Removing a bookbinding

July 31, 2019 8:52 AM

Is there a way to remove a glue-based bookbinding aside from using the hair dryer/pulling out a few pages at a time method? Or x-acto?

Local NYC Kinkos/Staples will no longer slice the binding off and, since the book is about 150 pages, I'm not entirely sure using a regular guillotine-style paper cutter will provide a straight cut (will it?). Ultimately, the book would be spiral-bound and the covers laminated.

posted by shinyj to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

A regular office-style papercutter with a soft clamp (or no clamp) and a blade-arm hinged on one end will not in a million years give you a straight cut through 150 pages. The right tool is the parallel-blade guillotine.

But if you can't get access to one: Do you have access to clamps and some lumber? You could square up your book and squeeze it super tight between a couple of boards, clamp the whole thing down HARD to a work table, clamp down a metal straight-edge, and use a utility knife (with several fresh blades) to cut through it gradually. At worst, then it should be easier to get access to a guillotine to clean it up as needed.
posted by janell at 9:06 AM on July 31, 2019

Another method is to clamp the book between two boards, with just the glue part of the binding sticking out of one end, and going at it with an electric sander until the glue is gone. Messy, but effective.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:28 AM on July 31, 2019

Do you have other local quick-print shops like Minuteman Press? Any printing press will have a good way to trim and rebind this for you. Look for a local 'copy shop', maybe near (or at) a college?

Even if you get the binding off, you're still going to need someone with good machinery to do your holepunching and spiral binding. I think it's worth more digging to find someone who can do it all for you.

that's crazy that kinkos and staples won't do this anymore!
posted by hydra77 at 9:34 AM on July 31, 2019

Other places to check, a "full-service" printer, a bindery, an independent bookbinder/small press, a metal shop. None of these offer the service but they have the equipment and might be willing to do it or direct you to someone who will.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 10:17 AM on July 31, 2019

If I really wanted to do this myself, I'd start by breaking the spine between pages 74 and 75 and then cutting through the break in the glue with a craft knife. Now you have two 75 page books. Keep breaking it down until your pieces are more like 10-15 pages and then a heavy duty cutter or scissors would work for the final trim. If the glue is too hard, either heat or cold might make it easier to work with.
posted by soelo at 10:41 AM on July 31, 2019 [2 favorites]

clamp between 2 boards with binding slightly protruding, cut spine with:
table saw
bandsaw
circular saw
saber saw
random orbit sander
belt sander
plane
knife

but, a bindery shop could do this in 2 seconds.
posted by H21 at 12:06 PM on July 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

I used to work at a place that had a tiny iron we used for melting the adhesive. I can't remember the name of it, and a bit of Googling isn't turning it up, but I have found suggestions that a regular iron on low or medium, applied to the spine of the book, might do the same thing.
posted by telophase at 2:11 PM on July 31, 2019