Traditionally pictures show bookbinders leaning over their finishing press and plough as seen above. Now-a-days bookbinders usually use a hydraulic guillotine or a stack cutter. Both of them have a large blade that comes down evenly on the paper cutting it smoothly. Not like an office paper cutter where the cutting starts from the top and moves towards the bottom of the page. That works fine for a few sheets of paper but would cause the paper to fan out giving you an uneven cut.
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| hydraulic guillotine |
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| Stack Cutter |
Those that can't afford such expensive equipment will either hand cut with a utility knife and ruler, or still use the Finishing press and plough but set on a tub or bench. Using a tub/bench/stand certainly makes it a lot easier and stable while using. Unfortunately my finishing press and plough did not come with a tub. The tub has to fit the dimensions of the press and be tall enough for what you are cutting.
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| English Press and tub |
There are two types that I am aware of. The English press and the French Press. The French press has a single wheel and is slightly larger in construction. The English Press has less parts but has two hand cranks to close the press. By far the French Press is the easiest to use and having used the one made by Olive & Oak I recommend them, even if I can't afford one at this time in my carrere. My Dryad press is an English Press and I spend more time getting the book block lined up just right then I do sewing the book block. I'm sure with more practice I will be able to reduce the set up time.
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| I don't have a tub or bench yet that fits my press |
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| kicking it old school |
I sandwich the book block between two pieces of grey board. The back is higher up and is used to catch the blade when you get through the bookblock, the other I use to line up exactly where I want the plough blade to cut through.
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| The back of the plough blade is sharp |
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| Health & Safety issues here. Why does it need to be so long! |
You can see from the above picture that this particular plough cuts about a millimeter above the finishing press. I'm still new at this so I take my time lining up the book block to trim.
Now you can still find old books that bookbinders would only cut the top of the book, even with the use of machines. This is the only cut that is necessary to free the pages from other pages because of the way the paper is folded,
Quatro fold. I can only assume they didn't trim the other two edges to reduce the cost.
Some libraries like Oxford and Cambridge, will even give you a knife for cutting the books if it has yet to be done. I've come across many like this in used and antique book stores and stalls.
Well there you have it, my limited knowledge of the bookbinding plough. Now that my note book is cut I need to round the spine and then get to making the case. I start a lengthy stretch of overtime at work so I won't have much to update for the next two weeks.
**EDIT**
Arthur Green of
Green's Books just sent me a link to this video of
Trevor Lloyd using the same kind of plough as the old drawings I posted above. Follow the links in the names
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