Home book binding without special equipment

Overcoming the hurdles of life

It's just wonderful the opportunities we have to read old books and other digitized manuscripts for free. But I am not alone in needing to read these nifty tomes on paper—electronic devices just don't seem "right" to me. Besides that, I do not want my children staring into a computer monitor for long periods of time—I am sure there are a profusion of studies relating to just how a child's brain can turn to mush from staring into a box of flashing lights for hours (none of us need any help in that regard).

For a while there I was printing books out on my handy-dandy inkjet and zipping over to the office supply store to have them comb or wire-bound. This was great for the first 20 or so, but I'm passionate, and so are my children; we want a whole collection of superior, educational books. It's just that the cost of all that printing and binding, not to mention all the "zipping", was taking its toll on me.

So I went on an odyssey, surfing the Net for better alternatives. I am so pleased and excited with what I have found that I have to share it with you all!

God hears our prayers!

First of all, I prayed—did you know that God is interested in how we live day-to-day? He says that, through Jesus, He has provided us with "wisdom and prudence"—look it up in Ephesians 1:8. It astounds me how Father God is so magnificent, omnipresent and omniscient that He can take care of the entire universe while keeping track of the little details of every one of the six billion or so persons living on this earth! Don't you just love Him?!

I initially began by researching my equipment. My first stop was the printer. I have an HP Photosmart Plus, all-in-one. The cartridges in this unit, even the super ones (XL) have an official yield of about 550 sheets of total printing. This makes each sheet cost about $0.05 a piece—that is, if I buy my cartridges at Sam's Club, which has the best prices for official HP ink.

Then I read about how many of the folks who use the Robinson Curriculum have purchased a laser printer from Brother—but I soon discovered that there was the added expense of a drum besides the cost of the toner; moreover, these machines are not all that reliable. I appreciated the fact that they could auto-duplex, meaning they could print on both sides of the paper automatically, which could be a real time and money-saver.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8000

My husband is a loyal HP customer when it comes to printers, so he encouraged me to look further on their website. That's when I discovered the HP OfficeJet Pro 8000. This machine is designed for small businesses. It does everything I had hoped for—it auto-duplexes, and the ink is waterproof—that really helps if you are going to be handing out printed material to children. But the niftiest thing of all is the price of the ink. For the same money as my old inkjet—approximately $30 per cartridge—an XL for this model will yield 2,200 pages! That's about four times as many pages per cartridge! And the price was quite reasonable; I was able to buy it while on sale for only $89 (before warranty)! The price has since gone up to $149, and I saw the all-in-one version of this printer at Sam's for about $179 just a couple of weeks ago, but it is still much more economical than the cheaper inkjets.

My next step was to look for ways to bind the books I wanted to print. I found some excellent websites that explained several methods. I recently tried the technique of hole-punching, then sewing, and finally gluing on a binding cover, this process was fantastic! I am using manila folders as covers, since they are long enough to go completely around the girth of the book, and they also have little fold lines in the middle. I have also purchased a “long-reach” stapler from Swingline that I use to secure each of the booklets. To finish, I stack and hot glue to a binding strip (white duct tape).

Seriously, you can bind books that have the look and feel of those mass-produced with just a small supply of these basic materials:

• Hole-punch
• Needle and thread
• Hot glue gun
• Gorilla glue (or some similar glue that is strong and a bit flexible when completely dry)
• Stapler
• Large binder clips
• Card stock
• Manila folders
• Clear contact paper (for longevity of binding)

Here are some links with photos and even video streams that will explain a variety of methods:

DIY Bookbinding

Book binding techniques

Rosegate Harbour* This is a terrific site full of wonderful information—you may want to bookmark this one and save it so you can return there often. I have learned many techniques about printing and binding here, and the author of the site catalogs other helpful websites that have helped me garner even more knowledge about book binding options.

Producing books in this way can give a woman a lot of satisfaction—when we homeschool moms are able to be both creative and frugal and at the same time, are able to bless our families—we have truly realized a win-win scenario—at least this is true for this large family mother!