[m-hodges]

I recently got into watching YouTube bookbinding as a way to fall asleep at night. Then I found a local book and stationary studio for hobbyists to learn as a community. It’s not something I have time for right now, but it’s the kind of hobby I’d love to try one day.

[bookman10]

It's a really neat hobby. It's great for gifts, especially if you take the high quality artistic approach. I like to do simple "perfect binding" because it saves money (materials are probably around a penny per page), gets me the book faster than buying it, and makes all my books consistent in font, size, and cover style.

[ramses0]

How do you handle printing? I've got a color laser (that I'll generally run B&W), but it seems like "pigment inkjet" is actually the correct choice for the paper+ink combo.

What's your experience / recommendation?

My technical workflow (for personal books) is `Makefile` + `frontmatter.tex` + `chapter-*.md` + `endmatter.tex` and some unholy abomination of pandoc or whatever that'll stitch it all together and some other software to run imposition, etc.

I'll (at some point) take a look at what you're doing, but it's a really neat hobby- I've been doing 1-2 books at a time (~50-100 pages) w/ kettle stitching and hard-cover (with ribbons of course!).

...looking through your recommendations, but don't see mention of pigment-based ink/printers or short-grain paper (ChurchPaper was where I got some of mine from). Is the ET-8550 "the one" that you've found? Having something "large format" for printing is tempting, but it'd probably be better to outsource at $1-5/page compared to a more compact printer. What about drying out or long-term storage of inkjet / print heads?

re: the Guillotine, I've been tempted by seeing some hydraulic manual cutters, but it seems like big space investment... how have you experienced it? They're saying 400 pages (a whole ream?) on the one you've linked but that seems like a stretch.

Thanks, and be on the lookout for an email / pdf!

[bookman10]

My understanding is that ink tank printers can be cheaper per page, but lasers can be faster and possibly more durable. I think professional machines tend to be laser printers. I haven't had a problem with the heads drying out but I try to use my printers at least weekly.

I like the Epson ink tank printers and have been happy with them. I usually use cheap generic ink. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there are better options though.

I mostly do perfect bound books so I can use normal printer paper, center the pages, and it will be in the correct grain direction. Otherwise you'll have to order through dedicated specialty paper suppliers and also might need a larger format printer. In a pinch, you can ignore grain direction but the end result definitely isn't as good. Once I run out of my current cover paper, I'll probably order coated on 1 side short grain paper from some specialty paper supplier.

I also use a one sided laminator on the cover which makes the cover much more durable.

I think the manual cutter works well enough for me. It does work at 400 pages with some muscle. Upgrading to a programmable cutter would be the next step for me, but it would only be needed if you're making 5+ books a day.

I use a manual perfect binder like this: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/A4-Size-Wireless-Desk...

It gives better results than thermal binding, but it's probably not worth the investment for most people.

I also like velobinding for short things.

[zozbot234]

You could print smaller booklets in half-page format and use stapled or sewn binding, for a more durable and higher-quality result. That could be done without needing a larger-format printer. It might be especially appropriate for shorter text such as individual articles, and this was often the historical practice with e.g. octavo books which were quite popular back in the day.

[bookman10]

Yes that works too, it's just the grain direction on printer paper runs along the long edge so the books end up very stiff if they're folded.

[nxobject]

Wowee, a dedicated machine! I built my own lying press with wooden cutting boards, and neatened out the edges of my text blocks with the blade of a chisel/single bevel utility knife that could be laid flat. I used an old application called Cheap Impostor that converted PDFs to printable signatures for me.

I was writing an honors thesis then, and DIYing my old books was much more interesting (and relaxing) way to get a book that I'd otherwise have to wait a month to get via interlibrary loan. Don't ask me where I got the scanned pages from...

[4ndr3vv]

> materials are probably around a penny per page

plus the cost of toner and paper?

[bookman10]

That would be including paper and toner, although it can be more.

For example, I can buy 5,000 sheets of printer paper for around $50. You use both sides so that would be half a cent per page.

I use an ink tank printer and you can get maybe a quart of ink for around $15.

It wouldn't include wear and tear on the printer, which is harder to quantify.

I also like to use cream colored paper instead of white which adds another half cent per page for perfect binding. Glue for the spine is a penny.

The cover itself might be around 20 cents of paper and 5 cents of ink.

[SubmarineClub]

Any YT channel recommendations?

[m-hodges]

Four Keys Book Arts: https://youtube.com/@fourkeysbookarts

DIY Bookbinding: https://youtube.com/@diybookbinding

DAS Bookbinding: https://youtube.com/@dasbookbinding

That’s My Bookshelf: https://youtube.com/@thatsmybookshelf