Chapter VI: Equipment

Equipment for elementary bookbinding, as already indicated in a preceding chapter, can be made almost entirely to fit the purse.

The statement occurs in text books and has gone the rounds on “good authority” that very little can be done in the way of bookbinding without a large and unusually expensive equipment. It is difficult to understand how such a statement could be made by anyone who is familiar with craft binding and its simplified forms as they may be worked out in the lower grades of our schools.

Of course, it is possible to spend any amount for bookbinding equipment, but there are many schools where good elementary work is being done with absolutely no equipment except pocket knives, scissors and such other aids as may be picked up about any school building.

It is entirely possible to adjust the upper grade work so that only a few will be handling the same processes at the same time, thus making a small equipment answer the purposes of a good sized class.

For making the typical books under good conditions with a moderate number of pupils in the eighth grade or high school, the following equipment may be said to be elaborate, and can be had for about $75:—

1 10-inch Card Cutter,
6 Lying Presses,
1 Plow and Press,
2 Letter Presses,
12 Sewing Frames,
2 Paring Knives,
3 Pairs Backing Boards,
2 Back Saws,
6 Try Squares,
3 Hammers,
3 Doz. Pressing Boards and Tins,
6 Awls,
6 Paste Brushes,
12 Bone Folders.

Even this equipment may be very materially reduced. Many of the items may be improvised, made, or furnished by the pupils.

For instance, the sewing frames are of simple construction and offer an excellent problem for the class in woodwork.

The plow and press are not an essential even in high school work. Most excellent work may be done by cutting both paper and boards with a sharp knife guided by a trysquare or straight edge, against a cutting tin. Any ordinary hammer will do for backing purposes. So this brings us back to the repeated proposition that much and good bookbinding can be done in the schools with almost no equipment.