, but for "extra" work they should be
further trimmed in the plough, in the same way as those cut by the
shears. After the boards have been roughly cut to size, they should
have one edge cut straight with the plough. To do this one or two
pairs of boards are knocked up to the back and inserted in the cutting
side of the press, with those edges projecting which are to be cut
off, and behind them, as a "cut against," a board protected by a waste
piece of mill-board.
The plough, held by the screw and handle, and guided by the runners on
the press, is moved backwards and forwards. A slight turn of the screw
at each movement brings the knife forward. In cutting mill-boards
which are very hard, the screw should be turned very little each time.
If press and plough are in proper order, that part of the board which
projects above the cheek of the press should be cut off, leaving the
edges perfectly square and straight. If the edge of the press has been
damaged, or is out of "truth," a cutting board may be used between
the cheek of the press and the board to be cut, making a true edge for
the knife to run on.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Lying or Cutting Press]
The position of the plough on the press is shown at fig. 46. The side
of the press with runners should be reserved for cutting, the other
side used for all other work.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.]
The plough knife for mill-boards should not be ground at too acute an
angle, or the edge will most likely break away at the first cut. The
shape shown at fig. 47 is suitable. The knife should be very
frequently ground, as it soon gets blunt, which adds greatly to the
labour of cutting.
After an edge has been cut, each side should be well rubbed with a
folder to smooth down any burr left by the plough knife. Then a piece
of common paper with one edge cut straight is pasted on to one side of
the board, with the straight edge exactly up to the cut edge of the
board. Then a piece of paper large enough to cover both sides of the
board is pasted round it, and well rubbed down at the cut edge. After
having been lined, the boards are nipped in the press to ensure that
the lining paper shall stick. They are stood up to dry, with the
doubly lined side outwards. The double paper is intended to warp the
board slightly to that side, to compensate for the pull of the leather
when the book is covered. If the board is a double one, a single
lining paper will be sufficient, the thinner board helping to draw the
thicker. The paste for lining boards must be fairly thin, and very
well beaten up so as to be free from lumps. It is of the utmost
importance that the lining papers should stick properly, for unless
they stick, no subsequent covering of leather or paper can be made to
lie flat.
When the lined boards are quite dry, they should be paired with the
doubly lined sides together, and the top back corner marked to
correspond with the marks on the top back corners of the book. Then
near the top edge, with the aid of a carpenter's square, two points
are marked in a line at right angles to the cut edge. The pair of
boards is then knocked up to the back and lowered into the press as
before, so that the plough knife will exactly cut through the points.
The same operation is repeated on the two remaining uncut edges. In
marking out those for the fore-edge, the measurement is taken with a
pair of compasses (fig. 48) from the joint of the book to the
fore-edge of the first section. If the book has been trimmed, or is to
remain uncut, a little more must be allowed for the "squares," and if
it is to be cut in the plough, it must be now decided how much is to
be cut off, remembering that it is much better to have the boards a
little too large, and so have to reduce them after the book is cut,
than to have them too small, and either be obliged to get out a new
pair of boards, or unduly cut down the book.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.]
[Illustration: FIG. 49.]
The height of the boards for a book that has been trimmed, or is to
remain uncut, will be the height of the page with a small allowance at
each end for the squares. When a pair of boards has been cut all
round, it can be tested for squareness by reversing one board, when
any inequality that there may be will appear doubled. If the boards
are out of truth they should generally be put on one side, to be used
for a smaller book, and new boards got out. To correct a badly cut
pair of boards, it is necessary to reduce them in size, and the book
consequently suffers in proportion. If the boards have been found to
be truly cut, they are laid on the book, and the position of the slips
marked on them by lines at right angles to the back. A line is then
made parallel to the back, about half an inch in (see fig. 49). At the
points where the lines cross, a series of holes is punched from the
front with a binder's bodkin on a lead plate, then the board is turned
over, and a second series is punched from the back about half an inch
from the first. If the groove of the back is shallower than the
thickness of the board, the top back edge of the board should be
bevelled off with a file. This will not be necessary if the groove is
the exact depth. When the holes have been punched, it is well to cut a
series of V-shaped depressions from the first series of holes to the
back to receive the slips, or they may be too prominent when the book
is bound. It will now be necessary to considerably reduce the slips
that were frayed out after sewing, and to remove all glue or any other
matter attached to them. The extent to which they may be reduced is a
matter of nice judgment. In the desire to ensure absolute neatness in
the covering, modern binders often reduce the slips to almost nothing.
