The Harrington Bindery

A project I have been working on over the winter and coming into the spring is a set (pair?) of books, one a sketchbook and one an album. The pieces are part of a trade I set up with a good friend and master carpenter in exchange for a proper bench in which to bind books on. The idea at first to was have a twin set matching in style and decoration. The two were worked in almost parallel but the sketchbook was the first to be ready for covering material and besides a necessary modification of the spring, you can see it here. It caused no issues and functioned pretty close to what I expected. The album is made from the same one hundred percent cotton paper as the sketchbook. Its construction features the use of loose guards sewn alternating with the full folios in a ratio of 3:2. The intention to create a spring back led me to sew the pages to four stations of double 1/2" linen tapes. Once the sewing was complete the levers were formed with card stock, paper and the sewing suppo...

Recently I took up a project for a carpenter friend of mine that includes a matched set of books. One will be used as his personal sketchbook, the other a portfolio. As I was working on the design and layout of the portfolio I realized I didn't have a very good method for making guards consistently. ( side note, the method described below is one I came up with organically by working at my bench. Considering the ease in which it makes perfectly sized guards I'd be surprised if I was the first to come up with it but I wasn't able to find any other instructions online to describe the technique I employed.) Tools needed: Knife - olfa, x acto or sharpened bench knife Slightly sharpened bone folder Steel rule set - I found them to be an indispensable tool here. Cutting mat The basic idea is that three dividers/rulers can be used so that no manual measuring and marking will be needed in the making of the guards. In this example I am making ½” guards; strips ...