bookbinding tools – Page 30 – Peachey Conservation

June 30, 2015June 30, 2015

Free Foredom Flex Shaft Class

Many bookbinders, conservators and book artists use a Dremel or Foredom tool to cut, drill, grind and polish. Dremels often serve as the gateway drug, once you get hooked, many tend to upgrade to a Foredom. Although they are similar tools, the Foredom is a professional machine: better build quality, more power, versatility, etc. It is also lighter weight since the hand piece and motor are seporate. If you have the dough, you might as well start out with the Foredom.

The EM-1 Manual Dial Speed Control is a useful upgrade, since I never became adept using the standard foot speed controller. A Foredom can function as a small drill press with various attachments, useful for drilling channels in wood boards. Common uses in conservation include thinning or beveling vellum for repairs, and drilling holes for joint tacketing.

Craftsy is offering a free, play on demand video tutorial on basic maintenance, adjustments and use. I like the interface: easy to ask/ answer questions, make notes, jump around within the videos. There is good information as well, covering basic maintenance, adjusting hand pieces, changing bits, drilling, grinding, and other fundamentals. Craftsy may be a good site for someone interested in presenting book arts tutorials, since they don’t have any yet.

Getting Started With the Flex Shaft Video Tutorial

March 24, 2015March 24, 2015

The Dinkification of Tools

French knives — The dinkification of French leather paring knives. A completely unscientific approach. L-R: Big old knife, Medium moderately old knife, Small modern version.

Sometimes I half-jokingly refer to the dinkification of tools —the tendency of tools to get smaller, lighter, more flimsy, and often less functional — over time.

The above photo of three French Style leather paring knives from my collection illustrates this tendency nicely. I’m pretty sure they are arranged from the oldest on the left, to the newest on the right. Observe the cheapening of handle material: from ebony, to a stained wood, to a varnished one. The blades get thinner and narrower. The changes in the curve of the cutting edge is also of interest. The narrowest knife also has the greatest curve, which in my experience indicates it is designed for scraping than cutting, which runs counter to what I know historically about the history of leather paring.

November 28, 2014November 27, 2014

Christmas Gift Ideas for Bookbinders, 2014

Below are four inexpensive and useful items that I imagine any bookbinder or book conservator would love to get.

If, perchance, you are thinking of getting me a gift, I really, really, want the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM5. Black, please. Thanks in advance!

1. The Southmedic disposable plastic handled scalpel. The blades are not removable, which makes them feel quite solid. The blade cover easily slides back and forth, protecting them while traveling. I stop mine (with a small horsebutt strop) to keep it sharp and they last for quite some time. They come in two of my two favorite shapes, #11 and #15. There is a useful metric scale at the end of the handle for determining the depth of puncture wounds. Great fun for kids! McMaster-Carr sells them. About $3.

***

2. Japanese Feather brand double edge razor blades. Apart from vintage, NOS blades, these are the best I have found for Scharfix and Brockman paring machines. The Feather company may be familiar to some, since they also make scalpel blades. Hipsters love them for use in vintage double edge razor blade handles. Many vendors on Amazon sell them at various prices, around 30 cents each.

***

3. Delrin Folder. Delrin folders are new, and to my knowledge far I am the only one making them. They combine many advantages of bone and teflon. I know who has them if you are buying a gift, just ask! But get one for yourself as well. These are designed to perform a number of common scoring, folding and smoothing tasks bookbinders need when working with paper, cloth and leather. The big boy pictured above is $65, smaller ones are also available starting at a mere $35.

***

4. Small AIC PhD Target. It is awesome to finally have a small, affordable color bar to use for documentation. It used to drive me crazy fitting in a larger bar, which would almost be equal to the size of the book in some cases, resulting in the loss of detail, messing up framing, etc. Robin Meyers Imaging produces and sells them. Excellent! $75