On the other hand, some go to the other extreme, and leave the cord
entire, making great ridges on the sides of the book where it is laced
in. It should be possible with the aid of the depressions, cut as
described, to use slips with sufficient margin of strength, and yet to
have no undue projection on the cover. A slight projection is not
unsightly, as it gives an assurance of sound construction and
strength, and, moreover, makes an excellent starting-point for any
pattern that may be used. When the slips have been scraped and
reduced, the portion left should consist of long straight silky
fibres. These must be well pasted, and the ends very slightly twisted.
The pointed ends are then threaded through the first series of holes
in the front of the board, and back again through the second (fig.
50). In lacing-in the slips must not be pulled so tight as to prevent
the board from shutting freely, nor left so loose as to make a
perceptible interval in the joint of the book. The pasted slips having
been laced in, their ends are cut off with a sharp knife, flush with
the surface of the board. The laced-in slips are then well hammered on
a knocking-down iron (see fig. 51), first from the front and then from
the back, care being taken that the hammer face should fall squarely,
or the slips may be cut. This should rivet them into the board,
leaving little or no projection. If in lacing in the fibres should
get twisted, no amount of hammering will make them flat, so that it is
important in pointing the ends for lacing in, that only the points are
twisted just sufficiently to facilitate the threading through the
holes, and not enough to twist the whole slip.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.]
[Illustration: FIG. 51.]
To lace slips into wooden boards, holes are made with a brace and fine
twist bit, and the ends of the frayed out slips may be secured with a
wooden plug (see fig. 52).
Old books were sometimes sewn on bands of leather, but as those sewn
on cord seem to have lasted on the whole much better, and as,
moreover, modern cord is a far more trustworthy material than modern
leather, it is better to use cord for any books bound now.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.]
CLEANING OFF THE BACK AND PRESSING
[Illustration: FIG. 53.]
When the boards have been laced on and the slips hammered down, the
book should be pressed. Before pressing, a tin is put on each side of
both boards, one being pushed right up into the joint on the inside,
and the other up to the joint, or a little over it, on the outside.
While in the press, the back should be covered with paste and left to
soak for a few minutes. When the glue is soft the surplus on the
surface can be scraped off with a piece of wood shaped as shown in
fig. 53. For important books it is best to do this in the lying press,
but some binders prefer first to build up the books in the standing
press, and then to paste the backs and clean them off there. This has
the advantage of being a quicker method, and will, in many cases,
answer quite well. But for books that require nice adjustment it will
be found better to clean off each volume separately in the lying
press, and afterwards to build up the books and boards in the
standing press, putting the larger books at the bottom. It must be
seen that the entire pile is exactly in the centre under the screw, or
the pressure will be uneven. To ascertain if the books are built up
truly, the pile must be examined from both the front and side of the
press. Each volume must also be looked at carefully to see that it
lies evenly, and that the back is not twisted or out of shape. This is
important, as any form given to the book when it is pressed at this
stage will be permanent.
Any coloured or newly printed plates will need tissues, as in the
former pressing; and any folded plates or diagrams or inserted letters
will need a thin tin on each side of them to prevent them from marking
the book.
Again, the pressure on hand-printed books must not be excessive.
The books should be left in the press at least a night. When taken out
they will be ready for headbanding, unless the edges are to be cut in
boards.