Practical Bookbinding Part 8

Quick burnis.h.i.+ng must always be avoided; it heats the gold, which rubs off under the burnisher, and causes holes which can never be remedied.

As soon as one length has been burnished, the waxed cloth must be applied before proceeding further.

Slight flaws in the gold itself, or due to bubbles in the glair, may be put right by touching the faulty places with a small brush dipped in rectified spirit and immediately laying on a piece of gold; if the edges had not yet been gone over with the waxed rag, it would be sufficient to breathe on the place, lay on the gold, and burnish under paper. This need only stand a few minutes, as it quickly evaporates, and may then be burnished again at once, first with, then without, the tracing paper. It must be observed that such faulty places must be burnished in the direction of the sheets, never crosswise.

Rounded edges are more difficult to work; the sc.r.a.ping alone being more troublesome. Each piece of gold is halved, laying on each time a little beyond the deepest part of the round. The press is so lowered as to give a decided slope to the half of the edge to be operated upon. The gold is cut to a little more than half width, and only the under side to a little beyond the middle is glaired, which in this case must be done very freely. The strips of gold-leaf are laid on as before. When one side has been covered with gold, the press is turned and the other half of the round similarly treated. Care must be taken that there is always a liberal supply of glair in the depth of the round. To drain off the superfluous glair the press is placed so that the glair runs off on the long side; the gold is in consequence better taken up in the round.

Burnis.h.i.+ng is here also done under a piece of paper, and it is better to work crosswise, first one half to the centre of the round and then the other. Only thin books are burnished along the edges with a round burnisher. After the round edges have been burnished crosswise they are burnished with the round burnisher.

Burnishers are made of agate or of bloodstone; the latter is said to produce a higher polish, but this may be due to our being more accustomed to its use. In selecting burnishers the flat ones should not be too wide and the strongest of the curved ones should be taken.

Top and bottom edges undergo the same treatment in gilding as the flat fore-edge, except for a few slight necessary differences in the method of fixing the book. In the first instance, long boards are used instead of the outer boards--these protect the book from injury. The boards (the short sides of cross-boards are often used instead) are laid exactly in the groove at the back, but the outer boards are set back so that they are exactly in a line with the depth of the round edge. If this precaution is neglected, the chances are that little ridges will appear in the fore-edge where pressure has been applied. Fig. 51 shows the arrangement in the press.

Sc.r.a.ping is done from the back to the fore-edge. As the back is not pressed so solid as the rest of the edge, it frequently happens that it does not get sc.r.a.ped so smooth. In this case recourse may be had to a fine file and fine sand-paper. The rest undergoes the familiar process.

Take care that no glair runs on to the fore-edge when applying it or when draining it off. It is convenient to place the press crosswise on the table so that the fore-edge stands at its lower side; the glair then drains off the whole length of the edge more evenly and drains more towards the fore-edge. Many finishers elevate the press, letting it drain towards the fore-edge; there is no danger to the latter if the press is tipped forward from the top. On no account must the glair be allowed to drain towards the back, as this part is very open and all the moisture would gather there.

Fig. 51--Top edge arranged for gilding.

Besides the method of laying on the gold-leaf with the gilder's tip there is another which is specially used in gilding hymn-books; a piece of gauze is stretched across a frame, pa.s.sed over the hair, and then the gold for the entire length of the edge is at once picked up and laid on.

Round edges may be similarly covered by means of a couple of threads or horse-hairs stretched on a frame. The threads can be s.h.i.+fted to the short sides of the frame; they are adjusted to the width of the edge, allowing for the rounding, and are slightly greased by pa.s.sing over the hair, and thus pick up the strip of gold at the edges. Just before laying on the gold, the threads are adjusted so that the gold fits the shape of the edge. Then plenty of glair is applied and the gold quickly and truly laid on.

This method is not exactly difficult, but it is not quite so safe as laying on with a gilder's tip, especially for very large edges.

The simplest way of laying on for flat edges is by means of strips of paper. This has the advantage of allowing a larger number of gold strips being made ready for laying on at one time. Select a piece of stiff and not too thin paper, cut into strips about the width of the strips of the gold-leaf, draw one side of the paper across the hair, and then take up the leaf so as to allow it to project a little over the edge of the paper strip. After glairing, strip by strip is laid on.

