Its all a bit of a bind - one done, 50 to go ...

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guys

I have decided to (finally) start a project which i have planned for a few years, which involves learning a whole new skill.

i am fortunate to own a full set of Military Modelling magazine, fright from issue 1 to the final issue in 2018; the project is to bind them into books for which I have had to learn all about bookbinding, sewing magazines into blocks before adding a hard cover.

here are a couple of photos of my first attempt:





looking back through the mags, they are an amazing source of reference material.

one done - 50 to go!

Peter

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,

That looks great.

When your finished can you down load them as a PDF

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Excellent idea there Peter!
A complete collection of those I'd imagine would be quite rare
I'm guessing you're not doing it for the value,but it'd be interesting to find out what it's worth!
Andy

 

[Peter Gillson]

paul - the best I can offer you is a link to a pdf explaining bookbinding - it is actually easier than I thought. It is quite possible that this Chrismas family may get books from me!

https://www.learnbookbinding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/learn-bookbinding-starter-guide.pdf

Andy - No idea how much they are worth, I'll leave that to my children to worry about when I'm gone!

Peter

 

[Tim Marlow]

Wow, very interesting. It looks quite long winded though. How long does each book take from start to finish?

 

[JR]

Great idea, hope you keep us informed Peter.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Wow, very interesting. It looks quite long winded though. How long does each book take from start to finish?

Hi tim - the answer is; not as long as I expected.

I have built this jig so I can align all of the sewing holes easily so making the holes and sewing takes aobut an hour for a year's mags. Nice task watching TV. i have only made the hard cover for one and it took a bit of learning but i think I can get that down to an hour, so excluding drying time for the glue, I think it will be about 2 1/2 hours per volume.

so far it is quite satisfying.

peter

 

[Peter Gillson]

Cheers John - as I produce more i'll post a few photos

Peter

 

[Tim Marlow]

That jig is very clever Peter. I am quite impressed with the whole enterprise to be honest.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
What a great project. As you say you can do it while watching tele. I would not be surprised if a full set of MM mags is very rare. Love that sewing jig - that is clever.
Jim

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guys

an update on this ongoing project - 10 done. 40ish to go!



Peter

 

[Tim Marlow]

Good to see you are still working through them. Early MMs we’re smaller than the later ones weren’t they. Am I right in assuming that you just bound the smaller ones in the same sized covers for uniformity?

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Tim

Yep, you are right, the first two years were smaller, as you thought I bound them the same size so they are uniform.

peter

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
A great project well worth the effort.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi all

I set myself the target of binding the first 30 years (1971 -2000) by the end ov this year, and just managed it.

Here is a photo of the first 31 volumes. why 31? The reason is that 1997 had 19 issues, so I split it in two Volums.

Peter

 

[Jim R]

Well done Peter. They look very smart indeed.
Jim

 

[Lee Drennen]

Great job Peter.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Goodness Me, that's a labour of love! And still what,18 left?
You will really have the technique nailed by the end !

 

[Tim Marlow]

Fantastic that you’ve kept this labour of Hercules going Peter. Really worth the effort.

 

[wotan]

Very impressive Peter. I hope you have enough book shelf space to show them off.

John