Best way to rebind a book?

phatj

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2003
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Just my calc book... like 700 pages... all the pages are together, but the body of pages came apart from the hard cover... so I have a hard cover of a calc book on my bed and a coverless body of pages on the floor...

can I just caulk the pages back onto the cover? or if there a more suave way of doing this?
 

Zim Hosein

Super Moderator | Elite Member
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Nov 27, 1999
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Originally posted by: phatj
Just my calc book... like 700 pages... all the pages are together, but the body of pages came apart from the hard cover... so I have a hard cover of a calc book on my bed and a coverless body of pages on the floor...

can I just caulk the pages back onto the cover? or if there a more suave way of doing this?

I would try rubber cement before caulk phatj.
 

myusername

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2003
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Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
Originally posted by: phatj
Just my calc book... like 700 pages... all the pages are together, but the body of pages came apart from the hard cover... so I have a hard cover of a calc book on my bed and a coverless body of pages on the floor...

can I just caulk the pages back onto the cover? or if there a more suave way of doing this?

I would try rubber cement before caulk phatj.

Hm. Rubber cement won't hold. I wouldn't use latex weatherproofing caulk, but a silicone sealant, like permatex flowable might do.
 

CarlKillerMiller

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Jul 14, 2003
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Originally posted by: AlienCraft
Drill two holes and use zip ties!

This actually isn't a bad idea, IF you can find a way to secure the pages beforehand. Misaligned holes won't do you any good.
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
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Originally posted by: CarlKillerMiller
Originally posted by: AlienCraft
Drill two holes and use zip ties!

This actually isn't a bad idea, IF you can find a way to secure the pages beforehand. Misaligned holes won't do you any good.

Vice?
 

EyeMWing

Banned
Jun 13, 2003
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this is actually pretty common. Especially for math textbooks.... Other books of similar size don't do it nearly as readily.

In the future, do yourself a favor and buy softcover math books.

But now to address your problem. The problem you have to solve here is pretty interesting - whatever adhesive you use, it has to be bendable, in order for you to be able to open the book. My first instinct is to say caulk would hold, but wouldn't allow you to freely open and close the book - but if you run two beads, one along the front edge of the spine, and another along the back, leaving the middle completely open, you should have pretty close to OEM spine-bendability. I think.

Alternatively, you could do complete coverage, but in a very thin layer of the entire spine area. It would be a bit stiffer, but hold better.
 

AlienCraft

Lifer
Nov 23, 2002
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Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: CarlKillerMiller
Originally posted by: AlienCraft
Drill two holes and use zip ties!

This actually isn't a bad idea, IF you can find a way to secure the pages beforehand. Misaligned holes won't do you any good.

Vice?
Loose women, good weed and... oh wait, I thought you meant... uh never mind....

 

drinkmorejava

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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you should be able to get a bottle of binding glue are archivers or w/e local photo album type place you have is. I had to do it for a US history book a year ago; I think I used some sick combination of elmers glue and rubber cement. It took two days to dry but worked.
 

sunase

Senior member
Nov 28, 2002
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You could always just toss the covers and have the binding redone to make sure the pages stay together. I've taken a few softcover books to Kinko's for rebinding before. Not because they were falling apart, but because I like the spiral binding (where you can fold pages underneath) better than the normal book binding.
 

ThePresence

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
27,727
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Drill 4 holes. Get some plastic string or fishing line. Tie tightly, but not so tight that you can't open the book. Melt the end of the string. Get some quality binding tape and put it over the spine.