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Book Repair advice needed

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  • Member since
    February 2012
  • 163 posts
Book Repair advice needed
Posted by gn.2-6-8-0 on Thursday, April 9, 2015 8:25 PM

i just came across a book I've had for years, The Locomotives Of The Rio Grande the cover heavy paper was loose when I bought and i always meant to see if I could repair it.

I'm thinking now would be a good time, I'm thinking maybe a thin coat of rubber cement or better yet maybe contact cement , along the binding" anyone done this before? Is this a good idea or no"

  • Member since
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  • From: Milwaukee WI (Fox Point)
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Posted by dknelson on Thursday, April 9, 2015 8:36 PM

Ask your local librarian what they do to repair books

Sometimes a complete re-binding is possible which might be in order for a fine book that cannot be replaced.

I worked in an office years ago and made scratchpads using scratchpaper cut to size, with a sheet of cardstock, and tightly clamped, "painted" on one edge with a special liquid rubbery product we bought from a library or office supply outfit, that in essence made the equivalent of a pad of paper, where each sheet could be torn off.  But a book I suspect would want something more durable.

Dave Nelson

 

  • Member since
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  • From: Ontario Canada
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Posted by Mark R. on Thursday, April 9, 2015 8:45 PM

I used to work at a shop that bound books. All the pages were held square and tight by a clamping mechanism. A mechanized roller would then apply melted hot glue to the edge of the clamped pages and the cover was applied and pressed into place. 

If you look at the edge of some hard or soft bound books, you can sometimes see a bit of this hot glue that has been squeezed to the outer edge. 

Mark.

¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ

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Posted by mlehman on Friday, April 10, 2015 12:49 AM

Hot glue is better than rubber cement and most other contact cements for this purpose, in large part because normal temperature ranges won't cause it to loosen or slide. The bookbining glue was somewhat different than your standard hot glue gun glue, but it should work for this purpose with some care to get it in the right places and not glue the pages together, etc.

 

Mike Lehman

Urbana, IL

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    January 2010
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Posted by peahrens on Friday, April 10, 2015 7:46 AM

You might google book re-binding for some more ideas.  Depends of course on whether you want to just replace one page or re-do the binding of the cover.

One example:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Repair-an-Old-Classic-Book-rebinding/

Paul

Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent

  • Member since
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  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
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Posted by BATMAN on Friday, April 10, 2015 9:49 AM

Check for a You-Tube video on book/binding repair. How to videos have saved me a fortune over the years.

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

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Posted by gn.2-6-8-0 on Friday, April 10, 2015 10:00 AM

Thanks for all the great ideas guys.

Appreciate it

  • Member since
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  • From: North Dakota
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Posted by BroadwayLion on Friday, April 10, 2015 10:21 AM

We got a book bindry shop here. Mostly we do our own work, (after all, we have over 100,000 volumes in our library--some dating back to the 1300s) but we have in the past done work for others. I do not know if Br. Jacob would look at your book, though I tend to doubt it since our maintenance man has retired, he has taken over a lot of the building maintenance. Time he may not have.

You can clamp the book firmly, use a hack saw to cut vertical notches in the back of the book. Put strings in these notches, and then use a binders paste to finish the job and then attach a cover.

 

ROAR

The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.

Here there be cats.                                LIONS with CAMERAS

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Posted by gn.2-6-8-0 on Friday, April 10, 2015 12:13 PM

Got my hot glue gun out and it seemed to work just fine. 

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