My last post discussed
restoring an Oldhammer rulebook with a few loose pages and a split binding. In this post, I'll show my restoration process for a rulebook with an entire section having fallen out.
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| This book is in great shape, but for . . . . |
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| a section of about 12 pages having fallen out. |
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| Also, you can see the binding has separated from the hardcover. This seems to encourage the spine to split, resulting in pages coming out. |
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| I used clothespins to clip the pages of the loose section together (binder paperclips would work too, especially for a larger set of pages). Then I brushed glue along the inside edge of the pages. I let it sit over night, with the result being that the section was now glued together, stand-alone, in its entirety. This is much quicker, and more effective, than trying to glue in each page separately. |
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| Next, I "painted" generous amounts of glue onto the seam where the loose section had fallen out. I made sure to work glue under the pages on either side of the missing section, as those pages were partially loose. |
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| I then glued the inside edge of the "loose" section and placed it back into the book. I put sheet of plastic wrap on either side of the glued section (though inserting wax paper sheets would have been a better choice) to keep the pages from sticking together. |
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| To fix the spine, I simply dripped copious amounts of glue down the inside of the spine, so as to glue the binding back onto the inside spine of the hardcover. I considered using hot glue, but the white glue seems to work just fine. Keep a wet paper towel or sponge handy, to wipe up any excess glue that squeezes out. Don't try to wipe it up with a dry paper towel, you'll just spread the glue around and make a mess. |
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| In the morning, the glue had dried and the section was bound in tight. |
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| And the whole spine of the book was now glued tight onto the hardcover, which should help reduce the likelihood of more pages falling out. |
With a little preventative care, I'm hoping my books last another 25 years!
Great post. Did you use PVA wood glue?
ReplyDeleteThanks BZ. I used Elmer's Glue All, which is a white PVA glue (there's a picture of the bottle on the prior post). I sometimes use wood glue for getting sand to stick to bases, as wood glue is much stronger than white glue. However, in this application, I'd be concerned that wood glue would be too brittle - the white glue seems to retain a bit of flexibility when dried, which I think is helpful for the pages to continue turning.
ReplyDeleteGlad I finally read these posts. I may need to repair my 3rd ed book in the near future.
ReplyDelete