Introduction
Content
Printing
Clamping
Gluing
The Cover
Gluing the Cover
Things to try
Links
Cornell notetaking system
Japanese five-point binding
Perfect binding
LaTeX
Texniccenter Latex IDE
GIMP Image program
Barcode Generator
Materials
Notebook TEX
Notebook PDF
GIMP Book Cover File
PDF Book Cover File
And of course, take a look at builddiary.net the page
for all things excessive-hobby related.
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Finished Product
Bookbinderyation
I have always had an interest in books and pens. When I was a child,
we had bookshelves lining every available wall, nook and cranny. Most of
the time, my mother, father and me all had stacks of books next to our
beds. Dad would take a book to work every day, and read it during lunch.
Now that I am working, I do the same. The bigger, hardbound books make me
feel happy and safe. I am a reader, but not much of a writer. I never
started a journal that lasted more then a day, and while I got good grades
in my writing classes, I just never felt a burn to write. Now, though, I
write all the time, I make notes in meetings, and on the phone, and make
lists of things to do. I have developed a taste for having the best materials
for taking notes and in that vein, I have pursued an interest in fountain pens.
For a long time now, I have felt the lack when it comes to good notebooks.
It seems like you can either get a cool cover OR nice paper (suitable for use
with a nice pen) OR a nice lay flat, durable binding. I finally realized that
to get all three requirements, I would have to try my hand at making my own
notebooks.
I had become attracted to the
Cornell notetaking system because I think I can adapt the school system to
the type of notes I take in meetings. The main features of the paper is a wide
left column, and a lower "summary column. I decided that I could use those for
additional information on my notes, because I never leave myself enough room
for changes and expansions on information. I also can separate tasks from learning
information. So I did several searches on the internet, just assuming I would be
able to find a bound notebook with that kind of paper already printed up. There
seemed to be no such thing, although I did find several pdf files that could be
used to make your own pages. I decided to create my own paper (as usual, none of
the paper available seemed just right. I'm sensing a trend here...
Now to the binding. There are several options rangine from traditional, such as
many sewn bindings, to contemorary, such as "perfect" binding. I was very
attracted to
Japanese five-point binding, because of how easy a technque
it is. The problem is, it really isn't a lay-flat binding. I was also attracted
to perfect binding for the same reason,
but it has a similar problem with snapping shut. You can get a perfect bound book
to open easier, but it requires that you "break" the spine, which of course I
would like to avoid. Most techniques that gave you a lay-flat binding seemed to
be more complex.
So one day I typed in "Lay flat binding" and got a
link for a section in the O'Reilly books website, saying that they were
returning to the RepKover Binding technique. I remember
Dave raving
about the binding of O'Reilly books, saying they were great for reference, and
specifically pointed to the binding as a reason. Basically, the technique is
like perfect binding, but the cover is glued to the first and last pages, NOT
the spine, that means that it has a very flexible spine, with the cover
"floating" above it.
Diagram of the two glue techniques.
I did a little more research,
and the pros of the technique are:
- The book lays flat (of course)
- It is similar to perfect binding, in that it uses a glue to bind the book
- It has a spine that can be printed on (the downfall of spiral bound books)
- It is good for medium sized books
The cons are:
- It is a bit more complicated and requires more steps then perfect binding
- I'm not sure it will work with cheaper glues. Most references to the glue
were PVC glue.
- Because I am gleaning most of my information of Marketering pages on the
process, and my own observation of a very battered Perl reference, that was
obtained Sophmore year in college (circa 1999), and not more
technical how-to's, so I'm not sure what is being left out (like trade secrets,
or pitfalls, etc.)
Luckily, the last point is what I am trying to remedy. Hopefully I will be able
to determine if this is a good technique for do-it-yourselfers.
Dave's old Perl Book
When I looked at
Daves old Perl book I noticed that the front cover was glued to the
front page, but the back cover was glued to a cardboard strip. Dave thinks that
it used to be a full page with ads, but now it is just a strip with a perforated
edge. I had been thinking about using thin cardboard strips, because I thought it
would take the presure off of the first and last page. It seems I was not the
first to think of it. It looked like the back had taken the wear and tear a bit
better then the front, so I decided to use cardboard on both the front and the
back.
Comparison between a book bound with Lay-Flat and Perfect Bindings
The only reason the Perfect binding lays open so well in the picture above, is
because it is an old C reference book that Dave has had forever, and the spine
is pretty much totally broken.
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