For very cheap work it is often necessary to gild edges with alloyed gold. Such edges are not so carefully and thoroughly prepared; in particular, they are not sc.r.a.ped, but rubbed down with sand-paper. Blood serum is used instead of white of egg; this is prepared by allowing ox-blood to stand a few days and then filtering off the clear liquid.

Aluminium is laid on a gelatine solution: one tablet of gelatine to 1/4 litre of water.

Gilt edges are also frequently tooled or sc.r.a.ped and painted. This work comes within the sphere of the art binder and cannot be dealt with in this book.

All other coloured and marbled edges can be burnished in the same way as gilt edges. In good work this must always be done.

In small shops headbands are made to this day of striped calico, which is cut into strips of 2 cm. wide right across the pattern, and one edge is pasted round a thin cord. After drying, pieces the exact size of the back of the book are cut off. The back of the book at the head is glued with a not too thin glue and the headband glued on so that the pad made by the cord lies on top of the edges and thus covers the place where book and cover join.

Fig. 52--Headband shears.

Woven headbands are now to be had so cheap that it is no longer necessary for the binder to make his own. The cheaper kinds are woven of cotton, and of these there are bands made which have two pads, each edge having a different colour. This band is cut along the middle for use; for the rest, it is cut into pieces according to the width of the book and then glued on to the back. Better kinds in silk are only woven on one side, therefore the cutting asunder is not necessary. For work in quant.i.ties, the headbands are cut the size of the back with the adjustable headband shears.

For extra work the headband is hand-worked in silk. This work can only be learned by practice, although its execution is not difficult; such books are only headbanded after boarding.

To make the filling for the headband, cut into strips pieces of vellum which have been pasted together, between which a piece of tough, thin pasteboard may be pasted to further strengthen. These strips are cut a little less than the height of the squares and a little longer than the width of the back. So as to facilitate the work, the strip is at once curved to the rounding of the back.

Take two silk threads of the kind sold as "Cordonnet" silk, each thread of a different colour. Both threads are threaded in a sewing needle, the threads taken double, the ends of both double threads knotted together.

The book is clamped in the ends of a press and stands slanting a little outwards. The needle is inserted in the back groove of the first sheet at the left hand underneath the kettle st.i.tch and the thread drawn out to the knots. Thus one thread is always above and another below. The strip of vellum is now placed upright on the outside edge of the head, the thread is brought over from below, and is st.i.tched from above to below close to the head, with the hanging needle through the first sheet under the kettle st.i.tch outwards. Bring the same thread once more up over the strip, let the needle hang in the hollow of the fore-edge, taking in its stead the other thread which takes up the first, bringing it out underneath the vellum strip. By this, the first thread is firmly drawn as a chain st.i.tch into the headband now beginning. The second thread is now brought upwards but need not again be taken through the sheet; it is taken back under the vellum strip once, and at the second time the needles are changed in the hollow as the first thread one more takes up the second thread and draws it into a chain. Thus the work goes on; after several journeys the thread is once again drawn out through a sheet until both threads are brought out at the other end of the back and pasted down. The first knots must also be undone and the ends pasted so that they do not show on the back. It is essential that the vellum strips should be always firmly and evenly sewn upon the edge, and also that every winding of the thread and the chain lies quite regular.

Fig. 53--Headband working.

It is possible to make a variation by making a few st.i.tches with a third thread of another colour in the centre of the headband. Any vellum projecting at the ends must be cut off flush with the book.

Some books are given a marker; this is made of silk ribbon or of a cheaper kind specially woven for the purpose. It is cut long enough to allow of its projecting a little at the head and pasted there, and at the same time comfortably held by the finger at the corner diagonally opposite. The marker is glued on before headbanding.

CHAPTER V.

BOARDING.

The boards may be fastened to the covers in various ways, apart from casing, _i.e._, fixing books in publishers' ready-made cases.

