Weekend Worktable


Finally the weather is warmer for a few days, and I can ask dh to go out to the garage to cut my boards for the Habitat ReCreate project, using his table saw. I'm using one of my large acrylic quilting squares to measure and mark my cutting lines.

I going to try to make a coptic bound book, using the cabinet door inserts for the covers. Using the inserts as they are now would result in a HUGE book, so I'm going to cut them to a reasonable size and use either the square or the curved edges together. Because the boards are heavy and thick, I plan on using the type of coptic binding where the holes come out on the spine edge, like this:

Illustration taken from these bookbinding instructions found doing a Google search.

I've never tried this method before, so if anyone has any tips on how to drill those angled holes, I would welcome you to comment here. I'm good with straight holes, but how do you make sure with the angled holes that you come out where you want to be? I'm afraid my boards will look like Swiss Cheese before I'm done!

Comments

  1. When I took a workshop that did this binding, we used manual drills (the kind that looked like eggbeaters). To start the angled holes, we drilled straight into the board edge a couple mm, then eyeballed the angle and drilled the holes starting from the board edge. A 45 degree angle isn't so hard to eyeball, and if you do the holes from the board edge first and the hole straight through after, you can adjust for any inaccuracy.

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  2. if hubster has a kreg jig or something like it, you might be able to use that. (http://woodzone.com/woodwork/DBA/741006.htm in case you've never heard of them, i had to look up the name myself). or you could drill a straight hole into a little block of wood, and then cut the block at an angle and use that as a jig...

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  3. I took a workshop on this binding technique as well and we used a hand drill / manual drill. It worked well. I would try it on a piece of scrap first so you don't mess up the final piece and get a feel for it.
    Make sure to clamp the piece down really well before you begin drilling. All the best!

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  4. Thanks Rachel, meredeth, and Radha! I have a little hand drill that I might try. I will try your suggestions.

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