The other week when I was preparing the book blocks for my most recent set of notebooks, I realised how hard it is to neatly trim thick blocks. These notebooks are about the same size as I think my Argleton book will be, but they were very difficult to trim to size by hand.
I tried all of my cutting implements, with varying results. My scalpel was by far the worst offender. The blade is not very stiff, so it tended to bend as I cut, leaving me with very wobbly results! My big craft knife was the best, although that tended to wander off piste a little resulting in what might best be described as ‘terraces’ in the cut.
Worst of all was that it took me nearly an hour and a half to trim four book blocks. Oh dear. That’s not very time efficient! If I have to make about 80 books for my Argleton project, it’s going to take me a solid week just to trim the book blocks. And that’s not even counting how long it takes to cut the book boards, the ‘hard’ bit of a hardback cover.
So, if the Argleton project is successful, the first thing I’m going to do is buy this:
It’s a TrimFast ream cutter and it can trim 110 sheets, or up to 1.5cm of paper, at once. It has ‘laser light paper positioning’ to make it precision cuts easier, which is great as I am nothing if not a perfectionist. I will be able to cut not just more quickly, but also more accurately and with sharper right angles. Honestly, trying to get everything square is a nightmare at times! Especially as three of the four implements I have bought for marking square angles weren’t themselves actually square. Harumph.
So this is what some of the money raised via Kickstarter will go to. The rest will be spent on materials for the books and to subsidise my time – I’ll have to take a few weeks away from my normal work to get everything finished up and as a freelance that’s actually quite a big deal, so having enough money to cover that will be a godsend. Well, to be more accurate, it will be a generous-person-like-you-send!
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