1. Fastening upon bands (ordinary fastening).

2. Fastening below bands (fastening on a deep groove).

3. Drawing the bands through the boards (fastening with laced bands).

The boards for the books are nowadays manufactured from pulp, excepting in a few districts in Pomerania and East Prussia where wood boards are still occasionally made. Of these pulp boards the better kinds are called mill-boards; the cheaper are called straw-boards. Leather boards are not suitable for books as they invariably wrinkle or c.o.c.kle. The boards may be cut to size before fastening on, or this may be done even after the fastening on has been completed. The former is generally practised where there is a board-cutting machine, but even then further attention is usually given to the shaping of the boards in the case of "extra" work.

The board-cutting machine is a very useful ally, for by the aid of quickly adjusted rectangles and parallels a board may be cut perfectly true.

The boards are selected according to the size and thickness of the book, marked out, and cut perfectly rectangular. The boards must slightly project at top and bottom as well as fore-edge so as to afford sufficient protection to the book. The margins so projecting are called the squares. Small books are allowed a small square, as a matter of course, and large books a square correspondingly larger.

Fig. 54--Board-cutting machine.

Where there is no board-cutting machine, the boards must be cut to size with the knife upon a cutting-board, using a straight edge for the line.

The knife used is the well-known bookbinder's knife--Henckel Bros.'

Solingen make is the best. These knives--both in fixed and removable wooden handles--are made of "gla.s.s hard" steel. If the point is worn away, a piece about 1/2 cm. long is knocked off with a hammer on an iron edge, thus making a fresh edge. The cutting-boards must be of maple, beech, or pear tree.

If it is intended to shape the edges of the board on the book, it must be cut about 1 cm. larger each way so as to allow for further tr.i.m.m.i.n.g.

Fastening the boards to the book is called "boarding." This can generally be done as well with paste as with glue; the former is preferable but necessitates longer pressing and drying. Glueing is quicker, but the bands cannot then be pressed so evenly into the boards.

For ordinary fixing on the bands, the insides of the boards are pasted to about 3 cm. in width, the bands also pasted, and the board laid on, bringing it well up to the groove. If it is intended to glue up, the bands are also glued, provided they have not already been glued on--a method preferred by many experienced hands. The bands must be pasted so that they radiate from the back without any tangle; a morsel of paste the size of a pea is laid on the band from underneath with the folder or point of a knife, the band smoothed down, and the thing is done. After glueing-up, the book is pressed between boards. If zinc plates are placed under the boards whilst pressing, the pasted parts will be pressed quite smooth and s.h.i.+ny.

Fig. 55--Spring back.

For cloth or half-cloth binding a hollow back is frequently glued on. To make the covering material of the back more lasting, a back is made up of strong wrappers or some other tough material, which extends over the back underneath the cover. This backing material must be cut 4 to 5 cm.

wider than the width of the back and about 1 cm. longer each way than the book. This strip is pared very narrowly along both sides with a sharp knife on the so-called paring stone. A second strip--the backing--of the same material is cut the same length but exactly the width of the back of the book and is glued on to the middle of the wider strip. The overlapping parts at the sides are broken in towards the middle, close by the inner packing, and the crease well pressed down with the folder. These overlapping edges are then turned back again and a rule is laid on the packing parallel with the edge but drawn back to the middle about 2 to 3 mm. according to the thickness of the cover. If the moveable flaps are now again laid over towards the centre and narrowly creased near the first fold over the rule, a second parallel fold is obtained which allows the book to open much better. The back in section appears as ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 55 after the middle part of the packing has undergone the necessary rounding.

Fig. 56--Boarded book.

Rounding can be done either by rubbing the middle part round with a proper wooden tool in a rounding board having several hollows of various degrees of convexity, or by drawing the back with a rocking motion under a broad folder. Such a made-up back must fit perfectly true to the groove and on the back. This is the hollow back. Before fastening it to the book, the latter must have a piece of stout paper pasted over the back; good packing-paper is the best. Newspapers and loose advertis.e.m.e.nts out of magazines are not at all satisfactory and must not be used. The book is glued and the paper laid on and glued. In doing a large batch the books may be pasted in the press and the paper pasted on.