Bookbinding Press

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Chase

During a visit to my crafty mother, I came across a good build to support her habits. She showed me a series of bookbinding finishing presses. I am not super familiar with how they work, but they looked a lot like a moxon vise. I am planning out a moxon vise build of my own, so this would be a good learning experience and make a great gift.

Traditional books have a lot of layers of material that need gluing together. This helps keep it all clamped for various operations. The side wings let you clamp it to a table, and with it hanging over the edge, any length book can be held. The jaws will open to accept a 3″ thick book, and there are 13 inches between the screws, allowing for a very tall book. 5/16″-18 hand screws should provide plenty of clamping force. The hand screws come out, so it can be disassembled and packed into a smaller space.

I started with the backbone and dovetails. If something was going to get screwed up, it was the dovetails. I need to cut a lot for an upcoming project and I am beyond rusty. Mark, saw edges, fret away waste and pare the rest.

My dovetail transfer jig has already come in handy. The pins look pretty rotten, but they should be very structurally sound. Sorry mom!

With that taken care of I glued up two pieces for the front, and added another to the backbone. One piece was taller than the other which eventually got planed to an angle. That gives your fingers easier access to the book spine.

I assembled the dovetails and put on side wings that let you clamp this jig to any table or workbench.

When all the glue was well cured I put on a few coats of polyurethane in the hopes that bookbinding glue wouldn’t stick to it. Felt pads on the bottom should keep it from scuffing any tables. I pounded in some threaded inserts meant for wood. They should hold just fine, but to be sure I sank a few screws beside them.

To run the threaded rods in and out you are going to need a stout handle. I chopped some maple dowels down to size, drilled out for a 5/16 threaded insert, reduced the entry shoulder for a brass sleeve, then flipped it around, threaded it onto a 5/16 mandril, and smoothed out the back side.

The bare wood got multiple coats of spray polyurethane, then when cured, I epoxied the brass sleeve on the handles, and the threaded rod in place.

Dovetail Transfer Jig

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Chase

I have quite a few dovetails to cut in the upcoming months. One part of the process I always felt very weak was in the transfer of markings from one piece to another. Whether you do tails first or pints first, at some point you need to clamp the to parts together and do a transfer.

I have seen a few different variations on this idea, this is just my take. Essentially the two boards need to be held at right angles, and up against a fence that references two sides of the boards as co-planar. I don’t normally keep around extra big plywood because I don’t have the room to store it. I found out lowe’s has 1/4 sheets of “lauan grade” plywood. Not as good or as pretty as birch, but it looks stable enough for jigs, and was much cheaper.

I started by using pocket holes to join the base. together. I relieved the edges up against the fence with a plane to make sure no dust would keep the aligned boards from interfacing with the fence. A 90 degree cut of plywood made a fence/reference surface for the boards. I made sure the base was good and square before nailing in the fence. The fence only protrudes enough to act as a reliable alignment surface.

This might have been good enough, but I wanted additional assurance that it was square, and a little help lifting it up off the table. These blocks do both as well as stiffen the jig.

To demonstrate the use of this jig I have a (admittedly poorly cut) dovetail that needs transferring. The jig sits on the bench top, or could be clamped down. Adjust the two boards to be jointed until they are lined up. When set, transfer the edges of the cut dovetail to the pin board as shown. Because the jig hangs out over the edge, a really tall board could be dovetailed without issue.

This simple easy jig should be helpful in the months to come. Hopefully I reference it soon with high praises.

Pint Canning Crate

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Chase

This is both a simple, and overly complex project. It is simple in that I have made a set of pine boxes with glued on plywood bottoms. Had I been only interested in making them functional, I could have finished these in an hour or two. Instead, I wanted to practice hand cut dovetails, and make them look good.

If you want to make basic boxes to hold canning supplies, then cut the boards and attach via whatever method you like. Screw/glue, pocket holes, nail, half lap etc… 1×6 boards are the perfect size for pint cans. Remember they are actually 0.75×5.5″. Cut them so the outside dimensions end up being 11×14.5″, and attach a plywood bottom. 1/4″ plywood seems adequate. It took me a number of hours to finish the two crates, but the experience was worth it.

Dovetails

If you are crazy like me and want to make basic utilitarian boxes with super fancy joints, then read on. Or if you just want to see how I make dovetails. There are a lot of good resources out there that detail how to make dovetails. I am going to give a brief overview of how I do it now. Maybe in a few years when I get good at them I will make another post with some sage advice.

Cut boards to rough length, and use a shooting board to clean up ends and get lengths exact.
Use a marking gauge to set tail depth to thickness of wood. Pencil marks make everything easier to see.
I start with an end pin mark, then use a divider to layout the remaining tails.
The veritas dovetail marking gauge is quite excellent for marking up the tails. Always use a knife for the best marks.
I hand cut the tails on the waste side. The hope is that they are cut close enough to not need any chisel work.
Remove the waist material with a coping saw, then carefully pare out with is left with a chisel.
Use the back side of the tails to guide a marking knife for the pins.
Cut pins and clean waste out in a similar manner as the tails.
After a test fit I apply glue to the pins and assemble the box.
If everything was made right the box should go together square and require minimal clamping.
Applying BLO (boiled linseed oil) provides an easy and cheap finish.

There were 8 joints total. Most of them turned out decently, but not GREAT. Practice will help out, but I think pine might be hard to work with. I will have to try making dovetails in a harder wood to see what the results are like.