maple books with coptic stitch bindings

[lawrence]

I thought I'd give bookmaking a try as it seems like a fun thing to do. When we went to PA last year my cousin took us on the Duquesne incline and I thought this pic of it and the Pittsburgh skyline would make a nice gift.

The covers are 6x9 inch maple. I personalized the front pieces with my Carvewright and then resawed the 4/4 pieces down. I then hand planed the resawn pieces to thickness and finished them with some superblonde shellac.

After they were dry I folded 5 signatures (what the individual "books" of paper inside a book are called) of 5 pages each, making a total of 50 pages per book. The paper is 70 lb. drawing paper which is perfect for this size of book.

I then drilled 6 holes in the paper signatures and in the covers themselves and LOML and I stitched them together (it is definitely a learned technique!)

(this is one of LOML's stiches... mine are not quite as nice yet!)

I found some "how to's" for Coptic stitching here (which I've wanted to do for a while now) Here is one I used

Thanks for looking and as always, your comments and critiques are appreciated.

Lawrence

[John's Woodshop]

Lawrence,

Those are outstanding! Great job!

John

[Ironman50]

Impressive skill on binding the paper. Great, organic and rustic looking books. Love the carved and personalized design on it.

www.sawblade.com

[PaulMarcel]

Really like those; the binding looks very interesting (for someone else to do). Though my name's Paul, I'd want the Bozo book.